Age, Biography and Wiki

Misha Defonseca (Monique de Wael) was born on 12 May, 1937 in Etterbeek, Belgium, is an Author of a fraudulent Holocaust memoir. Discover Misha Defonseca's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 86 years old?

Popular As Monique de Wael
Occupation Novelist, writer
Age 86 years old
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Born 12 May 1937
Birthday 12 May
Birthplace Etterbeek, Belgium
Nationality Belgium

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 12 May. She is a member of famous Novelist with the age 86 years old group.

Misha Defonseca Height, Weight & Measurements

At 86 years old, Misha Defonseca height not available right now. We will update Misha Defonseca's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Misha Defonseca's Husband?

Her husband is Maurice Defonseca

Family
Parents Not Available
Husband Maurice Defonseca
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Misha Defonseca Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Misha Defonseca worth at the age of 86 years old? Misha Defonseca’s income source is mostly from being a successful Novelist. She is from Belgium. We have estimated Misha Defonseca's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income Novelist

Misha Defonseca Social Network

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Timeline

1941

Defonseca began to fantasize a vivid story about her childhood, including having wandered across Europe at the age of six after her parents were deported in 1941, being sheltered by friendly packs of wolves, killing a German soldier in self-defence, sneaking into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto, and finding her way home at the end of the war.

Jane Daniel, a local book publisher, convinced Defonseca to write a memoir about her alleged past after she heard the writer tell the story in a Massachusetts synagogue.

1988

Defonseca and her husband, Maurice, moved to the United States from Paris in 1988 and bought a house in Millis, Massachusetts.

1990

He was unemployed by the mid-1990s.

1996

The first person who publicly doubted the authenticity of the story was Henryk M. Broder, who wrote an article about Defonseca in 1996 for the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

1997

Misha Defonseca (born Monique de Wael) is a Belgian-born impostor and the author of a fraudulent Holocaust memoir titled Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, first published in 1997 and at that time professed to be a true memoir.

It became an instant success in Europe and was translated into 18 languages.

The French version of the book was a derivative work based on the original with the title Survivre avec les loups (Surviving with Wolves) that was published in 1997 by the Éditions Robert Laffont; this second version was adapted into the French film of the same name in 2007.

Daniel published Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years in 1997 through her "one woman operation", Mt. Ivy Press.

Prior to the uncovering of the hoax, the book had spawned a multimillion-dollar legal battle between Defonseca and the book's ghostwriter, Vera Lee, against Jane Daniel and her publishing company, Mt. Ivy Press.

Daniel and Defonseca fell out over profits received from the best-selling book, which led to a lawsuit.

2005

In 2005, a Boston court ordered Daniel to pay Defonseca and Lee $22.5 million.

Defonseca's lawyers said Daniel had not paid the court-ordered sum.

2008

On 29 February 2008, the author as well as her lawyers admitted that the bestselling book was fraudulent, despite its having been presented as autobiographical.

In late February 2008, a baptismal certificate from a Brussels church for a Monique De Wael and a register from an elementary school near the De Waels' home that shows Monique enrolled there in September 1943 – two years after Misha claimed to have left Brussels – were posted by Jane Daniel on her blog.

Belgian national newspaper Le Soir soon reported these findings.

Finally the leading historian of the Shoah in Belgium, Maxime Steinberg, pointed out the story's historical anomalies and errors.

On 29 February 2008, Defonseca admitted to Le Soir that she had fabricated the tale, after she had been presented with what the paper described as "irrefutable" evidence that her story was false.

"The book is a story, it's my story", said the writer in a statement issued under her real name.

"It's not the true reality, but it is my reality. There are times when I find it difficult to differentiate between reality and my inner world."

Defonseca told Le Soir that she had always wanted to forget her real name because she had been called "the traitor's daughter."

Forensic genealogists Sharon Sergeant and Colleen M. Fitzpatrick led the team which was instrumental in uncovering the hoax.

Misha Defonseca and her memoir are the subject of the documentary film Misha and the Wolves, released on Netflix in 2021, exposing how she ended up fabricating her story.

The documentary reveals that Defonseca, prior to the controversy, was slated to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show as part of Oprah's Book Club.

A segment was even filmed for the broadcast with Defonseca interacting with a live wolf, but afterwards Defonseca canceled the appearance.

2014

In 2014 a US court ordered Defonseca to repay her US publisher Mt. Ivy Press $22 million that she had been awarded in an earlier legal suit against the publisher.

Defonseca was born Monique de Wael, the daughter of Catholic parents who were arrested, deported, and murdered by the Nazis for being resistance members.

After her parents' arrest, Monique was sent to live with her grandparents, then her uncle.

In the local community, she was known as the "daughter of the traitor," as her father, Robert de Wael, was accused of disclosing the names of resistance members to the Nazis during his imprisonment.

After being liberated, her father's name was erased from the stone plaque in honour of the local Nazi-victim employees on the walls of the Schaerbeek municipality.

Following her admission, a court in 2014 ordered Defonseca to repay the full amount.

Despite the book's popularity, many critics pointed to passages that were logically or historically implausible.