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Untrue Historic “Facts” It’s Time to Erase

Khalid Elhassan September 8, 2020 35 min

Siege of Budapest - World War II — Red Army soldiers marching into a captured Budapest in 1945. Radio Free Europe

35. The Greatest Saint Bernard

Stuffed Barry der Menschenretter, as he originally appeared. Angelfire

The most famous Saint Bernard of all was Barry der Menschenretter (1800 – 1814). Weighing about 95 pounds, he was significantly smaller than modern Saint Bernards, who weigh between 180 to 300 pounds. He gained the name Menschenretter, which means “People Rescuer”, because he is credited with saving between 40 to 100 people. His most famous rescue was of a little boy, whom he found in an ice cavern. He warmed the kid sufficiently by licking him, then maneuvered him on his back, and carried him back to the hospice.

Stuffed Barry der Menschenretter after a 1923 restoration that modified his appearance to more closely resemble St. Bernards as they appeared then. Natural History Museum of Bern

After serving twelve years with the monks, Barry was taken to Bern, Switzerland, where he retired. After his death, his body was donated to the Natural History Museum of Bern, and was preserved by taxidermy as an exhibit. A 1923 restoration altered his pose, and modified the shape of his skull to resemble the Saint Bernards of that time.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.