The truth about Snow White

THE TRUTH ABOUT SNOW WHITE IS NO FAIRY TALE

Snow White was a real person! But unlike the fairy tale, she didn’t live happily ever after - she was killed to stop her from marrying a king. Even more horrifying, the dwarfs were really child slaves who were forced to work in copper mines.

German teacher Eckhard Sander uncovered the shocking truth behind the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale that became a popular Disney movie. After four years of research, Sander learned that the model for Snow White was the German Countess Margarethe von Waldeck, a 16th century beauty from Bad Wildungen.

Like the fairy tale character, the Countess had a wicked stepmother. But the stepmother wasn’t the one who wanted her killed. The bad guys were the Spanish secret police.

"Margarethe fell in love with King Philip II of Spain and was poisoned by the secret police because they decided the marriage would be a political disaster," said Sander, who authored the book "Snow White: Myth or Reality."

And the dwarfs who rescued Snow White in the fairy tale were based on real children - who worked 12 hours a day in a mine owned by Margarethe’s brother in Bad Wildungen. "The children grew bent and crippled because of the work, the terrible conditions and because they were permanently undernourished", said Sander. "They went prematurely gray and rarely lived beyond the age of 20." "As for the poisoned apple, I discovered that Bad Wildungen had a man who did know how to poison apples - or at least make them very bitter." "It appears that he handed them out to children to stop them from raiding his fruit trees."

Over time, these details were told and retold until they became the fairy tale that we know today, according to the researcher. He concluded, "I don’t believe the Grimm Brothers had any idea of the real story."

(Arnon Hollaender, Sidney Sanders, Keyword - A Complete English Course - Ed. Moderna)