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

Schonhaus, Cioma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862079536 ISBN 13: 9781862079533

Publisher: Granta Books, 2007

Synopsis

When his family is deported to concentration camps in 1942, 20-year-old draftsman Cioma Schönhaus goes underground. Recruited to a network dedicated to rescuing Jews from the gas chambers, Schönhaus discovers a life-saving talent for falsifying identity cards. While working on his forgeries, he changes address every night, relying on girlfriends and the friendship of anti-Nazi Germans to keep him one step ahead of the Gestapo. But when his face finally appears on Gestapo wanted posters all over the city, he decides the time has come to attempt a breathtaking escape from Berlin to Switzerland—by bicycle.

About this title

About the Author

Cioma Schönhaus was born in Berlin in 1922 of Russian immigrant parents. He studied graphic design and did numerous jobs in the early years of the war. From 1942–3 he remained in Berlin illegally, forging documents for other Jews. While on the Gestapo's wanted list, he escaped armed with papers he had made himself by cycling into Switzerland, where he still lives today.

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: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1862079536
• ISBN 13: 9781862079533
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: Neiss Marion