Donald Watt
Donald Joseph Watt (born 1918) is an Australian ex-serviceman and the author of a Holocaust memoir entitled Stoker : the story of an Australian soldier who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau published in 1995. Only the disclosure of Watt's fabrications altered the status of the book which was initially praised by various Jewish organizations as the most important work written in Australia.[1][2]
In the book, Watt described being sent to Auschwitz soon after he was recaptured trying to escape from a German POW camp. He claimed to have been forced to work as a Sonderkommando member in the crematorium attached to the gas chambers. Reportedly, Watt received monetary compensation from the Australian government as a Holocaust victim.[1] A number of institutions unknowingly associated themselves with the book partly because it was published with the financial help from the popular Jewish-Australian benefactor John Saunders. However, the memoir has been condemned as a forgery even by various non-revisionists.[2][3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Simon Caterson, The Age (4 January 2009). Lies between lines when write stuff is wrong. Book reviews 2 of 2. The Age.com.au.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Guy Walters (17 November 2011). The curious case of the "break into Auschwitz". Culture : Books. The New Statesman magazine.
- ↑ Anthony Daniels (1999). Literary victimhood. Book reviews. Farlex Free Library.com.
