Belgian author Misha Defonseca admitted that her bestselling memoir about surviving the Holocaust was in fact a literary forgery.
Misha Defonseca
Misha Defonseca is a Belgian-born impostor and the author of a fraudulent 1997 Holocaust memoir titled Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, initially presented as true.
Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years
Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years is a literary hoax by Misha Defonseca, first published in 1997. The book was published as a memoir telling the claimed true story of how the author survived the Holocaust as a young Jewish girl, wandering Europe searching for her deported parents. The book sold well in several countries and was made into a film, Survivre avec les loups, named after the claim that Misha was adopted by a pack of wolves during her journey who protected her.
Literary forgery
Literary forgery is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir or other presumably nonfictional writing deceptively presented as true when, in fact, it presents untrue or imaginary information or content. These deceptive practices have a long history and have occurred across various literary traditions, often with significant cultural or financial impacts.