In 1995, Binjamin Wilkomirski’s memoir, Fragments, became an instant sensation. His story was that of a young Polish boy who spent his early childhood in Nazi death camps. The memoir was radical because it was the first time that readers could experience the Holocaust through a toddler’s point of view. Wilkomirski developed a large fan base and gave hope to many people who had lost small children in the war. The overwhelmingly positive response to the novel quickly turned to scandal when it was revealed that Wilkomirski was not Jewish, let alone a survivor of the death camps. Though he continues to deny these claims, it sparked a worldwide debate on whether or not his account actually happened to him.
Key Issues in the Scandal Surrounding Fragments
The key issues in this debate involved the claims that Swiss journalist, Daniel Ganzfried, made against Wilkomirski. Ganzfried insisted that Wilkomirski was born and raised in foster homes throughout Switzerland and had never even left the country before adulthood. In fact, his real name was alleged to be Bruno Grosjean. Grosjean was a Christian and he had made up this entire story. Later, Wilkomirski’s agent decided to hire historian, Stefan Maechler, to investigate and hopefully prove that…show more content… They were quick to believe the Wilkomirski was a fraud because of the evidence stacked against him. The Holocaust is an extremely sensitive subject for obvious reasons, so those who had experienced it firsthand were outraged that he would lie about it. As a result, Fragments had absolutely no literary value. The scandal made it hard for people to trust other accounts of the Holocaust that had been written. In addition, Wilkomirski’s case raised questions about the entire literary genre of autobiography, oral history, memory research, and more. Certain psychologists found the case particularly interesting because it appeared that Wilkomirski was self-inflicting these false
