On October 27th 2018, another mass shooting occurred in the United States in a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh, resulting in the deaths of 11 people inside and 6 injuries, including armed police who had responded to the incident.
As is now sadly a standard response to such tragedies, lots of misinformation began to proliferate online in the direct aftermath of the shooting.
One such example was the claim that one of the victims of the synagogue shooting – Rose Mallinger – was a survivor of the Holocaust, where millions of Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. In fact such misinformation even made its way into the publications of many mainstream media reports, most of which have now been retracted.
Where this particular case of misinformation originated from is unclear, but we do know that outlets including People.com incorrectly attributed Mallinger as a Holocaust survivor and subsequently printed redactions –
Correction: This article originally incorrectly identified Rose Mallinger as a Holocaust survivor.
Mallinger was 97 years old at the time she was murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue, so while she was certainly alive during the events of World War II, she was not detained by the Nazis, and as such describing her as a Holocaust survivor would be deceptive.
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While much about other victims of the shooting is not yet now as we write this, at the time of publication there is no indication that any of the other victims were Holocaust survivors.
In relation to this story, it appears to be true that a Holocaust survivor did usually attend the Tree of Life synagogue but was not present inside during the shooting. Judah Samet, 80, was a handful of minutes late arriving at the synagogue and as such narrowly escaped being inside as the shooting took place.