It reads like something out of a spy novel: Risking death at the hands of a brutal dictator, a member of an underground resistance group forges documents that help thousands of people escape to freedom.
Except these events actually happened. And the forger wasn’t an experienced resistance fighter but a shy Jewish teenager in France who had worked as an apprentice (trainee) in a clothes-dyeing/dry-cleaning shop.
During World War II (1939-1945), Adolfo Kaminsky adapted skills he’d learned on the job to make fake IDs and other documents. Those documents helped thousands of fellow Jews in France escape deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust. The term Holocaust refers to the mass murder of millions of Jews in Europe by German dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
At one point, Kaminsky had three days to produce 900 birth and baptismal certificates and food ration cards to hide the true identities of 300 Jewish children who were about to be rounded up by Nazi authorities. The goal was to deceive the Germans until the children could be sent to safety in the countryside or smuggled into Switzerland or Spain. He fought to stay awake for two straight days, telling himself, In one hour I can make 30 blank documents. If I sleep for an hour, 30 people will die.
Kaminsky is now 91 years old and living in Paris. To understand his heroism requires dipping into a grim chapter of world history.
It reads like something out of a spy novel: Risking death at the hands of a brutal dictator, a member of an underground resistance group forges documents that help thousands of people escape to freedom.
Except these events actually happened. And the forger wasn’t an experienced resistance fighter. He was a shy Jewish teenager in France. He had worked as an apprentice (trainee) in a clothes-dyeing/dry-cleaning shop.
During World War II (1939-1945), Adolfo Kaminsky adapted skills he’d learned on the job to make fake IDs and other documents. Those documents helped thousands of fellow Jews in France escape deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust. The term Holocaust refers to the mass murder of millions of Jews in Europe by German dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
At one point, Kaminsky had three days to produce 900 birth and baptismal certificates and food ration cards. They were needed to hide the true identities of 300 Jewish children. The kids were about to be rounded up by the Nazis. The goal was to deceive the Germans until the children could be sent to safety in the countryside or smuggled into Switzerland or Spain. Kaminsky fought to stay awake for two straight days. He told himself, In one hour I can make 30 blank documents. If I sleep for an hour, 30 people will die.
Kaminsky is now 91 years old. He lives in Paris. To understand his heroism requires dipping into an ugly chapter of world history.