The Truth About Hansel and Gretel

The Truth About Hansel and Gretel (German: Die Wahrheit über Hänsel und Gretel) is a book written by German caricaturist Hans Traxler, which was published in 1963.

The book purports to tell the story of how teacher Georg Ossegg uncovered archeological evidence of the "real" Hansel and Gretel in 1962. According to the book, Ossegg had determined that the fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, was based on the story of a baker named Hans Metzler and his sister Grete. According to the book, Hans and Grete Metzler lived in a village in the Spessart Forest during the Thirty Years War, and killed an old woman named Katharina Schraderin in order to steal her recipe for Nürnberger Lebkuchen (gingerbread) during the 17th century.[1][2][3][4]

In reality, Ossegg did not exist and the details of the story were fabricated by Traxler. Vanessa Joosen has called the book a "fictive nonfictional text," which "carries the features of a nonfictional text but consciously misleads the reader."[5] Despite its fictional nature, the hoax convinced many in Germany at the time,[1][2][5] and continues to have some traction.[6][7][8]

In 1987, a one hour twenty-two minute movie, Ossegg oder Die Wahrheit über Hänsel und Gretel , loosely based on the novel, was released in Germany. [9][10]