The abundance of fake Holocaust survivors (WA 051104)

The International Campaign for
Real
HistoryThe
power behind the legend

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Stolen Soul, by Bernard Holstein, was withdrawn this week after questions were raised over the book’s authenticity.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.

Bernard Holstein,
Auschwitz ‘survivor’, complete with ‘tattoo’, published
bestselling memoirs, but Australia says he is Bernard
Brougham, another Benjamin Wilkormiski, and a fake |
Australia Jewish News:
Holocaust ‘memoir’ withdrawn

Dossier on another
fake “Auschwitz survivor,l” Benjnamin
Wilkormiski

Dossier on Deborah
Lipstadt

Lipstadt Trial
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transcripts index

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DJC Irving

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Focal Point 2002 write
to David Irving