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January 21, 2022 1:46 pm
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New Yad Vashem Online Exhibit Spotlights Jews Who Used Forged Documents, False Identities to Survive Holocaust

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avatar by Shiryn Ghermezian

Images of Jews who used forged documents to survive the Holocaust and some of the original paperwork. Photo: Provided.

A new online exhibition unveiled on Friday by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remember Center in Israel, explores how some Jews managed to survive the Holocaust outside of ghettos and concentration camps under false identities with the help of forged documents.

The exhibition,  entitled “Remember Your New Name: Surviving the Holocaust Under a False Identity,” focuses on 14 stories of Jews who survived under assumed identities in Eastern Europe, Central and Western Europe, and in Southern Europe and the Balkans.

“Imprisoned by the paralyzing fear of being discovered for who and what they truly were, they lived their lives seeing the plight of their fellow Jews, but were powerless to do anything about it,” said Dana Porath, director of the Digital Department in Yad Vashem‘s Communications Division. “These Jews were often the only members of their family to survive the atrocities of the Holocaust.”

The stories in the exhibit are based on hundreds of thousands of documents housed in the Yad Vashem Archives and material from Yad Vashem’s databases and collections, including personal documents, testimonies, photographs, Pages of Testimony, artworks and footage. The forged documents on display in the exhibit were donated to Yad Vashem by survivors and their families, and “bring to light amazing stories of survival, determination, creativity, resourcefulness, courage and sacrifice,” according to the memorial.

“I often used to wake the children in the middle of the night, to check if they remembered their new names even when half asleep. I would repeat over and over again that no one could know that we were Jewish,” says an excerpt from the memoir of Brenda Pluczenik-Schor from Krakow, who survived the Holocaust living under a false identity in Budapest along with her husband and daughters.

The online exhibition was launched ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27 and will remain online permanently. The exhibit’s curator, Yona Kobo, told The Algemeiner on Thursday that while going through the material to use for the exhibit, “my days are filled with tears and sobs.”

“I can’t help it, when I look at the photographs of 7-year old Welwele-Walentin Krayz or of 9-year old Eric Angel, your heart can’t help but to ache for these people,” he explained. “However, I am fascinated time and time again by stories of life. In this exhibition I was spellbound to learn how these people lived … day in day out under the constant fear of their true identity being discovered. And yet they managed to keep their sanity and humanity. These stories continue to amaze me.”

The exhibit also explained the many efforts Jews living under false identities made to assimilate and take on the customs of their surroundings. They memorized Christian prayers, had no choice to renounce their religion and native language, and often changed their hair color to try to look less Jewish.

These Jews were helped by Jewish members of underground movements, who scouted for hiding places and food, and helped them obtain forged documents, ID cards, birth certificates, food coupons and travel permits. The Jews were also aided by non-Jews, some who were paid for their assistance. Other non-Jews offered services for free, while still risking their lives, and were later were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

“It is our sincere hope that those who view the exhibition are inspired not only by the personal stories and images contained but inspired to learn more,” said Kobo. “When the public engages with the content found on our website they become ambassadors of memory and in turn raise awareness among others. This is one of the ways that we will keep the memory of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust alive for eternity.”

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