Cioma Schonhaus (1922–2015)

Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus was born in Berlin, Germany, to Fanja and Boris Schönhaus, Russian Jewish immigrants after World War I. In 1926-1927, the family lived near Haifa, in the British Mandate of Palestine, and then returned to Berlin. He attended art school for a year, but from 1941, was put to forced labor by the Nazis in an arms factory, among other jobs. His parents were deported in June 1942 and killed at Majdanek; but 20-year-old Cioma stayed on illegally in Berlin, living in hiding. He used his artistic talents to create forged identity documents that withstood scrutiny by the Nazis and helped save hundreds of Jewish lives. He worked closely with a circle of members of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, including Franz Kaufmann and Helene Jacobs. In September 1943, learning that the Gestapo was looking for him, Schönhaus fled Berlin posing as a soldier on leave with a military pass he had forged himself. He managed to bicycle across the country to Switzerland, where he lived for the rest of his life. He studied German literature and psychology and trained as a graphic designer at the Kunstgewerbeschule (Arts and Crafts School) in Basel, later working in this profession. His memoir Der Passfälscher was originally published in 2004 and translated into English as The Forger in 2007. Schönhaus participated in the German docudrama Die Unsichtbaren (The Invisibles), directed by Claus Räfle, and released posthumously in 2017.