May his memory be a blessing.

Marché aux Puces. Mannequins et manège. Paris 1955

Photo: Adolfo Kaminsky

Francesc Català Roca: Used Books with Cat, 1950

Adolfo Kaminsky, Paris, 1948

Adolfo Kaminsky

Le rempailleur

1954

Adolfo Kaminsky, Lonely Woman Waiting. Paris, 1946.

Adolfo Kaminsky. L'enfant à la fontaine 1948. Paris France

Adolfo Kaminsky

Adolfo Kaminsky (Français, né en 1925), Enfant à la fontaine, Paris 1948. © Adolfo Kaminsky / Courtoisie Musée de Vire Normandie. - source J-Arts.

The Forger | Times Documentaries | The New York Times

Adolfo Kaminsky (Français, 1925-2023), Paris la nuit, femme seule qui attend, 1946

Adolfo Kaminsky

This is Adolfo Kaminsky.

After his mother was killed by Nazis in 1941, he joined the French resistance at age 17. He spend most of World War 2 in an underground laboratory in Paris forging passports. He is estimated to have saved the lives of 14,000 French Jews.

“I’ll always remember our biggest request for documents. 300 children in 3 days. It wasn’t possible. I had to stay awake as long as possible. Fight against sleep. The math was simple. In one hour, I made 30 fake documents. If I slept for one hour, 30 people would die. My biggest fear was making a technical mistake, any little detail that might escape me. On every document rests the life or death of a human being. So I worked, worked, worked until I passed out. When I woke up, I kept working. We couldn’t stop."

Kaminsky passed away in January 9th, 2023 at the age of 97.

History Cool Kids is in Paris, France.

Paris 1946

Photo: Adolfo Kaminsky

Adolfo Kaminsky

Adolfo Kaminsky