This article first appeared in Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly 23 (June 2008): 65–71—Ed.

Persuasive arguments may cloud good judgment. When researchers are persuaded to see fiction as fact, they may overlook or ignore evidence. “Conventional wisdom,” scarce sources, unproductive searches, or conflicting information also may erroneously convince them that research is futile or proof impossible. Perseverance, however, despite discouragement, may eventually lead to productive results.

Genealogical research exposing the fraudulent story of a Belgian child during World War II illustrates the point. Its appeal overrode even common-sense challenges to its veracity. Critics of the tale had been brushed aside for more than a decade, but persistent research and hard evidence revealed the truth.

A Holocaust Survival Story

In 1997, Misha Defonseca published two versions of an implicitly autobiographical work, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years in the United States, and Survivre avec les loups (To survive with wolves) in France.1 It tells the story of Mishke, a Jewish child with a forgotten surname.

According to the book, Mishke was born in an undisclosed location in 1934, before her family moved to Belgium.² They settled in Schaerbeek, a community east of Brussels. Mishke’s parents, Reuven (Robert, in some versions of the story), who worked in a town hall, and Gerusha spoke to her in French.³ In spring 1941, while Mishke was at school, her parents were arrested and sent somewhere east of Belgium, perhaps Germany.⁴

Anticipating their arrest, Mishke’s parents had prepaid and arranged for someone to meet her at school and take her to a home in a western district of Brussels. There she received a new name—Monique DeWael in the book’s American edition and Monique Valle in the French edition. The author claimed Mishke’s new identity belonged to a child born in 1937.5 Her new surname was that of her new family: a dentist; his wife, Marguerite; and their twenty-year-old son, Leopold.6 Mishke frequently visited the nearby farm of the dentist’s Uncle Ernest, whom she called “Grandfather,” and his wife, Marthe.7

To escape abuse from her adoptive mother, Monique left Brussels in November 1941.⁸ Seeking her Jewish parents, she traveled three thousand miles from autumn 1941 through spring 1945—from age seven to eleven. She trekked through Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Italy, and France, ending back in Brussels. In various parts of the journey she was nurtured by wolves. The child witnessed war-related events, killed a Nazi, and crippled another. She adopted the name “Misha” to honor a Ukrainian partisan she had met.9

After the war, “Misha” briefly reunited with “Grandfather,” by then a widower. Spinster teachers adopted her, raised her as Catholic Monique DeWael, and educated her as a teacher.1⁰ After providing child care on a boat between Belgium and the Congo for two years, she lived with “Grandfather” for a year before he died.1¹ She married and divorced a man named Levy with whom she had a son.¹² She next married Maurice Defonseca and moved with him and her son to the United States in 1985. She reclaimed her Jewish faith, began telling her Holocaust story, and prepared to write a book.¹³

Fame and Legal Snares

The story’s pre-publication publicity generated interest from Disney and Oprah.¹⁴ The French version and an Italian translation of the American edition became bestsellers.¹⁵ Translations based primarily on the French edition eventually totaled 18 languages.¹⁶ Newspapers heralded a French feature film based on the story. Released in Belgium in November 2007, it gathered 600,000 viewers after its Paris premiere in January 2008.¹⁷ The film was to be distributed internationally. Author Defonseca was an international icon.

In 1996, the year before the story’s publication, differences arose among the author, ghost-writer Vera Lee, and Jane Daniel of Mt. Ivy Press concerning the American edition’s schedule, writing style, research, promotion, and contracts. In 1998, Lee initiated multiple legal actions, one resulting in a 2001 judgment awarding her and Defonseca $32.4 million.¹⁸ Additional lawsuits followed, and in 2005 an appellate court upheld the 2001 judgment.¹⁹

Deflected Criticism

None of the legal proceedings tested the story’s accuracy. Yet, the author’s claims of financial and emotional damages seemed predicated on reliving her Holocaust trauma.²⁰ The 2005 appellate court reinforced this premise:

Shortly after the Nazis seized her parents, seven year old Misha Levy fled alone to the forests and villages of Europe, where she wandered for four years. Along the way, she witnessed atrocities, found herself trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, and killed a Nazi soldier in self-defense. Miraculously, she survived her ordeal, thanks to her strong will and guile as well as, incredibly, the aid of a pack of wolves, who “adopted” and protected her, providing food, companionship, and affection. Needless to say, her story was compelling.²¹

Although the court did not question Defonseca’s Holocaust story or trial testimony, others did:

