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richardwells's review
4.0
In these Trumpian days, the talk of resistance is loud and clear, even my hoodie has Smokey the Bear with shovel in hand and fist raised. Resistance was the first word out of our mouths, but how many of us know what it means? Was the Women's March resistance, or a spasm of anger and grief; is blocking a freeway, or smashing a window resistance? I suppose so, in its broadest form it's saying we don't accept the status quo, or the direction of the powers that be. Those acts may also give spine to the representatives in government who can block the most egregious wrongs of seated power, but there are other levels of resistance that most of us in our lives of 9 to 5, or blissful retirements don't often think about. Deep resistance, life or death, secretive, dangerous, mostly unsung, and it's that level that confronts us in Adolfo and Sarah Kaminsky's, A Forger's Life. It's Adolfo's story that his daughter transcribes in his voice. I think it's a "must read," for any of us who have engaged in resistance, at whatever level.
Adolfo was a seventeen year old clothes dyer's apprentice in Paris in 1944. He was also Jewish. He loved his work, and parlayed it into a study of chemistry, especially as it pertained to the alteration of fabrics that had been stained by possibly insoluble substances. He was really good at his work. By happenstance, or as happenstance as clandestine recruitments may be, he was approached by a member of the Jewish Resistance who asked him if he could remove stains from paper. Paper being a fabric, Adolfo responded positively, and before long was altering, forging, and creating documents that protected, or saved the lives of countless Jews, in and out of the organized resistance.
Adolfo continued his work for the next thirty years. After the war he worked with Zionist organizations against the British occupation of Palestine, for the Algerian freedom fighters, for struggles throughout Latin American, for the African National Congress, and for Americans resisting the Vietnam war. It's safe to say that by the time he retired in 1974 he (and his workshops) had provided papers for tens of thousands of freedom fighters, refugees, and "fellow travelers." He never worked for a government, and he was never payed for his work, or the documents he produced.
That's Resistance, with a capital "R." The book gave me a look at what is going on around the world, mostly out of sight, certainly out of the media, and if Adolfo is any model, at great expense to personal lives, and with great effect in struggles for justice.
Adolfo is 93, and resides in Paris. I learned about him through a NY Times award winning documentary. If this link works, here it is:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004683722/the-forger.html
Adolfo was a seventeen year old clothes dyer's apprentice in Paris in 1944. He was also Jewish. He loved his work, and parlayed it into a study of chemistry, especially as it pertained to the alteration of fabrics that had been stained by possibly insoluble substances. He was really good at his work. By happenstance, or as happenstance as clandestine recruitments may be, he was approached by a member of the Jewish Resistance who asked him if he could remove stains from paper. Paper being a fabric, Adolfo responded positively, and before long was altering, forging, and creating documents that protected, or saved the lives of countless Jews, in and out of the organized resistance.
Adolfo continued his work for the next thirty years. After the war he worked with Zionist organizations against the British occupation of Palestine, for the Algerian freedom fighters, for struggles throughout Latin American, for the African National Congress, and for Americans resisting the Vietnam war. It's safe to say that by the time he retired in 1974 he (and his workshops) had provided papers for tens of thousands of freedom fighters, refugees, and "fellow travelers." He never worked for a government, and he was never payed for his work, or the documents he produced.
That's Resistance, with a capital "R." The book gave me a look at what is going on around the world, mostly out of sight, certainly out of the media, and if Adolfo is any model, at great expense to personal lives, and with great effect in struggles for justice.
Adolfo is 93, and resides in Paris. I learned about him through a NY Times award winning documentary. If this link works, here it is:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004683722/the-forger.html
readwithlisa's review against another edition
2.0
Adolfo Kaminsky undoubtedly lead an interesting life. As a document forger for over 30 years, Kaminsky used his talents to help clandestine organizations during World War II, and in subsequent conflicts. The fact that I can't remember all these conflicts is evidence of my disappointment in this book -- I can't remember where he was or who he was working for. Admittedly, there are political aspects to his activity that is complicated and history I just don't know enough about so that makes it difficult to engage with the book. However, the book had very little character development, very little atmosphere, and very little action. It reads like a recitation of facts. I understand the author's reason for telling this story in the first person: it didn't feel right to write about her father in past tense when he is alive. This probably would have worked if during the interview process, she had asked questions about how he felt or what the cities felt like. There are glimpses of great stories as he remembers a certain incident, but they are brief and too few. I wanted to love this book, but I think this will be one that is quickly forgotten.
michaelnlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Written like a first person memoir, the author was Kaminsky's daughter. Early on Kaminsky was forging personal documents to subvert the Nazi occupiers in Paris, but his activities evolve to support anti-colonialist and other secret groups worldwide, operating an almost industrial scale operation in Paris for about 30 years.
The first half to two-thirds flowed along and drew me in, but at some point the events began to seem repetitive in their presentation. I would not have missed anything by abandoning the book after the first 100-120 pages. (The text runs about 200 pages; there are also 14 black and white photographs at the end representing Kaminsky's artistic work as a photographer.)
Kaminsky never took money for his work forging documents, supporting himself, often with apparent difficulty, with other work. Towards the end he talks about his fruitless efforts to find someone who would replace him in doing this kind of work at something like the same scale, but inevitably he seemed to identify either ideological problems with his candidates or had not answer to the question, "where does the money come from?" The narrative doesn't address the question of why Kaminsky himself did this in a way that I take to mean that the answer is obvious, which perhaps on one level it is, but few among us act in this way. Is Kaminsky the one in a million honorable person among us? But reading that, I suppose if he (or his daughter) had tried to make a strong case for this, it would have taken away from that argument rather than reinforcing it.
Most of the book is set in France, with the action taking place in Paris, but there is considerable description of France's relationship with post-WWII Algeria that added to my (not very comprehensive) understanding of that topic.
The first half to two-thirds flowed along and drew me in, but at some point the events began to seem repetitive in their presentation. I would not have missed anything by abandoning the book after the first 100-120 pages. (The text runs about 200 pages; there are also 14 black and white photographs at the end representing Kaminsky's artistic work as a photographer.)
Kaminsky never took money for his work forging documents, supporting himself, often with apparent difficulty, with other work. Towards the end he talks about his fruitless efforts to find someone who would replace him in doing this kind of work at something like the same scale, but inevitably he seemed to identify either ideological problems with his candidates or had not answer to the question, "where does the money come from?" The narrative doesn't address the question of why Kaminsky himself did this in a way that I take to mean that the answer is obvious, which perhaps on one level it is, but few among us act in this way. Is Kaminsky the one in a million honorable person among us? But reading that, I suppose if he (or his daughter) had tried to make a strong case for this, it would have taken away from that argument rather than reinforcing it.
Most of the book is set in France, with the action taking place in Paris, but there is considerable description of France's relationship with post-WWII Algeria that added to my (not very comprehensive) understanding of that topic.
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