Fictional History

So I read this article a while ago and then forgot about it. But it just came back into my mind tonight as I caught up on a missed episode of the Tudors. Yea I like the show, what of it? Now, the Tudors is a good show and it's based on real events!
ok ok I know you're all saying "but Sarah, it makes up a lot of things" and maybe you're all right. But I still like it!

Anyways, back to my point. I read this article in the Toronto Star called "Survivor of Holocaust made up love story". Let me give you a synopsis.
So here it goes: This 79 yr old man Herman Rosenblat, and his wife, Roma made everyone believe that they had met at a concentration camp in Buchenwald. The story went that Herman was imprisoned in the camp and Roma used to sneak apples and bread to him at the wired fence. Once he was released they married. This is a pretty interesting love story, I'll give him that. People enjoyed this story so much that Herman was suppose to have it published with the title 'Angel at the Fence'.

Now. Reality Check: Herman and Roma actually met on a BLIND DATE in NEW YORK!! How funny is that! This couple was able to keep this story going for everyone they knew for 50 years! They even convinced Oprah! The BIG O! So, of course, his book was cancelled.

On one side, you're thinking: oh what a shame, that could have been a good book. BUT as a historian, you think...oh man! that's crazy! ...but not surprising...
Being a historian is all about looking at things with a critical eye.
It's really hard to believe stories without some sort of evidence to back it up and we always need our evidence! Despite the publishers, the movie directors, and the BIG O, scholars were able to push them to understand that his story just didn't make sense. (I don't know the details but just the simple idea that a woman could sneak up to a heavily guarded concentration camp fence without detection seems a bit strange to me.)

The downside of all of this is what the public as a whole will think. Are they going to be more skeptical of people's stories? Will it take away from the hope we have when they hear something good came out of something bad? Are all historical stories going to be looked upon with such harsh skepticism? It's all very interesting.

The funny thing is: Herman was right when he said "I brought hope to a lot of people. My motivation was to make good in this world." Nice stories like his always make even the hardest historical events bearable. But that's the thing about history. Not everything is as perfect as we want them to be.

Lets just hope that not every great story we've heard about the past is a fake.