ANOTHER FALSE MEMOIR (merged: Holocaust writer)

Yes, just read about this on "Publisher's Marketplace" and started googling. Hadn't heard of it before. So sad. I had the same thought, why not write it as a child's fantasy of trying to make sense of a truth that was terrible enough: her parents, though not Jewish, were apparently Belgian Resistance fighters who were caught and executed by the Nazis. She was sent to live with grandparents in a "bad situation." She carried the fantasies of "I'm really someone else" to an extreme, I guess.

It's an incredibly poorly-written book as well.

And, to be honest, her real story is actually more distinctive and interesting. I'm sorry she didn't write that. I bet it would have been a better book.

The story about the genealogical researcher could form the basis of interesting novel. What if she starts getting followed by neo-Nazis. A bomb is planted in her car. The author turns out to be . . . excuse me, I've got an outline to prepare.

IceCreamEmpress said:

It's an incredibly poorly-written book as well.

And, to be honest, her real story is actually more distinctive and interesting. I'm sorry she didn't write that. I bet it would have been a better book.

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I agree.

ORION said:

I guess I also have to wonder how in the world people think they can get away with it.

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In this particular case, it sounds like something that more or less took on a life of it's own, so to speak. One lie leading to the next and snowballing.

Still...better not to tell the lie in the first place.

Despicable.

That's pathetic.

Wow, people will do anything. It's so sad and pathetic.

The whole "raised by wolves" thing is kind of a massive red flag. She'd be talking like Nell or something. In any case, her story is very sad. I wonder what horrors she endured in her grandparent's home.

When I encounter rude, out-of-control children I usually mutter "Raised by wolves!" more as an observation of the parents' poor child-rearing skills than the child.

Most of them are probably false anyway (especially the political ones), this one just happened to be more false.

Author: My best-selling Holocaust book is a hoax

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.

Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II.

"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed," Defonseca said, according to a written statement the lawyers gave to The Associated Press.

Defonseca, 71, now lives in Dudley, Massachusetts. Her husband, Maurice, told The Boston Globe on Thursday that she would not comment.

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/02/29/holocaust.bookhoax.ap/index.html

CNN: My best-selling Holocaust book is a hoax

From CNN:

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.

Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II.

"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed," Defonseca said, according to a written statement the lawyers gave to The Associated Press.

Defonseca, 71, now lives in Dudley, Massachusetts. Her husband, Maurice, told The Boston Globe on Thursday that she would not comment.

Full story from CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/02/29/holocaust.bookhoax.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Why don't I believe this?

Per Ms Defonseca, it's what she recalled as a 4 year old child? What adult over 30 remembers their life in detail at age 4? Especially 'living with wolves' and traveling with them?

I don't doubt that this woman was traumatized by losing her parents. Her relatives may have been unkind to her but this is a fraudulent tale from the getgo. It demeans millions of real horrible deaths and the sufferings of the real Jewish survivors.

If this had been a work of fiction of course it wouldn't have been a best seller. Mowgli isn't a girl, certainly isn't Jewish, and is either an opportunistic slimeball or a deeply disturbed woman who copes by lying to herself and the world.

How much does forgiveness cost? How about all the millions she's made from her "memoir"?

A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves

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Hey, I remember this TV show!

LucanBerg.

I was raised by butterflies, and you don't see me writing a memoir.

Hey, you've got to admire someone with the marketing skill to merge the "I Survived The Holocaust" with the "I Was Raised By Wolves" memoir genres.

plus bonus points for being a goy.

rugcat said:

Hey, you've got to admire someone with the marketing skill to merge the "I Survived The Holocaust" with the "I Was Raised By Wolves" memoir genres.

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I applaud her for not saying the wolves sexually molested her.