pTURIN — A South Lewis Middle School history teacher has poked some gaping holes in the story of a purported Holocaust survivor from Pennsylvania who visited Lewis County a couple months ago./ppAndrew R. Reid — in a study released last week to various agencies, school districts and news organizations who have sponsored or publicized presentations by Joseph B. Hirt from Lancaster County — claims that Mr. Hirt is “an imposter and a fraud,” particularly involving his alleged experiences and ultimate escape from notorious German concentration camp Auschwitz./ppWhile Mr. Hirt has claimed at numerous public appearances that he was at Auschwitz and escaped in March 1942, Mr. Reid could not find a record of him on the prisoner list, found that the number tattooed on Mr. Hirt’s arm was the real number of a Polish prisoner from 1944 and determined that a photograph he purported to be of himself was actually taken by a U.S. soldier during the Allies liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in 1945./ppHe also disputed Mr. Hirt’s claim that he met Dr. Josef Mengele at the camp, as the so-called “Angel of Death” reportedly didn’t arrive at Auschwitz until May 1943./ppThe research, which took several weeks to complete, included online study, as well as contact with officials at various organizations and family members of Mr. Hirt./ppThe local teacher, himself a Lancaster County native, was one of roughly 1,000 people to attend an April 15 presentation by Mr. Hirt at Lowville Academy and Central School./ppWhile attending the event partly so his eighth-grade daughter could “hear the truth in person before there are no more survivors to hear from firsthand,” Mr. Reid said he was struck by some parts of the man’s story that didn’t sound right, including claims of having his picture taken at Auschwitz, seeing Hitler refuse to shake hands with U.S. Olympian Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics and, after moving to southeatern Pennsylvania, meeting Mr. Owens during a visit./ppHowever, Mr. Reid later determined through his research that Hitler was reportedly not at the medal ceremonies where he could have snubbed Mr. Owens and that Mr. Owens’ only recorded visit to Lancaster was in 1957, while Mr. Hirt didn’t move there until 2010./ppThe local teacher, who has been at South Lewis for 14 years, believes that Mr. Hirt did escape from Europe during World War II and was one of 982 refugees given guest status at Fort Ontario in Oswego, but that other parts of his story are made up./pp“I had mixed feelings while researching Mr. Hirt,” Mr. Reid said by email. “My wife can attest to the fact that I had more than a few sleepless nights that found me back in my study searching for and hoping to find a reasonable explanation for the discrepancies in Mr. Hirt’s story. I did not want to be right, but I felt obligated to pursue the truth. I felt a duty as a member of the community I am in and the community I am from.”/ppMembers of the Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Association, which sponsored the talk in Lowville, said they were convinced by Mr. Reid’s research and have canceled all pre-orders taken at the event for Mr. Hirt’s memoir, which was to be published soon./pp“Based on the professional research of historian Andrew Reid, it is alarmingly clear to us that Joseph Bernhard Hirt’s personal Holocaust anecdote is substantially a fabrication,” Bernadine Schwartzentruber, association president, said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed with this development. Our hope and prayer is this unfortunate occurrence will not diminish the memory of the millions of innocent people whose lives were systematically destroyed by the brutal Nazi regime.”/ppMrs. Schwartzentruber has said she heard about Mr. Hirt from her sister, who attended a presentation he gave a year and a half ago at a church in Lancaster County./ppLowville Academy Superintendent Cheryl R. Steckly said the district was pleased to host the speaker, as “helping to further the understanding of such a painful time in our history is critically important.”/pp“We were saddened to learn that it appears Mr. Hirt’s personal story was in large part untrue,” she said. “It is our hope that the testimony heard by our community in April does not detract from the tragedy of the Holocaust. /ppWhen Mr. Hirt was contacted by the Reading Eagle newspaper last week, he admitted that the prisoner number was someone else’s, but hung up before commenting on other alleged falsehoods. A nephew of Mr. Hirt, Michael Hirt, told that newspaper and other media outlets that he believes parts of the stories are fabrications but noted that he hadn’t seen his uncle in about 15 years./pp“I feel no ill will towards Mr. Hirt,” Mr. Reid said by email. “Early on, as I uncovered his deception, I grew angry. But in the end I am just sad for him. He is surrounded by good people in Lancaster County willing to help him get through this. I hope his sad story turns into one of happy redemption.”/ppMr. Reid’s report may be accessed at a href="http://wdt.me/HirtResearch"http://wdt.me/HirtResearch/a./p
↧