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Marie Sophie Hingst (1987–2019) was a German historian and blogger who falsely claimed to be descended from Holocaust survivors. Born into a Protestant family, she fabricated a Jewish background and sent documentation for 22 misrepresented or non-existent relatives, who she claimed were Holocaust victims, to the official Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. She maintained a blog about her supposed Jewish background, identity and experiences as a German expatriate in Ireland, where she moved in 2013. The blog received hundreds of thousands of views. Throughout her life, Hingst falsified much of her background, connections, and achievements. She used her fraudulent credentials to gain awards and recognition, and held positions of prestige in Jewish communities across Europe. A journalist exposed her claims as false in 2019. She was castigated in the German media, destroying her reputation. Hingst committed suicide at the age of 31. Her fraud and death attracted attention across Europe. (Full article...)

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On this day

May 14: Feast day of Saint Matthias (Catholicism)

Monument to the Battle of Lewes

1264 – Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle of Lewes (monument pictured) and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
1857 – Mindon Min was crowned as King of Burma.
1863 – American Civil War: Union troops captured Jackson, the capital of Mississippi.
1931 – Five people were killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers opened fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
1948 – David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv.

Fanny Imlay (b. 1794)
Mary Seacole (d. 1881)
Miranda Cosgrove (b. 1993)
Taruni Sachdev (b. 1998; d. 2012)

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Today's featured picture

Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808 — May 14, 1887) was an American abolitionist, entrepreneur, lawyer, essayist, natural rights legal theorist, pamphleteer, political philosopher, and writer often associated with the Boston anarchist tradition. He is known for establishing the American Letter Mail Company, which competed with the United States Postal Service. This undated photograph of Spooner was taken by Amory Nelson Hardy.

Photograph credit: Amory Nelson Hardy; restored by Adam Cuerden

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