Adolfo Kaminsky, forger who aided thousands of Jews, dies at 97

[Behind the Aegis]

Adolfo Kaminsky, a long-unheralded member of the French resistance who clandestinely inked and stamped false identity cards, baptismal certificates, ration books and other documents that meant the difference between life and death for thousands of Jews during World War II, died Jan. 9 at his home in Paris. He was 97.

His death was confirmed by his daughter Sarah Kaminsky, who provided the first full account of her father’s underground activities in the book “Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger’s Life,” published in French in 2009 and in English translation in 2016. The cause was not immediately available.

Mr. Kaminsky was a self-taught master of forgery and lent his skills over the years to Algerians during their struggle for independence from France, to opponents of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco of Spain, to revolutionaries in Latin America, to anti-apartheid activists in South Africa and to American deserters during the Vietnam War.

He sought no pay for his services; it was not money, he insisted, but rather principle that motivated his work, which he first undertook as a teenager in France. The Holocaust, he said, had taught him that “on every document rests the life or death of a human being.”

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[Hekate]

1. God rest his soul, and may he be long remembered

[Pachamama]

2. A life well lived

[Skittles]

3. "self-taught master of forgery"

to use his skills like that, for no financial gain......wow

[Donkees]

4. The Forger - Times Documentaries

Oct 3, 2016
As a teenager, Adolfo Kaminsky saved thousands of lives by forging passports to help children flee the Nazis. He spent his life helping others escape atrocities around the world.

Produced by: SAMANTHA STARK, ALEXANDRA GARCIA, PAMELA DRUCKERMAN AND MANUAL CINEMA STUDIOS

Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/2dyuB6R

Kaminsky died this week at 97, and a short documentary chronicles his life and critical work. “The Forger” shows him at home in Paris, where he reveals boxes of stamps and documents he created during the war. Black silhouettes by Manual Cinema—read our conversation with the Chicago-based collective for more on the process behind its puppetry—help to share his story, depicting his confrontation with Nazi officers and the time he was tasked with producing 900 birth and baptismal certificates and ration cards in just three days to save 300 Jewish children. “In one hour, I made 30 documents,” he says in the film. “If I slept for one hour, 30 people would die.”

The New York Times released “The Forger” in 2016, and it remains a profound and astounding look at the power of one courageous person. Watch the full documentary above or on YouTube.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/01/the-forger-adolfo-kaminsky/