Henryk Batuta hoax

The Henryk Batuta hoax was a hoax perpetrated on the Polish Wikipedia from November 2004 to February 2006, the main element of which was a biographical article about a nonexistent socialist revolutionary, Henrik Batuta.

The real Batuta Street in Warsaw

History

The perpetrators of the hoax created an article about Henryk Batuta (born Izaak Apfelbaum), a fictional socialist revolutionary and Polish Communist. The fake biography said Batuta was born in Odessa in 1898, and participated in the Russian Civil War. The article was created on November 8, 2004,[1] and was exposed as a hoax 16 months later when it was deleted on February 5, 2006.[2]

The article was ten sentences long while it existed on Polish Wikipedia. It gained some prominence after stories about it appeared in prominent Polish newspapers (Gazeta Wyborcza) and magazines (Przekrój), as well as a British one (The Observer).

The article also falsely claimed a street in Warsaw was named "Henryk Batuta Street", after the fictional communist official. The anonymous hoaxers who created the article, according to the press calling themselves "The Batuta Army" (pl. "Armia Batuty"), allegedly wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are still places in Poland named after former communist officials who "do not deserve the honour".[3]

The hoax was exposed when the article was listed for deletion. Even after the article was exposed as a well-organized hoax, its perpetrators tried to convince others of its authenticity by providing false bibliographical information and even by uploading a doctored photograph of a street name "ulica Henryka Batuty" (Henryk Batuta Street). The mystification was "officially" exposed and confirmed on 9 February 2006, when the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza[4] and weekly Przekrój published their articles about the hoax.

There is an "ulica Batuty" (Batuta Street) in Warsaw;[5] however, the name comes from the Polish word "batuta", which means "conductor's baton". In this area of the Służew district there are many street names relating to music and this is one of them.[6]

Content of the hoax article

An English translation of the hoax article as it appeared on the Polish Wikipedia on 1 February 2006, when it was finally exposed as a hoax.[7]

Henryk Batuta, real name Izaak Apfelbaum, (born 1898 in Odessa – died 1947 near Ustrzyki Górne) was a Polish communist and an activist in the international workers' movement.

Ul. Henryka Batuty.

A participant of the Russian civil war, he joined the Communist Party of Poland after returning home. Enforcing party sentences, he organised assassinations of undercover political police informers; the killings were carried out by Wacław Komar, among others. Only in the fifties was this revealed. From 1934 to 1935 he was imprisoned in Bereza Kartuska, later he emigrated. He participated in the Spanish civil war. During World War II he stayed in the Soviet Union; in 1943 he joined the Union of Polish Patriots; he became the major of the Internal Security Corps. He died in 1947 near Ustrzyki Górne in a clash with the UPA.

His figure is commemorated by a street in Warsaw (Służew nad Dolinką). After 1989 many suggested renaming the street, but the name was never changed.

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gollark: Probably not.
gollark: Yes, if you read the file to a string and write that.
gollark: ... that is some sample code but not actually runnable.
gollark: ... that is not the exact code.

References
  1. 81.18.221.53 (November 8, 2004). "Henryk Batuta: Różnice pomiędzy wersjami (Henryk Batuta: Differences between versions)". Polish Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved September 25, 2019. Batuta Henryk (właściwie: Apfelbaum Isaak) - ur. 1904 w Odessie, działacz mn. ruchu robotniczego, członek Komunistycznej Partii Polski, więziony w Berezie Kartuskiej, w czasie wojny w ZSRR, członek Związku Patriotów Polskich, major, zginął 1947 pod Ustrzykami Dolnymi. Jego osobie jest poświęcona ulica w Warszawie (Służew nad Dolinką) (Batuta Henryk (actually: Apfelbaum Isaak) - born on 1904 in Odessa, activist of the workers' movement, a member of the Communist Party of Poland, imprisoned in Bereza Kartuska, during the war in the USSR, a member of the Union of Polish Patriots, a major, died in 1947 near Ustrzyki Dolne. A street in Warsaw (Służew nad Dolinka) is dedicated to him)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. "Wikipedia:SDU/Henryk Batuta". Polish Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. February 5, 2006. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  3. Parfitt, Tom (February 11, 2006). "Bell tolls for Hemingway's fake comrade". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  4. Godlewski, Konrad (9 February 2006). "Jak komunista Batuta katolików mordował". Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2006-02-15. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  5. "mapa.szukacz.pl Batuta street in Warsaw". Archived from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2006-02-09.
  6. Article on the Służewiec nad Dolinką District with mention of its musical street names, including the Batuta Str: "Historia nad Dolinką". 25 lat Spółdzielni Mieszkaniowej "Służew nad Dolinką" w Warszawie (PDF) (in Polish). Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa "Służew nad Dolinką". 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-21. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  7. Henryk Batuta article on the Polish Wikipedia, 1 February 2006.

Polish
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