• Beginning in 1997, two childhood friends of Monique DeWael reportedly contacted publisher Robert Laffont Editions, Elle magazine, and other journalists and media in Belgium and France to expose the story as fiction and were rebuffed.²²
• In 2001, The Boston Globe reported: “Two renowned Holocaust scholars told the Globe they do not believe her story. They say it’s impossible for one child to have been everywhere she says she was and to have witnessed all she did.” The Globe also reported, however, “During an interview with the Globe, Defonseca affirmed the truth of her story” and “‘This is fact, this is history,’ she [Defonseca] says.” See <www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2001/10/31/ incredible_journey?page=2>.²³
• The author of a 2002 book about a Holocaust fraud discovered critics and doubters of the Defonseca story while researching his book. He reports one Holocaust survivor’s reply to a question about the story as “None of the things in there can be checked…. It sent my BS meter through the roof.”²⁴

Instead of providing evidence, the story’s supporters defended it with persuasion. Asked if she knew “historians doubt the truth of Defonseca’s story,” the director of the French film version reportedly replied:

That is exactly like the people who deny the existence of concentration camps. This is a true story. Everything that happened during the Holocaust is unbelievable and impossible to grasp, and people, therefore, also find it difficult to believe this story.²⁵

A historian described hostile responses to questions about the book’s accuracy:

I was invited to a lecture in Spa given by Mrs. Defonseca. The atmosphere was strange; apparently only her supporters were there. To the first question that I was unfortunate enough to ask, a woman behind me forcefully blurted out, “It’s in the book, sir,” a book which I had not even read. Mrs. Defonseca avoided all my questions about the Warsaw ghetto or any other, which only reinforced my impression that her story was pure fiction. (J’ai été invité à Spa à une conférence donnée par Mme Defonseca. L’ambiance était curieuse, il n’y avait là apparemment que des inconditionnels. A la première question que j’ai eu le malheur de poser, une dame derrière moi m’a lancé agressivement “c’est dans le livre, Monsieur,” livre que je n’avais pas lu par ailleurs. Mme Defonseca a éludé toutes mes questions sur le ghetto de Varsovie ou autres, ce qui n’a fait que me conforter dans l’idée que son récit n’était que pure fiction.)²⁶

Defonseca’s responses to questions often were indirect:

What I find deplorable are…specialists in this or that, who have not lived through the war themselves but who have an opinion, or those who don’t like animals yet say it’s impossible, surely for them it is and will remain, but it’s not my problem and one must wait for the right time. (Ce que je trouve déplorable ce sont…spécialistes de ceci ou de cela, qui n’ont pas vécu la guerre et qui jugent, ou ceux qui n’aiment pas les animaux, et disent c’est impossible, bien sur pour eux, ce l’est et le restera, mais ce n’est pas mon problème et il faut laisser pisser le mouton.)²⁷

Intriguing Clues

Defonseca’s American edition includes an eight-page insert of eighteen glossy black-and-white photographs. The French edition omits the pictures without explanation. Four photographs provide fruitful evidence: 28

• The caption of a series of three similar images: “The earliest pictures I have of myself as a child (age 7), taken at the ‘Polyphoto’ shop when I was given my new identity,” identifies the year as 1941.²⁹ It appears to show a child much younger than seven years with still-flexible bone structure and fine hair strands.
• A photo captioned “Here is Grandfather” shows a gentleman in jacket and tie smoking in a comfortable chair.³⁰ The man’s dress, rings, manicured hands, and surroundings belie the book’s description of “Grandfather” as a farmer.
• “Grandfather, Marthe, and Ita [a small dog]” and “Marthe and me with my new doll, on the day of our outing” show Monique’s adoptive uncle’s wife.³¹ Her features, however, resemble those of Misha Defonseca at a comparable age, suggesting a biological connection. The “outing” picture shows Gare du Nord, the train station near Schaerbeek, in the background.
• “The canal (Canal de Charleroi) on the outskirts of Brussels that I crossed when I ran away” narrows the DeWaels’ home to the Cureghm or Anderlecht area of Brussels, within walking distance of the Gare du Midi train station, as the story says.³²

A remarkable difference between the American and French versions of the story is the change of the adoptive family’s surname from DeWael to Valle. More than simple linguistic variants of one name, the difference suggested subterfuge.

