Web design and content by the 8th-grade students of Bernard Zell
A student's guide to the novel inspired by hidden history.
FALSE IDENTITIES
Overview:
For Jews to pass as Aryans, it was essential to have false identity papers, which were often gained through contacts with the anti-Nazi resistance. Using forged or acquired papers, such as a birth or baptismal certificates, Jews could obtain documents under a false name from the authorities. This was a great risk, especially since the Germans and other police forces closely examined the documents in their searches for Jews. Jews were sent to concentration camps, beaten, or killed if a Nazi found their identity was false. Many Romani also attempted to obtain false identification papers because, like the Jews, they were targeted for arrest and deportation.
Relation to Train:
Several characters in Train carry or try to obtain false identity papers and false names. Tsura, Marko, Alex, Wolf, Kizzy, and Seraph all had false papers. In the chapter, “Marzahn,” Alex switched coats with his father. His false papers were in his old coat, and he forgot to take them out. When he returned to the house to retrieve the papers, he was captured by the Nazis.
Vocabulary:
Identity: The fact of being who or what a person or thing is.
Identification Papers: An identity document, also called a piece of identification or ID, or colloquially as papers, is any document which may be used to prove a person's identity.
Forge: Produce a copy or imitation of (a document, signature, banknote, or work of art) for the purpose of deception.
Photographs
Simone Weil kept this blank identification card bearing her picture in case her cover as "Simone Werlin" was uncovered and she needed to establish a new false identity. Both resistance workers and sympathetic government employees provided her with the necessary stamps and signatures. Such forged documents assisted Weil in her work, rescuing Jewish children as a member of the relief and rescue organization, Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (Children's Aid Society; OSE).
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
Kaminsky in the 1940s Kaminsky Now
Adolfo Kaminsky started forging documents after escaping deportation to a Nazi death camp. Kaminsky went on to become one of the world's best forgers, creating documents that saved the lives of many Jews, spies, and freedom fighters. Even his daughter knew nothing about the real man behind the fake documents. He started forging papers in 1944. Kaminsky would distort the paper to make it look used. He would crumple, rip, and spill coffee on the papers to make it more believable. He would hand write all of the official seals. In the beginning, he would redo the papers because there was a Jewish stamp on them. However, later, he realized that one chemical which he used in his job as a cleaner could be used to remove the blue ink that formed the Jewish stamp. That made the process of forging papers quicker and easier.
Links
60 Minutes Interview of Adolfo Kaminsky
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-a-wwii-era-forger-saved-lives-one-fake-document-at-a-time/
This is Oscar Rosowsky now Oscars fake identity
Oscar Rosowsky made fake documents and forged signatures that saved the lives of 3,500 refugees from death camps. Oscar trained to become a doctor, but with the restrictions put on Jews he was unable to attend medical school. Instead he was forced into a job repairing typewriters and printing machines. Because of this, he learned skills that would save many lives. He initially tried to flee into neutral Switzerland, using his own forged identity card for the first time. Oscar’s forgery skills improved after he was shown how to use a small roller-printing press at a local school. Using tracing paper to copy the official seals on genuine documents, he transferred the designs to the roller and created authentic-looking stamps for scores of fake identity cards. He could make the stamp in any color, using cheap equipment bought from a stationery shop. “It was a matter of looking the policeman right in the eye while remaining calm.” Oscar is 91 now but has a vivid recollection of his first perfect forgery. He got his mother out of a death camp by signing a fake signature and using false documents.
Additional Information about Rosowsky:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/printer-who-forged-lifeline-3500-417283
Other Links:
https://www.ushmm.org/m/audio/FP_20090318.mp3
This is a podcast by Halina Peabody, “Living Under False Identity.”
Some Jews survived by assuming false identities and pretending to be Christian. Anna Lipszyc assumed the name Anna Wojcik and was able to find work as a housekeeper in Stuttgart, Germany. She was aided by Jurek, a Polish policeman, who wrote letters to Anna so that she would not arouse suspicion. Jurek was himself imprisoned but he continued to write to her. Thanks to his help, Anna survived the Nazi period and was able to resume her life. See the attached link to learn more about Anna’s story.
