Obituary | The good forger

Adolfo Kaminsky saved thousands of Jews by changing their identities

The forger of wartime papers and photographer of Paris died on January 9th, aged 97

Adolfo Kaminsky1. Autoportrait à l'âge de 19 ansParis, 1944 © Adolfo Kaminsky
Image: © Adolfo Kaminsky

The policemAn was getting closer. As he shoved through the car in the Paris Metro he was shouting: “Identity check! General search!” The slight, bespectacled teenager shrank back in his seat and clasped his satchel tighter. Let me not give myself away, Adolfo Kaminsky was thinking. Not now, not today.

This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “The good forger”

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