What was the author’s legal name? In 1988, Misha Defonseca filed a deed giving her middle name: “Ernestine.^”33 In 1998, she filled out a bank signature card with further identifying information:

Birth date of 12 May 1937

Birthplace of Etterbeek, a community south of Brussels

Mother’s maiden name of Donville³⁴

The birth date is consistent with the child’s features in the Polyphoto. It conflicts with the 1934 date in Defonseca’s story but agrees with the age of the child whose identity Defonseca said she received in 1941, possibly a child whose death had not been registered, as explained in a later version of the book.³⁵ The reported birthplace and mother’s maiden name also could be that child’s. Conflicting details suggested Belgian research might provide documented information about Defonseca’s early years.

Germany occupied Belgium in May 1940. Jews living in Belgium were required to register, and all Jewish undertakings had to be reported. By August 1941, Jews were restricted to four Belgian cities. Conscriptions for work camps escalated in June 1942, and mass deportations to death camps began in August 1942.³⁶ Defonseca, however, wrote that her parents were taken almost a year earlier.³⁷ As a child, might she have confused the year? In any case, extensive documentation for Belgian Jews shows no family configuration resembling any variant of Defonseca’s reported parents’ names, Reuven (or Robert) and Gerusha.³⁸

Smoking Guns

A 1955 privacy law closed Belgian vital records less than one hundred years old.³⁹ Other record categories, however, proved helpful.

    City Directories. Mid-20th-century street and phone directories for the greater Brussels area identify no one with the surname “Valle.”4⁰ This negative evidence raises suspicion that the adoptive family’s surname in the French edition is fictitious.

Defonseca’s story never named the Brussels community where the foster family lived, but it pointed to Anderlecht. She said the dentist’s home was within walking distance of Gare du Midi and west of the Charleroi canal.⁴¹ Monique “De Wael” lived in Anderlecht in 1959.⁴² In 1960, Morris Levy, apparently Misha Defonseca’s first husband, lived at the same address.⁴³ Several generations of De Wael and Dewael dentists also lived in Schaerbeek and Anderlecht. See Table 1.

In 1925, R. Donvil and Mrs. Donvil, teachers, lived at 17 rue du Greffe in Anderlecht.⁴⁴ They bore a variant of the mother’s maiden name (Donville) that Defonseca recorded in 1998. The Donvils lived near Ernest DeWael in 1934 and P. De Wael in 1947.⁴⁵

Necrology Archives. Twentieth-century Belgian customs included bereavement notices to inform distant family members and friends of a death, services, and where to send condolences. A Brussels genealogical society has a collection of thousands of the notices. They include death notices for Marguerite “De Wael,” whom Defonseca identified as her adoptive mother, and Marguerite’s son, Leopold, whom Defonseca also mentions. The clippings identify another son, Roger, and give the dentist’s first name as Maurice, which does not appear in the story’s American edition.⁴⁶ See Table 2. The family’s address is that of M. DeWael, dentist, at 18 rue de Scheutveld in Anderlecht during the period 1930–77. See Table 1.

Church Records. In 1998, Defonseca gave her birthplace as Etterbeek, an area of Brussels. No directory lists a DeWael or De Wael family there. It was, however, the location of a maternity hospital in the Catholic parish of St. Gertrude. A parish baptismal record includes the following information:

Name: Monica Ernestine Josephine De Wael

Birth date: 12 May 1937

Parents: Robert Henri Ernest De Wael and Josephine Donvil of Anderlecht

Godparents: Josephine Dielemans and Ernest De Wael

Home address: 58 rue Floris, Schaerbeek⁴⁷

Several points match parts of Misha Defonseca’s story or American records:

• The infant’s parents were from Anderlecht.
• Godparent Ernest “De Wael” bore the same name as Mishke’s adoptive uncle, called “Grandfather.”
• One of the infant’s middle names, Ernestine, matches that of Misha Defonseca.
• The mother’s maiden name, Donvil, resembles Donville, which Misha Defonseca identified as her mother’s maiden name.
• The infant’s family lived near 31 rue Floris, in Schaerbeek, where a Donville family lived in 1946.⁴⁸
• Some versions of the Defonseca story identify the Jewish father as Robert—the father’s name in the baptismal record.

