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A review by richardwells
Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger's Life by Sarah Kaminsky
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