Hoax Film Made by Nazis

Hoax Film Made by Nazis
by Jorge Luis Marzo:

These three clips are part of an SS film shot at Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration camp for Jews in Prague, in 1944. Entitled “The Fuhrer gives a city to the Jews,” it was a hoax film made by Nazis intended to demonstrate that widespread news about the extermination of Jews in the East was false. The most unbelievable thing is that, in order to create a credible plot, the entire film was directed by Jewish filmmaker Kurt Gerron, himself a prisoner, and shot and performed by the very inmates, under the threat of being sent to Auschwitz. The camp was painted, remodelled and inmates received extra rations of food, etc..

The Fuhrer gives a city to the Jews, Part 1

A copy of the film was sent to the Red Cross in Geneve (Switzerland). A few days later, the whole camp’s population was sent to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers.

I got this footage from the Jewish International Council in NYC. The film has been used by some negationist pro-Nazi groups to deny the Holocaust. So, for any use of these film clips, it is very important to explain the full context.

For Film Parts 2 and 3 Continue reading “Hoax Film Made by Nazis”

Cop’s Revenge Back-fires

Ex-NY Trooper Admits Writing Fake Traffic Tickets
1010WINS
March 24, 2009

ticketback200White Plains, N.Y. (AP) — An ex-New York state trooper has admitted in court that he issued fake traffic tickets to a man he’d argued with.

Lester Hooper pleaded guilty Tuesday in White Plains court to one count of official misconduct. As part of the plea deal, he resigned from his job.

The 36-year-old will serve three years probation and pay $600 restitution to the Brooklyn man he targeted. He’d been on paid suspension since his July 1 arrest.

Hooper’s defense lawyer did not immediately return an after-hours message. He previously said the dispute involved contact between the ticketed man and Hooper’s wife.

Fake traffic ticket image from (and available at) prankplace.com

LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author

Here’s the sixth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.


LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author
By W.J. Elvin III
March 19, 2009

pastore-bookIn the last column there was a sort of drive-by mention of author Stephen R. Pastore and the possibility that some of his prominence and recognition as an author is self-imposed. That observation was inspired by a reporter”s challenge to him and some questions raised by Wikipedia editors regarding his credibility. So far, rather than coming to the fore in his own defense, Pastore seems to be fading deeper into the literary mists.

This is beginning to look like a story that The New York Times and Washington Post will be digging into soon. So of course I wanted The Art of the Prank Blog readers to be able to say they saw it here, some of it at any rate, first. Why haven”t the heavyweights weighed in already? Well, venturing a guess, Pastore hasn”t yet appeared on Oprah, and that, the way I”ve got it figured, is the trigger for national media attention these days. First you spoof Oprah, then you show up on big media radar.

Pastore is a winner of the Aldous Huxley Prize for literature. The prize may not ring bells of recognition with you, but it was listed on a site devoted to literary awards. However, that site has since disappeared. When you dig it out of the Internet archives, there is indeed mention such an award, but details have been scrubbed. Continue reading “LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author”

Stewart vs. Cramer

The Comedian as Media Critic
by Brian Stelter
TVDecoder.blogs.nytimes.com
March 13, 2009

Is the “weeklong feud of the century” finished?

Jon Stewart, the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, critiqued CNBC”s coverage of the stock market on Thursday during a highly anticipated appearance by Jim Cramer, the host of the sometimes frantic stock market show “Mad Money” on CNBC.

Mr. Stewart questioned Mr. Cramer about the perception that CNBC acts as a cheerleader for the investment community. “The financial news industry is not just guilty of a sin of omission but a sin of commission,” Mr. Stewart said. Mr. Cramer agreed that he made a number of faulty predictions over the years.

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Continue reading “Stewart vs. Cramer”

LiteratEye #4: The Fix Is In: Planted Documents

Here’s the fourth installment of LiteratEye, a new series, only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly and the LitFraud blog.


LiteratEye #4: The Fix Is In: Planted Documents
By W.J. Elvin III
March 6, 2009

Monk Transcribing ScripturesThe recent fuss about President Obama”s birth certificate started me thinking about the broader topic of “planted” documents. Three modern cases, involving murder, fraud and theft came to mind.

The first case features a brilliant fellow, for a time a highly respected document dealer, who concluded his career as an expert forger by committing two murders.

It is the dream of every “picker” to be rummaging through the bargain bin of a second hand bookstore only to discover a real rarity. That actually happened for Mark Hofmann. The twist was that Hofmann had planted this particular document in the bin in the first place. Continue reading “LiteratEye #4: The Fix Is In: Planted Documents”