These similarities neither confirm nor rule out either of two possibilities:

1. The infant in the baptismal record was Misha Defonseca. This would mean her tale of Jewish origins was fictitious.
2. The infant in the baptismal record died and the orphaned Jewish child acquired her identity. This would con-

Table 2. De Wael Necrology Notices
Deceased Person	Services	Family
Madam M. De Wael, nee Marguerite Adam, deceased at age sixty-two, date not given.	Funeral at the college church in Sainte Pierre,place de la Vaillance on June 10 (year not given). Burial at the family vault at Lamal.	Dentist M. De Wael, R. De Wael (a priest), and Leopold De Wael.18 rue de Scheutveld, Anderlecht.
Leopold De Wael, born 7 November 1920 in Anderlecht, died 19 October 1995 in Brussels.	Funeral mass at Saints Pierre and Guidion at Anderlecht, 25 October 1995.	Brother Abbe Roger De Wael and other family members at 18 rue de Scheutveld, Brussels. [Other details concerning possibly living people are omitted.]
Roger De Wael, professor-priest, Saint Pierre College at Uccle, Faculty of Medicine, born 5 January 1919 in Anderlecht, died 4 September 1999 in Uccle.	Requiem mass at the church of Saint Marc, Avenue Defre, Uccle, 18 September 1999.	Condolences to be sent to 18 rue de Scheutveld, Brussels, and elsewhere. [Other details concerning possibly living people are omitted.]
Source: Indexed clippings, Service de Centralisation des Etudes Genealogiques et Demographiques de Belgique [Centralization service for Belgian genealogical and demographic studies], Brussels.

firm Defonseca’s story.

    Converging Sources in Schaerbeek. In September 1943, Monique De Wael, child of Robert, a Schaerbeek employee, registered for first grade. Her name, age, residence, birthplace, and father’s name match those of the girl baptized in 1937.⁴⁹ If the ages in the Defonseca story are correct, she would be a nine-year-old registering for first grade while passing for a six-year-old. This seems questionable. Furthermore, the story says the child who assumed Monique’s identity was in Ukraine in spring and fall 1943. If a Jewish child adopted Monique’s identity, any travels across Europe began after September 1943 and occurred over fewer than half the years Defonseca reported.

For participating in Belgium’s Resistance activities, Robert De Wael, a Schaerbeek employee and former lieutenant in the Belgian army, reportedly was arrested with 42 others in Schaerbeek.⁵⁰ His name, residence, and employment match those of the father of the girl who registered for first grade in September 1943.

Schaerbeck’s civil registers and certificates are not available to the public, but an official asserts that Monique was the only child of Robert De Wael and Josephine Donvil. He denies that the De Wael daughter’s identity was given to a hidden Jewish child. He says Robert and Josephine had been arrested by Nazis, along with many Resistance fighters in Schaerbeek, and both died as political prisoners.⁵¹

Belgian officials eventually released Robert’s and Josephine’s death registrations, late filings with only sketchy information. They provide additional family details:

• Robert Henri Ernest DeWael was a political prisoner and employee of the Scherbeek commune when he died in Sonnenburg, Germany, in May 1944. He was born in Anderlecht on April 1, 1909, to Ernest Joseph Marie DeWael and Marthe Coulon.⁵²
• Josephine Germaine Barbe Donvil was born February 13, 1905, in Anderlecht, the daughter of Jean Eugene Donvil and Josephine Diliemans. She married Robert Henri Ernest DeWael and lived on rue Floris in Schaerbeek. Her death in Germany as a political prisoner was sometime in 1945.⁵³

According to the American version of Misha Defonseca’s story, Marthe was the name of “Grandfather” Ernest DeWael’s wife. She was the middle-aged woman whose pictures suggest a resemblance to Defonseca. If Defonseca were Robert DeWael’s daughter, Marthe Coulon was her paternal grandmother.

Defonseca claimed to have been a Jewish child born outside Belgium in 1934 and given a younger child’s identity. Research to this point had produced no evidence directly refuting her story. Indirect evidence, however, consistently suggested she was the Catholic child born in Etterbeek in 1937. The collected evidence seemed to outline one person’s life from birth to the present.

Further research was planned, including interviewing DeWael descendants and finding candidates for DNA testing. Implementation halted, however, after a surprising development proved the gathered evidence’s implications were correct.

The Confession

On February 28, 2008, the Brussels newspaper Le Soir summarized information suggesting Defonseca’s childhood story was fraudulent. The article quotes a statement from Defonseca’s Belgian lawyer characterizing the evidence as “attacks” (attaques) and Defonseca as “deeply wounded.” (profondément blessée) He asserted, “however, there is no doubt that they [her parents] were Jewish” (il est hors de doute, cependant, qu’ils étaient bien juifs) and said the story “resulted from absolute good faith, a cry of pain, and an act of courage.” (produit d’une absolue bonne foi, un cri de souffrance et un acte de courag.e.)⁵⁴ Defonseca’s attorney was trying to refute evidence with baseless persuasion.

