Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Random House Australia (2002), 343 pages
Description
Author's memoir, previously published as 'By My Own Authority' and 'Portrait of a Young Forger'. Pretzel was a 19-year-old art student living in Poland when the German army invaded. Nine months later his parents are gone and Pretzel finds himself in the infamous Janowska concentration camp. After a miraculous escape, he became a skilled forger for the underground. Includes photos and maps. Introduction by Simon Wiesenthal.
User reviews
LibraryThing member meggyweg
This book is quite a bit different in tone from most Holocaust memoirs, since Pretzel spent most of his time living a relatively carefree life disguised as a Pole. An art student before the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Pretzel discovered he could use his talents and training to produce
For himself and his friends, he had identity cards made, listing them as workers for the Germans so they didn't have to worry about being picked up and shipped off to Germany, as well as ration cards so they didn't have to worry about food. They sold more forged ration cards to support themselves. Much of the book is about Pretzel's various schemes to outwit the Nazis and keep himself and other Jews (sometimes even people he didn't know) out of trouble. There was a great deal of sniggering behind the Germans' backs. It all makes for a relatively upbeat tale -- although it is still about the Holocaust and thus no bed of roses. Pretzel was the sole survivor of his family.
I Googled his name and found out he died in 2010. It always makes me sad to hear of a Holocaust survivor's death. A bonus: famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal gets a cameo appearance in the book; he helped Pretzel escape from the ghetto.
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excellent forged documents.For himself and his friends, he had identity cards made, listing them as workers for the Germans so they didn't have to worry about being picked up and shipped off to Germany, as well as ration cards so they didn't have to worry about food. They sold more forged ration cards to support themselves. Much of the book is about Pretzel's various schemes to outwit the Nazis and keep himself and other Jews (sometimes even people he didn't know) out of trouble. There was a great deal of sniggering behind the Germans' backs. It all makes for a relatively upbeat tale -- although it is still about the Holocaust and thus no bed of roses. Pretzel was the sole survivor of his family.
I Googled his name and found out he died in 2010. It always makes me sad to hear of a Holocaust survivor's death. A bonus: famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal gets a cameo appearance in the book; he helped Pretzel escape from the ghetto.
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Subjects
Language
Physical description
343 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
174051159X / 9781740511599