For Shame, Madam...

I've been blogging for months now about the Defonseca/DeWael Hoax mostly from the perspective of the lawsuit against Jane Daniel which is --- or should be --- terrifying to publishers. Especially small press publishers. If a publisher can be found guilty to the tune of $33 MILLION dollars for failing to adequately promote their client's book (especially since Daniel got her a shot on Oprah!) what on earth does that mean for those of us who don't have her talents at promotion? Does that mean we are liable for any book we publish that does not sell well? Frightening thought indeed!

However, in all my indignation over the impact of this case on the publishing industry, I've paid little enough attention to what Defonseca / DeWael did to others besides Daniel. Recently a woman named Karen Schulman has come forward to tell the story of how she, out of compassion for an impoverished Holocaust survivor, took the Defonsecas and their army of animals into her home --- with devastating results. I wrote a blog about that but now Schulman has started her own blog Silence=Permission. It is her hope that others who were taken advantage of by the Defonsecas will come forth and post their stories, too.

Recently Ramona Whitehead, and English teacher in Marianna, Florida, initiated a class project for the high school seniors in her class to write letters to Defonseca. The letters were forwarded to Ms. Schulman who has begun posting them on her blog. They are heartbreaking. These young people read Misha: A Memoir of the Holocaust as part of studying the Holocaust. When they learned that the story was all a lie and that Defonseca was not even Jewish they were devastated. The proof is in their letters.

I feel sorry for the true Holocaust survivors you used to promote your lies, one student writes.

Tell me, why would you do such a thing like write a story that is untrue and could cause more people to believe that the Holocaust didn't happen? It will now cause people who read your book to have second thoughts about other authors who wrote about their Holocaust experiences, writes another.

There are so many people out there in the world that don't even believe that the Holocaust ever happened, and you've added fuel to the fire and it's getting ready to explode, writes a third.

One outraged student included a horrific photograph of a pit full of bodies and one man kneeling, about to be shot by a Nazi soldier. You have treated this as though it were a game, he writes, while six million Jews died and the survivors went through hell.

Powerful letters from high school students whose faith has been damaged by one woman's self-absorbed lies. These students' letters prove that there is yet another dimension to the evil that Defonseca has wrought --- mocking the suffering of the true victims of the Holocaust and lending support to the deniers who would have the world believe the Holocaust was itself a fraud.

Read the letters. Judge for yourself.

Thanks for reading.