Joseph Hirt is an 86 year old Jew originally from Poland, now living in Pennsylvania, USA, and a former psychologist.
For years he traveled on the Holyhoax circuit, speaking to young children at schools and others at church groups and other orgnizations, telling them yarns about the horrors of the Shoah™.
Joe's story was that he was imprisoned in Auschwitz as a 6 year old boy, met Dr. Mengele at the camp, and escaped by crawling under the electric fence one snowy night. As a bonus, he also claimed to have personally seen track star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and later met him in the United States.
Hirt even had a tattoo put on his arm to fake a genuine concentration camp number tattoo (see picture above).
Joe would tell captivated audiences how he "still had nightmares" where he was still running and escaping from Auschwitz. Many of the people who heard Joe's story would have nightmares themselves, and think to themselves, "It's hard to believe this happened". Boy, were they right!
Then, in 2016, a history teacher became suspicious of Hirt's story and published an article refuting many of Hirt's claims as false. Oy Vey! Unable to dispute this expose, Joe then publicly admitted that he fabricated his entire story and was never a prisoner in Auschwitz.
Joe attempts to justify his lies by saying that he was motivated to lie out of his fear "that the history and horror of the camps would be forgotten" and to "keep the memories alive".
Yes, Joe, if it weren't for all the lies of the Holyhoaxers, there would be no "horror of the holocaust".
Via Daily Stormer
Read source article:
Man who claimed to have escaped Auschwitz admits he lied for years
Joseph Hirt said he fabricated story of being sent to camp and meeting Nazi doctor Josef Mengele to ‘keep memories alive’ about history of the Holocaust
A Pennsylvania man who claimed for years to have escaped from Auschwitz, met track and field star Jesse Owens and Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, confessed on Friday that he had fabricated the entire story.
“I am writing today to apologize publicly for harm caused to anyone because of my inserting myself into the descriptions of life in Auschwitz,” Joseph Hirt, 86, wrote in a letter sent to his local paper, LNP, this week. “I was not a prisoner there. I did not intend to lessen or overshadow the events which truly happened there by falsely claiming to have been personally involved.”
“I was wrong. I ask forgiveness,” he added. “I determined at that moment to do everything in my power to prevent the loss of the truth about wartime life (and death) at Auschwitz.”
For years, Hirt gave public speeches about his experiences in the second world war, including his Jewish family’s flight from Poland to Belgrade. But he also told people that he was arrested by the Nazis, sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and met Mengele, the SS physician who tortured prisoners of the concentration camp. Hirt claimed to have escaped under an electric fence at the camp.
He added an extraordinary prologue and epilogue to the story, saying that he saw Adolf Hitler turn his back on Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and that he met Eleanor Roosevelt and Owens after his arrival in the United States.
In his letter, Hirt said that he realized “it wasn’t about me”, and that he was motivated to lie by his fears that the history and horror of the camps would be forgotten. He said that he was shocked to find that Auschwitz, now a museum and memorial, had become a “clean and polished tourist destination” where visitors laughed and joked about “propaganda”.
“Flagrant denial and ignorance of the truth made me determined to keep the memories alive,” Hirt said. “I used poor judgment and faulty reasoning, risking a sullying of the truth I was trying to share.”
Hirt did not immediately reply to a request for an interview.
Earlier this year, New York history teacher Andrew Reid became suspicious of Hirt’s story and wrote a refutation of many of Hirt’s points.
The names of concentration camp victims and survivors are publicly available, and there is no record of Hirt at Auschwitz or elsewhere. Hirt admitted in his letter that he had tattooed the camp number of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi, the acclaimed author and chemist, on his left forearm – “in no way an attempt to take on his identity, but in an effort to incorporate his symbol as a way of remembering him”.
Reid also found that Hirt’s escape story did not fit with camp records, that Mengele did not arrive at the camp until after the alleged escape, and other lies, errors and far-fetched claims in Hirt’s account. He was a six-year-old Polish boy and extraordinarily unlikely to be anywhere near Hitler at the Olympics, for instance, and Owens’ biographer found the snub was likely a fabrication, possibly conflated with another black sprinter’s story.