The same day Le Soir’s investigative reporter telephoned Monique DeWael’s 88-year-old cousin in Anderlecht. He quoted her: “This Monique, she has a lot of imagination! She was not Jewish, but a good Catholic!” (Cette Monique, elle en a de l’imagination! Elle n’était pas juive, mais une bonne catholique!) After her parents’ imprisonment, “Monique was initially entrusted to her grandfather, Ernest, and then to a cousin, Maurice De Wael.” (Monique a été d’abord confiée à son grand-père Ernest et ensuite à un cousin, Maurice De Wael.)⁵⁵

Within hours, Defonseca’s lawyer conveyed her statement to Le Soir, which reported “The journey of ‘Misha’ was only a product of Monique De Wael’s imagination” (le périple de «Misha» ne fut que le produit de l’imagination de Monique De Wael). According to Le Soir, the statement says Defonseca “felt Jewish” (je me suis sentie juive) and her story “was not actual reality” (elle n’est pas la réalité réelle).⁵⁶

Genealogical Methods

Evidence in the search for Misha Defonseca’s origins came from published accounts and traditional genealogical sources: civil, court, directory, financial, obituary, property, religious, and school records. The case addressed a typical genealogical question of identity and kinship.

Defonseca hid behind assumed names, closed records, and persuasive comments, making her story seem believable. Absent basic fact checking, juries, judges, reporters, and the public fell for Misha’s creation. Some journalists diminished the methodology leading to her confession:

• One said “Sergeant…scoured the various versions of the text for clues…plugged these data points into genealogical databases and found researchers in Belgium to help look for information.^”57
• Another described the research simply as “documents unearthed.”⁵⁸

Sound genealogical research rarely involves just locating documents and using databases. The Defonseca research faced common barriers:

• Records confuse identity by (1) providing various names, nicknames, and aliases for one person or (2) recording the identical name for different people.
• Marriages, name changes, laws, and customs complicate research on women.
• Desires to hide information regularly result in false records.
• Wars, repository fires, social upheavals, and other catastrophes cause extensive record losses.
• Privacy laws limit access to useful resources.
• Many research leads prove unproductive and must be discarded.
• Identity questions often require “proving a negative,” the most difficult conclusion to achieve.

Accepted research methods guided by high standards can overcome such challenges. Parallel models provided the architecture guiding the Defonseca research:

• Historian David Hackett Fischer’s “Inquiry, Explanation and Argument” phases align with basic scientific method. Tests and analysis follow observation and theory development. If results do not support the theory, the cycle is repeated again and again until a theory proves viable.⁵⁹
• The Genealogical Proof Standard requires (1) a “reasonably exhaustive search,” (2) “citation to the source or sources of each item of information,” (3) analysis and correlation of the assembled information, (4) resolution of conflicting evidence, and (5) “a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.^”60 Achieving such a result involves extensive and tedious searching, detailed documentation, disciplined assessment, and scholarly writing.

The search for Defonseca’s childhood identity produced sources and information ripe for analysis. Clues were organized by date, event, name, location, sources, and attributes such as occupation and relationships. Time lines highlighted unlikely overlaps. Parallels and discrepancies were noted. Numerous leads proved to be dead ends. Steadfast focus on the identity question, however, eventually led to success. When evidence mounted to disprove Defonseca’s story, she confessed.

The Myth of Impossible Proof

Several considerations suggested proof or disproof of Defonseca’s tale would be impossible:

• To protect hidden Jewish children, parents or others deliberately obscured the children’s original identities and kinship. Moreover, sometimes key documents were lost, along with identity proof.
• Survivors often could not reunite with relatives.
• World War II refugees had some experiences Defonseca reported, including hiding in forests, foraging for food, stealing, and surreptitiously receiving food and clothing from local people. In most cases, the only documentation is anecdotal.
• People traumatized by war, particularly at a young age, might have memories inconsistent with facts.
• Holocaust survivors’ recollections of the same events differ.

Each of these points allowed skeptics and Defonseca supporters to maintain their beliefs and deny the possibility of proving them. Even when proof seemed possible, other issues were legitimate concerns:

• Accusations of anti-Semitism might be powerful enough to override evidence disproving Defonseca’s claimed Jewish origins.
• Disproving Defonseca’s story could provide fodder for Holocaust-denying extremists.
• Exposing a Holocaust fraud might discourage legitimate survivors from recording their experiences.

