A 91-year-old man who claimed for years that he was a former holocaust survivor and prisoner at Auschwitz has admitted he made the story up. Joseph Hirt from Pennsylvania had toured the U.S. lecturing schools and colleges about his experience at Auschwitz. However, a Hirt recently admitted in a letter to the LNP newspaper on Wednesday that his stories were a lie and that he never set foot in the Nazi death camp. Foxnews.com reports: “I am writing today to apologize publicly for harm caused to anyone because of my inserting myself into the descriptions of life in Auschwitz,” Hirt wrote. “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.” Hirt’s admission came weeks after his story of escaping from Auschwitz was questioned by Andrew Reid, a history teacher in Turin, New York. Reid and several students attended an April presentation by Hirt and the educator concluded that many of the speaker’s claims didn’t add up. He launched his own investigation, which culminated in a 25-page letter he sent to media outlets and organizations that had written about or hosted Hirt. Those [...]
