Henryk Batuta
Encyclopedia
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
perpetrated on the Polish Wikipedia
Polish Wikipedia
Polish Wikipedia is the Polish-language edition of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. The ninth-oldest edition of Wikipedia, it was started on September 26, 2001. With about articles, it is the seventh-largest Wikipedia edition, after the English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish...
from November 2004 to February 2006.
History
The perpetrators of the hoax created an article about Henryk Batuta (born Izaak Apfelbaum), a fictional socialist revolutionary and Polish Communist. The fake biographyBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
said Batuta was born in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
in 1898, participated in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. The article was created on November 8, 2004, and exposed as a hoax 15 months later when on February 1, 2006 it was listed for deletion.
The article was ten sentences long while it existed on Wikipedia. It gained some prominence after stories about it appeared in prominent Polish newspapers (Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
) and magazines (Przekrój
Przekrój
Przekrój is the oldest Polish weekly newsmagazine, established in 1945 in Krakow and since 2001 published in Warsaw. Przekrój was created by M. Eile who, until 1969, was the first editor-in-chief of the magazine...
), as well as a British one (The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
).
The article also falsely claimed a street in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
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.
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 February 9, 2006, when the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
and weekly Przekrój
Przekrój
Przekrój is the oldest Polish weekly newsmagazine, established in 1945 in Krakow and since 2001 published in Warsaw. Przekrój was created by M. Eile who, until 1969, was the first editor-in-chief of the magazine...
published their articles about the hoax.
There is in fact an "ulica Batuty" (Batuta Street) in Warsaw However the name actually comes from the Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
word "batuta", which means "conductor's
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
baton
Baton (conducting)
A baton is a stick that is used by conductors primarily to exaggerate and enhance the manual and bodily movements associated with directing an ensemble of musicians. They are generally made of a light wood, fiberglass or carbon fiber which is tapered to a grip shaped like a pear, drop, cylinder...
".
Content of the hoax article
The hoax article as it appeared on the Polish Wikipedia on February 1, 2006 when the article was finally exposed as a hoax.
Henryk Batuta, właśc. Izaak Apfelbaum (ur. 1898 w OdessieOdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, zm. 1947 pod Ustrzykami GórnymiUstrzyki GórneUstrzyki Górne is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lutowiska, within Bieszczady County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. It lies approximately south of Lutowiska, south of Ustrzyki Dolne, and south-east of the regional...
) - polski komunista, działacz międzynarodowego ruchu robotniczego.
Uczestnik wojny domowej w Rosji, po powrocie do kraju członek Komunistycznej Partii Polski. Na mocy partyjnych wyroków organizował zabójstwa tajnych współpracowników policji politycznej, których wykonawcą był m.in. Wacław Komar. Sprawa ta wyszła na jaw dopiero w latach 50. W latach 1934–1935 więzień Berezy Kartuskiej, później na emigracji. Uczestnik wojny domowej w Hiszpanii. W czasie II wojny światowej w ZSRR, od 1943 członek Związku Patriotów Polskich, major Korpusu Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego. Zginął w 1947 pod Ustrzykami Górnymi w starciu z UPA.
Jego osobie poświęcona jest ulica w Warszawie (Służew nad Dolinką). Po 1989 r. pojawiały się liczne głosy, by zmienić jej nazwę, jednak do zmiany nie doszło.
English translation:
Henryk Batuta, real name Izaak Apfelbaum, (born 1898 in OdessaOdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
– died 1947 near Ustrzyki GórneUstrzyki GórneUstrzyki Górne is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lutowiska, within Bieszczady County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. It lies approximately south of Lutowiska, south of Ustrzyki Dolne, and south-east of the regional...
) was a Polish communist and an activist in the international workers' movement.
A participant of the Russian civil warRussian Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, he joined the Communist Party of PolandCommunist Party of PolandThe Communist Party of Poland is a historical communist party in Poland. It was a result of the fusion of Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and the Polish Socialist Party-Left in the Communist Workers Party of Poland .-1918-1921:The KPRP was founded on 16 December 1918 as...
after returning home. Using the authority of the 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 warSpanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. During World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he stayed in the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
; in 1943 he joined the Union of Polish PatriotsUnion of Polish PatriotsUnion of Polish Patriots was a political body created by Polish communists and Joseph Stalin in Soviet Union in 1943...
; he became the major of the Internal Security Corps. He died in 1947 near Ustrzyki GórneUstrzyki GórneUstrzyki Górne is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lutowiska, within Bieszczady County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. It lies approximately south of Lutowiska, south of Ustrzyki Dolne, and south-east of the regional...
in a clash with the UPA.
His figure is commemorated by a street in WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(Służew nad Dolinką). After 1989 many suggested renaming the street, but the name was never changed.