The Forger: An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin - Softcover

Schonhaus, Cioma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306817705 ISBN 13: 9780306817700

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2009

Synopsis

In Nazi Germany, twenty-year old graphic artist Cioma Schönhaus found a unique outlet for his talent: he forged documents for people fleeing the Reich, ultimately helping to save hundreds of lives. Even as the Gestapo posted his photo in public, he lived a daringly adventurous life, replete with fine restaurants and beautiful women, all the while managing to elude the Nazis until he could escape in the most unlikely of ways by bicycling to Switzerland.

A catalog of hairbreadth escapes, clever ruses, and brazen coups” (New York Times), The Forger is an astonishing and remarkably buoyant tale of wartime heroism and survival.

About this title

About the Author:

Cioma Schonhaus was born in Berlin in 1922. While on the Gestapo's wanted list, he escaped with forged papers to Switzerland, where he still lives.

From Publishers Weekly:

This memoir of a Jewish man's experience in wartime Berlin is less a tale of suffering than of courage. By 1942, Schönhaus's family had been deported; the 20-year-old was spared because he worked in an arms factory. In that year, he began using his graphics background to forge IDs for Jews in hiding, and eventually went underground himself. His efforts, aided by anti-Nazi Germans, saved the lives of hundreds of Jews. He maintains a determined tone about the war—At last, I didn't have to just look on helplessly at what they were doing to us, he writes about being asked to forge documents—but Schönhaus's account has all the elements of a thriller. (In fact, Schönhaus's story is being made into a film.) Despite the doom around him, he lives boldly, enjoying sailing escapades and sexual encounters with women, seemingly defying the Nazi authorities to find him until he flees over the border into Switzerland. While adding to our knowledge about wartime Berlin, this work also tells us something about how the human spirit can thrive amid destruction and tragedy. (Feb. 1)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0306817705
• ISBN 13: 9780306817700
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240