Audiobook5 hours
Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger's Life
Written by Sarah Kaminsky
Narrated by Simon Vance
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
At the age of seventeen Adolfo Kaminsky had narrowly escaped deportation to Auschwitz and was living in Nazi occupied Paris, using forged documents to hide in plain sight. Due to his expert knowledge of dyes and his ability to masterfully reproduce official documents with an artistic eye, he was recruited to join the Jewish underground. He soon became the primary forger for the Resistance in Paris, working tirelessly with his network to create papers that would save an estimated 14,000 men, women, and children from certain death.
Upon the Liberation and for the next twenty-five years, Kaminsky worked as a professional photographer. But, recognizing the fight for freedom had not ended with the defeat of the Nazis, and driven by his own harrowing experiences, he continued to secretly forge documents for thousands of refugees, exiles, immigrants, freedom fighters, and pacifists.
Kaminsky kept his past cloaked in secrecy well into his later life, until his daughter and biographer Sarah Kaminsky convinced him to share the details of the life-threatening work he did on behalf of people fighting for justice and peace throughout the world.
Upon the Liberation and for the next twenty-five years, Kaminsky worked as a professional photographer. But, recognizing the fight for freedom had not ended with the defeat of the Nazis, and driven by his own harrowing experiences, he continued to secretly forge documents for thousands of refugees, exiles, immigrants, freedom fighters, and pacifists.
Kaminsky kept his past cloaked in secrecy well into his later life, until his daughter and biographer Sarah Kaminsky convinced him to share the details of the life-threatening work he did on behalf of people fighting for justice and peace throughout the world.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherTantor Media, Inc
TranslatorMike Mitchell
Release dateFeb 21, 2017
ISBN9781515989059
Related to Adolfo Kaminsky
Related audiobooks
The Seamstress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother's War: The Incredible True Story of How a Resistance Member Survived Three Concentration Camps Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shmuel's Bridge: Following the Tracks to Auschwitz with My Survivor Father Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lalechka Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Rings: A Story of Love and War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Resistance: A Frenchwoman's Journal of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/550 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmakers: A Powerful WW2 Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Montreal Shtetl: Making a Home after the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Lvov: Holocaust Memoir of a Twelve-year-old Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Letters Project: A Daughter's Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Will Survive: A Holocaust Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream: The Bargain That Broke Adolf Hitler and Saved My Mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Partisan’s Memoir: Woman of the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Give You My Heart: A True Story of Courage and Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Miracle Typist: The powerful true story of one soldier's long journey home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sabina: In the Eye of the Storm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nazis Knew My Name: A Remarkable Story of Survival and Courage in Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Belong to Vienna: A Jewish Family's Story of Exile and Return Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Name Is Selma: The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Adolfo Kaminsky
Rating: 3.8392856928571426 out of 5 stars
4/5
28 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A different view of WWII in this story of this forger's life than I'd read in the past. HIs daughter did a great job telling his story of his commitment to supporting peace and justice through his life. The endless need for his documents during the Holocaust, and then again in Algeria and even the Vietnam war made demands on his lifestyle many couldn't have permitted. Interesting that when his daughter was going to write his story he wondered about the statute of limitations for what he did.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An incredible life, but it's very much a list of feats performed rather than an engaging story.It's a short easy read, so it isn't a big investment of your time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is an intriguing look at the lifework of Adolfo Kaminsky.His daughter Sarah records and presents his life story and we seethe weighty responsibility he assumed working as a forger for the "French Resistance, the Algerian Independence Movement, and numerous clandestine organizations over the span of nearly thirty years." (publishers note)His forte saved thousands of lives.He assumes the role of narrator, adding extra interest to the read and provides some beautiful black and white images from his years as a professional photographer.FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THE FRENCH BEST-SELLER