Henryk Batuta was a hoax article on the Polish Wikipedia from November 2004 to February 2006, the main element of which was a biographical article about a nonexistent socialist revolutionary, Henryk Batuta.
Henryk Batuta was a hoax article on the Polish Wikipedia from November 2004 to February 2006, the main element of which was a biographical article about a nonexistent socialist revolutionary, Henryk Batuta.
The perpetrators of the hoax created an article about Henryk Batuta (supposedly born Izaak Apfelbaum), a fictional socialist revolutionary and Polish Communist. The fake biography said Batuta was born in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1898 and participated in the Russian Civil War. The article was created on November 8, 2004 [1] and was exposed as a hoax 15 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 (e.g. Gazeta Wyborcza ) and magazines (e.g. Przekrój ), as well as a British newspaper ( The Observer ). [3]
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" (Polish : 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 [5] published their articles about the hoax.
There is a Batuty Street (Polish: ulica Batuty) in Warsaw; [6] 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. [7] Streets named after a person in Warsaw always carry the first name, not only the family name, on the plate. On the street plate for Batuta, there is no first name.
The following is an English translation of the hoax article as it appeared on the Polish Wikipedia on 1 February 2006, when it was exposed as a hoax: [8]
Henryk Batuta, real name Izaak Apfelbaum, (born 1898 in Odesa – died 1947 near Ustrzyki Górne) was a Polish communist and an activist in the international workers' movement.
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.
Henryk Sławik was a Polish politician in the interwar period, social worker, activist, and diplomat, who during World War II helped save over 30,000 Polish refugees, including 5,000 Polish Jews in Budapest, Hungary, by giving them false Polish passports with Catholic designation. He was executed with some of his fellow Polish activists on order of Reichsführer SS in concentration camp Gusen on 23 August 1944.
Gazeta Wyborcza is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the trade union "Solidarity" in the election campaign before the Contract Sejm. Initially created to cover Poland's first partially free parliamentary elections, it rapidly grew into a major publication, reaching a circulation of over 500,000 copies at its peak in the 1990s.
Żydowski Związek Wojskowy was an underground resistance organization operating during World War II in the area of the Warsaw Ghetto, which fought during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and 1944 Warsaw Uprising. It was formed, primarily of former officers of the Polish Army, in late 1939, soon after the start of the German occupation of Poland.
The Rywin affair was a corruption scandal in Poland, which began in late 2002 while the post-communist government of the SLD was in power. It is named after Polish film producer Lew Rywin, who was a key figure.
Henryk Iwański (1902–1978), nom de guerre Bystry, was a member of the Polish resistance during World War II. He is known for leading one of the most daring actions of the Armia Krajowa in support of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, however later research cast doubts on the veracity of his claims. For his assistance to the Polish Jews Iwański was bestowed the title of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 1964.
Bereza Kartuska Prison was operated by Poland's Sanation government from 1934 to 1939 in Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship. Because the inmates were detained without trial or conviction, it is considered an internment camp or concentration camp.
Teresa Sławomira Torańska was a Polish journalist and writer. She was perhaps best known for her award winning monograph, Oni.
Ksawerów is a neighbourhood, and an area of the City Information System, in the city of Warsaw, Poland, located within the district of Mokotów. The neighbourhood mostly consists of a residential area, consisting of multifamily residential apartment buildings, and single-family detached homes.
Służewiec is a neighbourhood, and an area of the City Information System, in the city of Warsaw, Poland, located within the district of Mokotów. Most of the neighbourhood consists of office buildings, which form one of the biggest complexes of office buildings in Poland, and one of the most important office centres in the city. It contains many headquarters of branches of many domestic and multinational corporations. A small portion of the neighbourhood also forms a residential area with apartment buildings.
Jerzy Waldorff-Preyss of the Nabram coat of arms was a Polish media personality, public intellectual, socialite, music critic and music aficionado. He wrote over twenty books, mostly on the subject of classical music and society. Waldorff is known as "the last baron of the Polish People's Republic".
Expressway S8 or express road S8, officially named The Route of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920 is a Polish highway which connects Wrocław via Łódź and Warsaw to Białystok. The whole road is 554 km (344 mi) long. Its fragment forming the bypass of Wrocław (22.7 km) is constructed in motorway standard and marked as A8.
The Silesian Wikipedia is the Silesian edition of Wikipedia. It was started on 26 May 2008.
Stanisław Józef Dubois was a Polish journalist and political activist in the Second Polish Republic, member of the left wing of the Polish Socialist Party as well as the Youth Organisation of the Workers' University Society.
Jar'Edo Wens was a deliberately fictitious Wikipedia article which existed for almost 10 years before being spotted in November 2014 and deleted in March 2015. At the time, it was the longest-lasting hoax article discovered in the history of Wikipedia.
Bersohn and Bauman Children's Hospital was a Jewish medical facility operating from 1878 to 1942 in Warsaw at 51 Śliska Street/ 60 Sienna Street. In 1941, a branch of the hospital was established at 80/82 Leszno Street and, after the liquidation of the so-called small ghetto in August 1942, it was moved to Umschlagplatz, to the building at 6/8 Stawki Street.
Paulina Hewelke was a Polish educator and education activist during the period when Russification policies forbade teaching Polish language and culture. Active in clandestine activities to teach Polish subjects, she participated in lectures for the Flying University and from 1896–1919 operated a girls' school in Warsaw. The school was one of the top women's schools in Warsaw and, upon her retirement, was purchased by the government, which still operates it as the Klementyna Hoffmanowa Lyceum and Secondary School IX.
Stary Służew is a neighbourhood, and a City Information System area, located in Warsaw, Poland, within the district of Ursynów.
Jerzy Kuźmienko was a Polish architect, urban planner and university teacher.
The Służew Valley Park is an urban park in Warsaw, Poland. It is located in the neighbourhood of Służew, within the district of Mokotów, between Bacha Street, Wilanów Avenue, Puławska Street, and Dolina Służewiecka Street. The park was opened in the 1970s.
Henryk Poddębski was a Polish photographer, local historian. Member of the Polish Local History Union (1911). Secretary of the Photographic Commission of the Polish Local History Union.
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 Odesa, 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]
