Stefan Maechler (born 30 May 1957) is a Swiss historian and expert on

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and Switzerland's treatment of Holocaust refugees during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Education

Mächler was born on 30 May 1957 in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

, Switzerland. He studied history and

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...

at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

Wilkomirski affair

He was commissioned by

Schocken Books Schocken Books is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that specializes in Jewish literary works. Originally established in 1931 by Salman Schocken as Schocken Verlag in Berlin, the company later moved to Israel and then the Unit ...

, a publisher specializing in Judaica, to conduct a full-scale investigation into the life of writer

Binjamin Wilkomirski ''Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood'' is a 1995 book, whose author used the pseudonym Binjamin Wilkomirski, which purports to be a memoir of the Holocaust. It was debunked by Swiss journalist and writer in August 1998. The subsequent di ...

, whose memoir ''Fragments'', published by Schocken in 1996, sparked international controversy. Maechler studied hundreds of personal documents, and interviewed eyewitnesses and families of survivors in seven countries. He was given unrestricted access to government files, and discovered facts that completely refuted Wilkomirski's bestselling book as a forgery. Maechler's findings were published in a book called ''The Wilkomirski Affair: A Study in Biographical Truth'' by Schocken Books, New York, in 2001 (496 pp.); the original German title was ''Der Fall Wilkomirski: über die Wahrheit einer Biographie'', published by Pendo Verlag AG, Zurich, 2000.

Personal life

Maechler lives and works in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Notes

References

* Good Reads
The Wilkomirski Affair: A Study in Biographical Truth by Stefan Maechler, John E. Woods (Translator).
Good Reads: Book. Retrieved February 7, 2015. * Alibris
BOOKS by Stefan Maechler.
''The Wilkomirski Affair: A Study in Biographical Truth'' 2015 Alibris for Libraries. Retrieved February 7, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Maechler, Stefan 1957 births Living people 20th-century Swiss historians Swiss male writers 21st-century Swiss historians Writers from Zurich