Difference between revisions 113207814 and 113207815 on dewiki

'''Adolfo Kaminsky''' or '''Adolphe Kaminsky''' (born in [[Argentina]] on October 1, 1925) was a [[French Resistance|French Resistant]], specializing in the [[identity document forgery|forgery of identity document]]s, who later went on to assist Jewish emigration to [[Israel]] and then to forge identity documents for the [[National Liberation Front of Algeria|National Liberation Front]] and French [[draft dodger]]s during the [[Algerian War]] (1954–62). He forged papers for thirty years for different activist groups, mainly [[national liberation front]]s, without ever claiming money for it.<ref>[http://www.la-bas.org/article.php3?id_article=1878 Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire.]</ref>  

== Before the war ==
Born in [[Argentina]] in a Jewish family from [[Russia]], his family moved to Paris in 1932, where his father worked as a tailor, then to [[Vire]], in the [[Calvados]] department, in 1938, where his uncle was established.<ref name=OF28>[http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuLocale_--Mon-activite-de-faussaire-j-ai-tout-appris-a-Vire-_14762-avd-20091028-57038853_actuLocale.Htm « Mon activité de faussaire : j'ai tout appris à Vire »], ''[[Ouest France]]'', October 28, 2009</ref>  Adolfo worked in a [[dye]] shop, being fascinated b(contracted; show full)t first, he watched the train-station of [[Vire]] from where railcars of the [[Todt Organization]], loaded with material for the [[Atlantic Wall]], transited. He sent messages to London about these trains. However, his family was [[internment|interned]] in the [[Drancy internment camp|camp of Drancy]], last stop before deportation, in 1943. Thanks to support from the [[Consul (representative)|Consul]] of Argentina, which country had broken diplomatic relations with [[Nazi Germany]] under pressure from the 
[[United States]], they managed to be freed on 22 December 1943,<ref name=OF>[http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuDet_-Adolfo-Kaminsky-le-faussaire-au-grand-coeur-_3639-1132865_actu.Htm Adolfo Kaminsky, le faussaire au grand coeur], ''[[Ouest France]]'', October 28, 2009</ref> and moved on to Paris<ref name=OF28/>.

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He used to say: "''Keep awake. The longer possible. Struggle against sleep. The calculation is easy. In one hour, I make 30 false papers. If I sleep one hour, 30 people will die.''<ref>[http://www.liberation.fr/societe/06011643-adolfo-kaminsky-une-vie-de-faussaire Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire], ''[[Libération]]'', February 5, 2010</ref>

After the [[Liberation of Paris]] (August 1944), he joined the [[French Army]] and marched to 
[[Germany]]. He was awarded the [[Médaille de la Résistance]], and was engaged by the French military secret services, who charged him with making false IDs for [[spy|spies]] sent behind the lines in order to investigate and detect the location of [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] before their dismantlement by the Nazis.

== After the war ==
After the German capitulation, he helped Jews to emigrate to the [[British Mandate for Palestine]] from 1946 to 1948, at a time when the [[United Kingdom]] was imposing quotas limiting immigration (see also ''[[Bricha]]''). After the foundation of [[Israel]], he stopped this job, refusing a "religious state" endorsed by the [[Status quo (Israel)|Secular-religious Status quo]] giving an important role to the [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel]], and became a photographer.

He resigned from the military services at the beginning of the [[Indochina War]], unwilling to collaborate in a [[colonial war]]. He thereafter continued to forge papers for various groups, working first with the [[National Liberation Front of Algeria]] and French [[draft dodger]]s by setting up a clandestine lab in Paris. He collaborated with the [[Jeanson network]] and [[Henri Curiel]] during the [[Algerian War|war]].

Starting in 1963, he assisted various leftist movements from Latin America ([[Brazil]], [[, Argentina]], [[, Venezuela]], [[, El Salvador]], [[, Nicaragua]], [[, Colombia]], [[Peru]], [[Uruguay]], [[Chile]], [[, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico]], [[Saint-Domingue]], [[Haiti]]), Africa ([[Guinea-Bissau]], [[, Angola]], South Africa) and from [[Portugal]] (then under [[Salazar]]'s dictatorship) and [[Francoist Spain]].<ref>[http://www.la-bas.org/article.php3?id_article=1883 Adolfo Kaminsky, une vie de faussaire II ]</ref> He trained a lot of people in forgery in order to support them in their struggle against dictatorships. He always worked for free, in order to be able to refuse a job if he didn't support the ideas - the only exception being during World War II, when the lab took up all his expenses in order to make him able to dedica(contracted; show full)[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:French Resistance members]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[Category:Document forgery]]
[[Category:Forgers]]
[[Category:Living people]]

[[fr:Adolfo Kaminsky]]