BBC's take on the story:
A leading representative of Holocaust survivors in Spain has admitted to being "an impostor".
Enric Marco told Spanish TV he was never held in the Nazi concentration camp of Flossenburg as he had claimed for nearly 30 years.
Mr Marco, 84, was head of the Amical de Mauthausen group, named after the camp in Austria where the Nazis held most of their Spanish political prisoners.
His lies were discovered by a historian researching his story.
Mr Marco admitted: "I wasn't in a concentration camp. I was held in captivity and the Nazis did impose penalties on me. But that does not exonerate me from being an impostor."
The lie began in 1978. It seemed I was getting more attention and could better publicise the suffering of the many people who passed through the concentration camps
Enric MarcoHe addressed the Spanish parliament in January, at a moving event marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
"When we arrived in the concentration camps... they stripped us, their dogs bit us, their spotlights dazzled us," he said.
"They put the men on one side and the women and children on the other; the women formed a circle and defended their children with their bodies," he added.
More recently Mr Marco attended a ceremony in the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany.
'Lie began in 1978'
But on the very day Mr Marco was re-elected president of Amical de Mauthausen, it emerged that he had lied about his past.
Historian Benito Bermejo had noticed inconsistencies in Mr Marco's account while researching Spanish prisoners' experiences in the Nazi death camps.
"He said strange things that did not correspond to the general historical facts," Mr Bermejo told the Efe news agency.
Mr Marco recently visited the Ravensbruck camp"For example, that he had been arrested and handed over to the Gestapo in Marseille in 1941."
"In that year Marseille was an area of France not under occupation, and normally the Spanish republicans were not handed over to the Germans - that happened later," he said.
Real survivors had been having their doubts, too. Mr Marco had always avoided entering into too much detail when recounting his experiences to them.
On Wednesday he decided to come clean.
"The lie began in 1978," Mr Marco told Efe.
"It seemed I was getting more attention and could better publicise the suffering of the many people who passed through the concentration camps," he admitted, insisting there was no evil intent behind the fabrication.
'Traitor'
But Holocaust survivors in Spain are outraged.
Neus Catala, a survivor of the Ravensbruck camp, said Enric Marco was a "traitor".
The stance he took was "an insult to the memory of the dead", she told Efe.
"More than 7,000 Spaniards went to the concentration camps, and most of them died there."
Despite Mr Marco's claim to be raising awareness of the Holocaust, Mr Bermejo warns that his lies could have the opposite effect.
"The danger exists that people who deny the reality of the Nazi camps... might exploit this and tell us that no testimony about the Holocaust has any value," he said.
BBC article: "Spanish Nazi camp 'survivor' lied"
Israeli media's take on the story:
Holocaust 'survivor' admits to lie
Prominent member of the Spanish Holocaust survivors' community admits to never being imprisoned in concentration camp
Spanish Holocaust ‘survivor’ Enric Marco admitted Wednesday that he was never imprisoned in the Flossenburg concentration camp, as he had claimed for the past 30 years."I wasn't in a concentration camp," he said during an interview on Spanish television. 'I was held in captivity and the Nazis did impose penalties on me. But that does not exonerate me from being an impostor."
Ironically, Marco's lie was discovered the day he was re-elected president of the Amical de Mauthausen organization, an organization named after a Nazi concentration camp where many Spanish political prisoners were held.
Historian Benito Bermejo discovered the lie after he noticed inconsistencies in Marco’s account of the past while researching his story.
"He said strange things that did not correspond to the general historic facts," Bermejo said. "For example, he said he had been arrested and handed over to the Gestapo in Marseille in 1941."
However, Bermejo said that during that period of time Marseille was not under occupation, and Spanish republicans were not handed over to the Germans.
‘A traitor’
According to Marco the lies began in 1978.
“It seemed I was getting more attention and could better publicize the suffering of the many people who passed through the concentration camps," he said.
However, Spanish Holocaust survivors have expressed their fury since hearing his confession.
Holocaust survivor Neus Catala called Marco a traitor.
"More than 7,000 Spaniards were sent to concentration camps, and most of them died there," she said. “It’s an insult to the memory of those killed.”
Berjemo believes Marco’s lies could draw negative attention to Holocaust survivors.
"The danger exists that people who deny the reality of the Nazi camps…might exploit this and tell us that no testimony about the Holocaust has any value," he said.
Ynetnews article:
"Holocaust 'survivor' admits to
lie"
