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A review by cleap1967
Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger's Life by Sarah Kaminsky
5.0
Adolfo Kaminsky began his life as a forger during WW2. He forged identity cards, birth certificates, baptismal records, etc. for Jews---and anyone else. He kept forging even after the war, creating fake visas for Jews to leave Europe.
He continued for forging---for an astounding number of reasons---until the 1970's.
"When Pierrot appealed to me and explained that the aim of his group's activities was to allow the survivors of the camps to immigrate to Palestine illegally, I at first refused. ...I refused to start taking part in illegal activities now that the war was over.
To convince me, Pierrot arranged for me to go with some GIs to the refugee camps. ....
Suddenly I saw them, on the other side of the barbed wire in prisoners' striped costumes. ...
I managed to talk to one of them who spoke fluent French. He was Polish, a former French teacher. he told me he'd have to be dead before he'd set foot in his old country again. They all said the same. The governments of their countries had betrayed them, being on European soil would always remind them of the atrocities they'd been subjected to. Nothing could break their determination, even if it meant staying in these camps to wait, or rot, for years if need be, until they could finally obtain a visa for Palestine."
He continued for forging---for an astounding number of reasons---until the 1970's.
"When Pierrot appealed to me and explained that the aim of his group's activities was to allow the survivors of the camps to immigrate to Palestine illegally, I at first refused. ...I refused to start taking part in illegal activities now that the war was over.
To convince me, Pierrot arranged for me to go with some GIs to the refugee camps. ....
Suddenly I saw them, on the other side of the barbed wire in prisoners' striped costumes. ...
I managed to talk to one of them who spoke fluent French. He was Polish, a former French teacher. he told me he'd have to be dead before he'd set foot in his old country again. They all said the same. The governments of their countries had betrayed them, being on European soil would always remind them of the atrocities they'd been subjected to. Nothing could break their determination, even if it meant staying in these camps to wait, or rot, for years if need be, until they could finally obtain a visa for Palestine."