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

Schönhaus, Cioma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786720581 ISBN 13: 9780786720583

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2008

Synopsis

In Nazi Germany, 20-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. Yet, 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. Breathtakingly bold, Schönhaus talked his way out of an arrest, defended Jewish diners being harassed by the police, and ultimately fled Germany by bicycling to Switzerland. Schönhaus's story-his courageous exploits that saved so many, as many others around him were deported, one by one, to the concentration camps-is an astonishing tale of wartime heroism and survival.

About this title

About the Author

Cioma Schönhaus 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: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0786720581
• ISBN 13: 9780786720583
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240