Serious researchers do not allow political considerations to overrule data. Evidence lurks behind any historical and political agenda, stereotype, or family tradition. For example, differing beliefs about Thomas Jefferson as the father of Sally Hemings’ children lasted more than two centuries before masterful analysis combined the Genealogical Proof Standard with the science of DNA.⁶¹

Several factors permitted Monica Ernestine Josephine (née De Wael) (Levy) Defonseca to adopt the alias “Misha” and tell a compelling, but false, story:

• By 1995, people who assisted Jewish children hidden during the Holocaust were dispersed, elderly, or deceased.
• By denying researchers access to evidence of truth, privacy laws protect innocent and guilty alike.
• No genealogist, Defonseca was unfamiliar with details in surviving records and did not know what facts to avoid in her account.
• Changing her story for European readers highlighted facts she believed should be hidden from that audience.
• Judges, juries, journalists, donors, and others might overlook unsound claims when extreme emotional distress, such as that associated with Holocaust trauma, is involved.

Conclusion

Misha Defonseca claimed to have been a Jewish child born in 1934. After her parents were taken by Nazis she allegedly acquired another child’s identity and family. She then left the family and traveled Europe alone for four years during World War II. After she published this story, questions about its accuracy were dismissed. As contrary evidence accumulated, however, Defonseca admitted it was “not actual reality.” Irrefutable evidence shows she was “Monica Ernestine Josephine De Wael,” born in 1937 to Roman Catholic parents. Nazis were responsible for her parents’ deaths, but she lived safely with relatives in Belgium throughout the war.

Had researchers responded to pressures not to question Defonseca’s story or been dissuaded by challenges that genealogists routinely encounter, the truth might never have emerged. Researchers always fail when they believe proof is impossible or when difficulties dissuade them from persisting. In contrast, those refusing to accept a “Myth of Impossible Proof” may succeed.

Notes

1. Misha Defonseca, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years (Bluebell, Pa.: Mt. Ivy Press, 1997) and Survivre avec les loups (To survive with wolves), Marie-Thérèse Cuny, transl. (Paris: Robert Laffont Editions, 1997).

2.. Defonseca, Misha, 1, 12–13, 66–67, 171–72, and 244.

