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

Schonhaus, Cioma

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500 ratings by Goodreads

9781862079533: The Forger: An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862079536 ISBN 13: 9781862079533

Publisher: Granta Books, 2007

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In wartime Berlin, Cioma Schonhaus discovered a way of turning his talent for graphic design to good use: he forged documents which helped save hundreds of Jewish lives. His first challenge involved painstakingly recreating each of the twelve long and 24 short feathers on German Imperial Eagle so that a pass stood up to scrutiny by Nazi officials. Many more forged documents were to follow, as the 20-year-old Schonhaus attempted to stay one step ahead of the authorities, who had him on their wanted list. Schonhaus is breathtakingly bold - he gets himself arrested for wandering onto a military airfield and manages to talk his way out; he makes a complaint about the drunken behaviour of a policeman harassing Jewish diners in a restaurant; he goes cycling with a girlfriend in the countryside at a time when Jews were subject to curfew and banned from riding bicycles. On his final 1000-mile flight from Germany, he is forced to abandon his plan to jump on a goods train bound for Switzerland as too dangerous, and is left with the option of swimming across the Bodensee, or pedalling all the way...As those around him are one by one deported to the concentration camps, his is an astonishing story of wartime survival.

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Review:

"A moving account of life in wartime Berlin... this remarkable
memoir would more than pass muster as a novel were it not true" -- Good Book Guide

"An extraordinary story...Granta deserve praise for bringing this
quirky gem to a British audience" -- Daily Telegraph

"Cioma Schonhaus has written a small, tight thriller which is also
the truth about his youth in wartime Berlin"
-- The Scotsman

"It's an extraordinary tale, told with remarkable wit and bravado" -- Independent on Sunday

"Schonhaus is able to offer a fresh perspective and a distinctive
voice... savouring the thrills of his unique experience" -- Telegraph

"The sceptical might wonder at its authenticity... The writing
says otherwise: it has the understated, random improbability of truth" -- Guardian

"This terrific memoir tells a story of resistance and ingenuity in
Berlin during World War II" -- Metro

"Unexpected in tone and pleasure ... the outcome is an adventure
written with the same panache as many British wartime escape stories" -- Sunday Times

About the Author:

Cioma Schonhaus 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'd made himself by cycling into Switzerland, where he still lives today.

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