“I want to be clear – I am not a Holocaust denier,” Reid wrote in his own letter, noting that he got his first job from a concentration camp survivor. “It is partly in his memory and for the preservation of the truth of what millions of people endured that I have taken upon myself the task of exposing Mr Hirt’s shameful deception.”
Hirt is not the first to fabricate or exaggerate a Holocaust story, worrying historians who fear these voices encourage people who deny the deaths of six million people. Herman Rosenblat, a Polish survivor, embellished his 1993 memoir and made up some parts entirely, including the love story at its heart. At the time, historian Ken Waltzer wrote in the New Republic that he was alarmed by how quickly people accepted the story.
“This was not Holocaust education but miseducation,” he said. “This shows something about the broad unwillingness in our culture to confront the difficult knowledge of the Holocaust. All the more important then to have real memoirs that tell of real experience in the camps.”
Source article: Guardian: "Man who claimed to have escaped Auschwitz admits he lied for years"
2014 version of Hirt's story:
Holocaust survisor Joseph Hirt to speak at Caernarvon Fire Hall on Feb. 26
LancasterOnline.com
Jennifer Wentz/Correspondent
Jan 27, 2014
Seventy-three years ago, Nazis captured Joseph Hirt and loaded him into a cattle car headed for one of World War II's most notorious concentration camps — Auschwitz.
Eight months later, Hirt made a daring escape, but he will never forget the atrocities he faced in the camp.
Now a resident of Lancaster County, he hopes to ensure that future generations never forget either.
At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, Hirt will share his survival story at the Caernarvon Fire Hall, 2145 Main Street in Churchtown.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Caernarvon Historical Society. No reservations are required.
"He feels it's very, very important to get his word out about the Holocaust," said Frances Smith, the historical society’s secretary.
Hirt frequently speaks to church groups, schools and other organizations throughout Lancaster County and surrounding areas.
Smith and the historical society’s president, Yvonne Styer, decided to invite Hirt to Caernarvon after witnessing his emotional recounting of his experiences at an event in New Holland several months ago.
"It's very moving, and you will have nightmares," Smith said of Hirt's presentation. "It's hard to believe that anything like this happened."
Smith hopes that Hirt's words will not only convince people that the atrocities of the Holocaust did happen, but also encourage them to make sure they never happen again.
Correction: An earlier version of the his article misstated the day of the week for Hirt's presentation. It is Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Article: "Holocaust survisor Joseph Hirt to speak at Caernarvon Fire Hall on Feb. 26"
Another 2014 version of Joe's story:
Holocaust survivor recounts escape from Auschwitz to Lancaster County community
wgal.com
By Meredith Jorgensen
Updated: 12:06 PM EDT Aug 22, 2014
BLUE BALL, Pa. — Surviving old age is easy for one Lancaster County man after what he's been through in his life.Joseph Hirt, 89, is a former psychologist, but he says he's meant to serve another purpose.
"I think of myself as history on two legs," said Hirt.
Hirt saw Adolph Hitler in person at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin when Jesse Owens won on the track. Five years later, he found himself in one of Hitler's most notorious concentration camps - Auschwitz.
"Our conversation topics were: What do you think is the best and easiest way to die, to be killed," said Hirt.
Befriended by a doctor in the camp, he was given a charge.
"You have to live. I order you to live so you can tell the story," recalled Hirt.
Eight months dragged by and then his friend was dead.
"He was killed and I decided I was either going to get killed by the Nazi's or I was going to escape," said Hirt.
It was March of 1942 and snow was still on the ground when he found a hole under an electrified fence.
"Sixty pounds, you know, skeleton with skin," said Hirt. "I have nightmares, I still do. I keep running. I keep escaping."
Hirt says sharing his story is his mission. This week, he visited Blue Ball, Lancaster County to tell his story to the community.
He says he's hoping to write a book about his escape from Auschwitz.
Article: "Holocaust survivor recounts escape from Auschwitz to Lancaster County community"
Note: use https://archive.org/ to find articles if original links no longer work.
Listen to Joe tell his yarn (before he admitted it was all a lie). Note in this version of his tale, he claimed to be "89 years old" back in 2014!