3. Defonseca, Misha, 67, 171, and 226. Also, Defonseca, Survivre avec les loups, 13, and 15.
4. Defonseca, Misha, 5–7, 28, 36–39, and 67.
5. Ibid., 1–13.
6. Ibid., 9, and 13–37.
7. Ibid., 13–37.
8. Ibid., 10–12, and 34–40.
9. Ibid., 37–237.
10. Ibid., 239–44.
11. Ibid., 244–46.
12. Ibid., vii, and 244–46.
13. Ibid., 244–47.
14. David Mehegan, “Incredible Journey: From Misha Defonseca’s Flight from the Nazis to Publication of Her Memoir, Life has been a Battle against the Odds,” Boston Globe, 31 October 2001; electronic edition <http://www.boston.com/ae/books/ articles/2001/10/31/incredible_journey/>. An Oprah television segment featuring Defonseca and filmed at a wolf sanctuary never aired. See Jane Daniel to author, telephone communication, 20 December 2007; notes in author’s files.
15. Middlesex Co., Mass., Superior Court case 98-2456, Vera Lee v. Mt. Ivy, LP, and others, 7 June 2001, exhibit 183, Palmer and Dodge summary royalty statements; Superior Court, Woburn, Mass.
16. “Misha Defonseca: Surviving with the Wolves; Foreign Rights,” XO Editions: Reading for Pleasure (http://www. xoeditions.com/spip.php?page=ventes&id_article=45). The 2005 British version added a Prologue. See “Misha Defonseca, “Surviving with the Wolves; Prologue,” XO Editions: Reading for Pleasure <http://www.xoeditions.com/spip.php?page=extrait&id_article=45>.
17. “Misha Defonseca (‘Survivre avec les loups’) avoue la supercherie [Misha Defonseca acknowledges trickery],” Le Vif, no. 18 (28 February 2008): 12; online edition LEVIF.be <http://
    www.levif.be/belga/generale/78-6-39256/misha-defonseca—survivre-avec-les-loups—avoue-la-supercherie.html> See also Maria Malagardis, “Histoire d’une imposture”, XXI (July 2008): 123.
18. Middlesex Co., Superior Court case 98-2456, Vera Lee v. Mt. Ivy, LP, and others, filed May 1998. The complaints date the differences to 1996.
19. Middlesex Co., Superior Court docket 03-P-1496, opinion by Judges Cypher, Kantrowitz, and Berry, 17 May 2005; electronic edition, “Vera Lee v. Mt. Ivy Press, L.P., and others,” Social Law Library Research Portal (http://www.socialaw.com/slip. htm?cid=15232&sid=119).
20. Middlesex Co., Superior Court docket 98-2456, 12 April 2002, “Findings of fact. Rulings of law and judgment on cross-claim plaintiff Misha Levy Defonseca and plaintiff Vera Lee’s G. L. c.93A claims,” by Judge Elizabeth M. Fahey, p. 12; copy retained by plaintiff Jane Daniel, Gloucester, Mass.
21. Middlesex Co., Superior Court docket 03-P-1496, opinion by Judges Cypher, Kantrowitz, and Berry, 17 May 2005; electronic edition, “Vera Lee v. Mt. Ivy Press, L.P., and others,” Social Law Library Research Portal (http://www.socialaw.com/ slip.htm?cid=15232&sid=119).
22. Géraldine Kamps, “Je l’avias bien dit!”(I told you so!), La Meuse, Brussels, 25 February 2008, section Actualité Belgique, col. 1.
23. Mehegan, “Incredible Journey.”
24. Blake Eskin, A Life in Pieces: The Making and Unmaking of Binjamin Wilkomirski (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002), 196–98.
25. Tidhar Wald, “Holocaust: A Children’s Version,” Haaretz, Tel Aviv, 23 January 2008; electronic edition <www.haaretz. com/hasen/spages/947275.html>.
26. Daniel Bovy, in comment, 23 February 2008, at Michelle Goldstein, “Archives scannées certifiant que ‘Survivre avec les Loups’ est une escroquerie” [Scanned files certifying that “To Survive with Wolves” is a swindle], Le blog de Michelle Goldstein [Blog of Michelle Goldstein], 22 February 2008 <http://michelle-goldstein.blogspot.com/2008/02/archives-scannes-certifiant-que.html>. George Freeman Sanborn, Jr., translated this item.
27. Serge Scotto, in “Interview: Misha Defonseca,” Le Journal Le Mague, Paris, 22 September 2005; online PDF <www.lemague. net/dyn/spip.php?article1492> accessed 19 February 2008; no longer online. George Freeman Sanborn Jr. translated this item.
28. For the photos and a discussion of them, see Colleen Fitzpatrick, Sharon Sergeant, Maureen Taylor, “The Photo Analysis Timeline that Guided the Misha Defonseca Fraud Investigation,” Ancestral Manor, undated (http://www.ancestralmanor.com/MP3/ MishaphotoAnalysis.pdf).
29. Defonseca, Misha, page 1 of photograph insert. “Polyphoto” or “Polyfoto” shops were popular in Germany during World War II. A special camera took several snapshots on one plate. See Deutsches Historisches Museum [German Historical Museum], “Nationalsozialismus” [National Socialism], Leben­stationen in Deutschland [German lifestyle] 1900–1993 <www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/lebensstationen/2_1b.htm>.
30. Defonseca, Misha, p. 2 of photograph insert.
31. Ibid., p. 3 of photograph insert.
32. Ibid., p. 4 of photograph insert.
33. Norfolk Co., Mass., Registration Book 641:115–16, quitclaim deed by Monique Ernestine Defonseca, certificate 128115, document 540287; Registry of Deeds, Dedham, Mass.
34. “Monique (Misha) Defonseca” signature card, signed “M Defonseca,” 6 August 1998, Middlesex Savings Bank, Natick, Mass.; photocopy of original found as a loose sheet in Middlesex Superior Court, docket 98-2456, Vera Lee, plt., v. Mt. Ivy Press, L.P., and others, v. Palmer and Dodge, L.L.P., and another (Publishers Group West, Inc.), filed May 1998. There is no exhibit number, as the item was apparently never used.
35. Misha Defonseca, Surviving with Wolves (London: Portrait, 2005), 26–27.
36. David Fraser, “The Fragility of Law: Anti-Jewish Decrees, Constitutional Patriotism, and Collaboration: Belgium 1940–1944,” Law and Critique 14 (October 2003): 253–75.
37. Defonseca, Misha, 39.
38. Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (Mechelen, Belgium) staff to Evelyne Haendel (Liege, Belgium) to author, verbal report, 8 January 2008; notes in author’s files. USA Today reported that Belgian Holocaust historian Maxime Steinberg corroborated this negative evidence in a television interview. See “Author of best-selling Holocaust book admits falsehood,” USA Today, 29 February 2008; online edition <http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2008-02-29-defonseca_N.htm>.
39. Léon Stichelbaudt, Manuel de l’Etat Civil [Handbook of public records], 2nd ed. (Brussels, Belgium: La Charte, 1959), 29–30.
40. Evelyne Haendel to author, verbal report, 21-24 January 2008 notes in author’s files. Ms. Haendel examined Brussels telephone and city directories for the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s at the Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels. Serge Aroles, a French surgeon and author who searched Belgian medical directories and databases, confirmed the negative result. See Aroles to author, email communication, 6 September 2008; notes in author’s files.
41. Defonseca, Misha, 2–4, and 40–43; also p. 4 of photograph insert.
42. Indicateur officiel des telephones, listes alphabetiques: Zone de Bruxelles [Official alphabetical telephone directory for the Brussels area] (Brussels: RTT, 1959), 1a:476.
43. Ibid. (1960), 1b:82.
44. Annuaire du commerce Bruxelles et sa banlieue [Commercial directory of Brussels and its suburbs] (Brussels: 1925), 750.
45. Ibid., for 1934, p. 1000, and for 1947, p. 1326.
46. Indexed clippings, Service de Centralisation des Études Généalogiques et des Études Généalogiques et Démographiques de Belgique [Centralization service for genealogical studies and genealogical and demographic studies of Belgium], Brussels.
47. Paroisse Sainte Gertrude [St. Gertrude’s Parish], Baptismal Register, 1937, no. 152, Monica Ernestine Josephine De Wael; parish clerk’s office, Etterbeek, Brussels.
48. Annuaire du commerce et de l’industrie de Belgique de’apres documents officiels, tome I—Bruxelles et sa banlieue [Commerical and industrial directory of Belgium from official documents, vol. 1—Brussels and its suburbs] (Brussels: Estab­lishments Generaux d’Imprimerie, 1946), 1241.
49. REGISTRE des INSCRIPTIONS, entry 7882, Ecole Fondamentale No. 2 [Elementary school no. 2], Brussels. A dif­ference in birth dates—2 September 1937 instead of 12 May 1937—likely resulted from a copying error.
50. Patrick Praats, “De (1) Vervolg,” Gefusilleerden and Gedeporteerden WO 2 [Those executed and deported in World War II], online database (http://www.praats.be/gefusild1a.htm).
51. Marc Dero (Secretary of Schaerbeek commune and administrative assistant, Schaerbeek civil records office) to Evelyne Haendel, telephone conversations, 30 January–12 February 2008; notes in author’s files.
52. Registre des Actes de Décès. Extrait de l’acte de décès, 17 June 1950, Etat Civil.Administration Communnale de Schaer­beek., Schaerbeek, Belgium.
53. Registre des Actes de Décès. Extrait de l’acte de décès, 2 February 1946. Etat Civil. Administration Communale de Schaerbeek, Schaerbeek, Belgium.
54. Marc Metdepenningen, “Misha Defonseca plaide sa bonne foi” [Misha Defonseca pleads her case], Le Soir, 28 February 2008; online edition (http://www.lesoir.be/culture/cinema/misha
    -defonseca-plaide-sa-2008-02-28-580715.shtml).

