Saturday, December 27, 2008

Apples Over the Fence [5]: Publisher Cancels Book

The publisher of Herman Rosenblatt's memoir has just cancelled publication. The book was scheduled to appear on February 3rd. Yesterday the publisher was defending the book. Today it cancelled it and issued this statement:

"Berkley Books is cancelling publication of Angel at the Fence after receiving new information from Herman Rosenblatt's agent, Andrea Hurst. Berkley will demand that the author and the agent return all money that they have received for this work."
According to the story, Harris Salomon, the producer of the film that was to accompany the book, said: "It’s unfortunate he told a lie... The man is tragically flawed, but his story had value."

Salomon now acknowledges that they story is false and is angry about being lied to. Just last week he was calling Professor Ken Waltzer's dean at Michigan State University to complain about Waltzer's talking to the New Republic to express his doubts.

2 comments:

MJ said...

I must make one correction to Ken Waltzer's post. As someone who knows the Rosenblats--and who knows that, despite what we have learned recently about their story, they are good, kind, generous people--I wish to state clearly that Herman Rosenblat never forgot the brothers who helped keep him alive throughout the Holocaust. Even before I heard the story of the "apples over the fence," and many times after that story was circulated, I heard Herman tell about how brave and caring his brothers were, and how he would not have survived without them. He was deeply grateful to them, and was devastated by the recent death of his brother Sam.

I don't wish to comment on the "apples" story. I do wish readers of this blog to know that the Rosenblats' suffering in the Holocaust was real, and that, like the great majority of Holocaust survivors, they did the very brave thing of starting life over again and approaching love, parenthood, and friendship with open hearts.

hockey hound said...

"I do wish readers of this blog to know that the Rosenblats' suffering in the Holocaust was real, and that, like the great majority of Holocaust survivors, they did the very brave thing of starting life over again and approaching love, parenthood, and friendship with open hearts."

May G-D grant me friends like you, MJ.

"A friend's love is for all times, and a brother is born for times of affliction." -Proverbs 17:17