Disputed Holocaust memoir canceled

Herman Rosenblat's memoir ''Angel at the Fence'' was to come out in February. (J. Pat Carter/Associated Press, File)

NEW YORK - Berkley Books has announced that it has canceled Herman Rosenblat's Holocaust memoir, "Angel at the Fence."

Rosenblat acknowledged that he and his wife did not meet, as they had said for years, at a subcamp of Buchenwald, where she allegedly sneaked him apples and bread. The book was supposed to come out in February.

"Herman Rosenblat and his wife are the most gentle, loving, beautiful people," literary agent Andrea Hurst said yesterday, anguishing over why she, and so many others, were taken by Rosenblat's story of love born on opposite sides of a barbed-wire fence at a concentration camp.

"I question why I never questioned it," she said. "I believed it; it was an incredible, hope-filled story."

Rosenblat, 79, has been married to the former Roma Radzicky for 50 years, since meeting her on a blind date in New York. Historical records confirm that Rosenblat was at Buchenwald and other camps.

"I wanted to bring happiness to people," said Rosenblat, in a statement. "My motivation was to make good in this world."

ASSOCIATED PRESS