55, Mark Metdepenningen, “Les aveux de Misha Defonseca” (The confession of Misha Defonseca) Le Soir, 29 February 2008; online edition (http://www.lesoir.be/culture/cinema/hostoire-tout-
etait-invente-2008-02-29-580989.shtml).

56. Mark Metdepenningen, “Les aveux de Misha Defonseca; exclusif” [exclusive], Le Soir, 29 February 2008; online edition (http://www.lesoir.be/culture/cinema/exclusif-2008-02-28-580849
    .shtml)
57. Blake Eskin, “Crying Wolf: Why did it Take So Long for a Far-fetched Holocaust Memoir to be Debunked?” Slate, 29 February 2008; online magazine <http://www.slate.com/id/ 2185493>.
58. David Mehegan, “Author Admits Making up Memoir of Surviving Holocaust,” Boston Globe, 29 February 2008; electronic edition <www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/02/29/ author_
    admits_making_up_memoir_ of_surviving_ holocaust/>.
59. David Hackett Fischer, Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 3–4, and 38–39.
60. Board for Certification of Genealogists, The BCG Gen­ealogical Standards Manual (Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 2000), 1–2.
61. Helen F. M. Leary, “Sally Hemings’s Children: A Genealogical Analysis of the Evidence,” NGS Quarterly (September 2001) 89: 165–207.

Sharon E. Sergeant, a professional genealogist, is a board member of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council and is a historical and genealogical researcher specializing in international tracing and property settlements, provenance of artifact collections, large migration group patterns, and occupational group trends. Websites without access dates were viewed on August 25, 2008. Translations are by the author unless otherwise indicated.