To evade checkpoints, manhunts, and surveillance, members of the Resistance were very often forced to assume new identities. They therefore needed forged documents—whether identity cards, ration cards, tobacco ration cards, passes, or employment certificates… Very quickly, Resistance movements began setting up their own operations to produce false documents. Initially carried out on a small scale, these operations grew in scope.
In Paris, as a young man, Adolfo Kaminsky put to use the skills he had acquired at a dry cleaner’s. For example, removing blue ink was child’s play for him: he had learned the process for removing stains from clothing. He then discovered photogravure and worked in a lab where he produced forged documents. He would later write: “The math is simple. In one hour, I produce thirtyforged documents. If I sleep for an hour, thirty people will die…”
To provide false papers, several Jewish Resistance organizations worked together. These included, notably, the Organization for the Aid of Children (OSE), the Éclaireurs Israélites de France (EIF), the André Network of Nice, and the Jewish section of the M.O.I. The Mouvement National contre le Racisme (MNCR) was also involved in producing false documents.
As early as 1941, the Plutus network, founded in Lyon by Pierre Kahn-Farelle, began producing forged documents.
Before long, “this network comprised 50 full-time members and 150 part-time members and had a stock of 18,000 postmarks.” The transport of papers and stamps was handled by liaison agents, many of whom were women. The network was dismantled in March 1944 in Lyon and in May 1944 in Paris, following a series of arrests.
The commitment of certain employees at city hall, police stations, and the prefecture will also play an important role in this effort. Registering a death certificate immediately makes it possible to use that identity for a member of the Resistance.
Finally, some members of the clergy provided baptismal certificates, thereby helping to save many Jewish children. They also issued certificates of employment and residence to protect members of the Resistance or people wanted by the Vichy police.
La Cimade, a committee that grew out of Protestant youth movements, is also involved in the clandestine production of fake documents.
Everyone knows the risks they face. But for those they want to save, it’s a matter of life and death.
References:
— Chantal Dossin, 2018, *They Were Jews and Members of the Resistance*, Sutton Publishing
— Kaminsky 2009, Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger’s Life. Calmann–Lévy
— Edited by Marcot François, 2006, *Historical Dictionary of the Resistance*, Bouquins
