Binjamin Wilkomirski's Fragments Book Report

Fragments, a short Holocaust memoir, was published in Germany in 1995. Binjamin Wilkomirski, the author who is also a Swiss musician, claimed that he was a Holocaust survivor. He described the book as a memoir of his early childhood experience in concentration camps. The book became very popular and was soon translated into nine languages. After three years, it was published, and the public began to question the authenticity of the book. They found that Binjamin Wikomirski was a liar, and that he developed his fiction story on purpose. Stefan Maechler, a Swiss historian, proved that the book was fiction by examining specific details in his book that shows why it was considered fiction. Since that time, critics began to argue that Fragments has literary value. However, I would argue that the authenticity of the book matters, therefore, Wilkomirski’s lying undercuts the value of the book and it prevents the readers from knowing the real history of the Holocaust.
As we all know, Wilkomirski’s story was fake and the experiences that he talked about in the book were questioned. We might still think he knows some facts about the Holocaust, but Stefan Maechler denied this assumption. “Meacher was given unrestricted access to hundreds of government
“Wilkomirski has conducted virtually no serious research into his past in Switzerland--- which is indeed amazing in light of his claim of an exchange of children on Swiss soil” (*author’s last name267). Everyone has a rough sense of what happened during the Holocaust. From a normal reader’s perspective, the most interesting parts of the book are the details of life and mental activity of the survivor during the Holocaust period. However, Wilkomirski didn't give us reliable facts, and he does not even have basic research, which hurts the reader’s feelings significantly and lowers the value of the