The
West Australian
Perth, Western Australia, Friday, November 5,
2004.
Refunds tipped on
Holocaust book row
By Susan Hewitt
THE University of WA's printing arm,
UWA Press, will overhaul its fact-checking process and is
considering refunding money to the Jewish community after
discovering it was distributing a book that is likely to
turn out to be a fraud.
Stolen Soul, by Bernard Holstein, was
withdrawn this week after questions were raised over the
book's authenticity.
In the book, Holstein, whose name now is Bernard
Brougham, claimed to be a Holocaust survivor who
spent years in the Auschwitz
concentration camp during the war.
But private investigators hired by publisher Judy
Shorrock revealed last week that it was highly likely
that Brougham was born in NSW and grew up there.
Literary and historical
reviewer Howard Willis said yesterday the book
was full of blatant inaccuracies and no responsible
publisher or distributor should have touched
it.
UWA Press director Jenny Gregory said staff had
read the book before agreeing to distribute it, but she
conceded no one with historical expertise had looked at
it. It had not been subjected to thorough scrutiny
because it was not published by UWA Press.
If the book was found to be offensive to the Jewish
community, she said UWA Press would consider refunding
any money it made from the book's sales to the community.
The publisher would now subject ail distributed work to
higher scrutiny.
Ms Gregory was approached by Ms
Shorrock, the publishing manager of The Maccabean
newspaper, to distribute the book.
"It is unusual for us to distribute a self-published
book that hasn't come out of a well-known organisation
but in this case because it came from a well-respected
journalist, closely aligned with the Jewish community,
those credentials were accepted by us," Ms Gregory
said.
Ms Shorrock expects a final report from the
investigators soon and is waiting for Mr Brougham to have
DNA tests.
Mr Willis said inaccuracies in the book included dates
and historical facts.
The
power behind the legend
write
to David Irving