Fake Holocaust Memoirist Owes $22.5M

TALL TALES

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 4:02PM EDT / Published May 12, 2014 1:00PM EDT

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Misha Defonseca wrote a harrowing tale about surviving the Holocaust by fleeing the Nazis and being raised by wolves. Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years was not only a successful memoir when it published in 1997, it was made into an Italian opera and a French movie. Unfortunately, it was all completely fabricated, and now Defonseca will have to pay the price: $22.5 million. A Massachusetts judge ordered her to return the money to her publisher, Mt. Ivy Press. Ironically, the fabrication would not have been uncovered if there hadn’t been a lawsuit involving her publisher hiding royalties from her. The ruling is “the third, and hopefully last,” said Judge Marc Kantrowitz.

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Fake Holocaust Memoirist Owes $22.5M

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