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Counterfeiter: How A Norwegian Jew Survived The Holocaust
This is an enthralling personal account of the secret Nazi project, Operation Bernhard, devised to destabilize the British and, later, American economies by creating and putting into circulation millions of counterfeit banknotes. A team of typographers and printers was pulled out of the rows of prisoners on their way to the gas chambers and transferred to the strictly isolated Block 19 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There they were presented with the enormous task of producing almost perfect counterfeits to the value of hundreds of millions of pounds sterling. These notes were to be dropped from bombers over London, with the aim of causing financial chaos. When the time came the Luftwaffe's resources were fully committed in other campaigns and theaters but some of the currency was successfully used to fund operations in Germany's secret war.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 17, 2019
Counterfeiter, tells the true story of a Norwegian jew that is lucky, smart, shrewd, determined to live and does live to tell this holocaust survival story.
One word describes the quality of this unfortunate but true story ----- EXCELLENT.
One word describes the quality of this unfortunate but true story ----- EXCELLENT.
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December 1, 2019I wonder if this is going to be like The Forger: An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin where a teenager stayed once step ahead of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany by dint of his great artistic forging skills, moving from bed to bed and the extraordinary morals of Christians who would 'lose' their ID cards with amazing regularity.
Whether or not it's like that book, it sounds really interesting.
Whether or not it's like that book, it sounds really interesting.
February 8, 2013
Amazing recounting of what life was like for the "lucky" WWII concentration camp prisoners. The book provides insight into life in the camps, while also providing a feel for the despair and uncertainty the prisoners faced. Yet the indomitable spirit of some and even rare glimpses of humor provide an eerie idea of what it was like. While the story revolves around those involved in the great counterfeiting scheme, it is more about the experience through the eyes of a survivor.
I started reading another book at the time I was in the midst of this; a novel set in Seattle and the internment of Japanese-Americans at the same time. In some ways that book is more evocative and emotional than this one. Avoiding the details of the worst atrocities suffered and observed, it nonetheless shows the inhumanity of the holocaust and ranks high on my list of "must reads" to provide a historical perspective.
Lest we forget.
I started reading another book at the time I was in the midst of this; a novel set in Seattle and the internment of Japanese-Americans at the same time. In some ways that book is more evocative and emotional than this one. Avoiding the details of the worst atrocities suffered and observed, it nonetheless shows the inhumanity of the holocaust and ranks high on my list of "must reads" to provide a historical perspective.
Lest we forget.
May 7, 2015
The author's purpose in writing this book was to inform everyone what was happening to these people at this point in time. This is a very interesting story of survival in a German POW Camp during World War 2, by a group of printers and typographers who were forced to work on a project to make counterfeit British Pounds and US Dollars.
The theme of this book is survival and morals. The chosen prisoners are forced to be apart and work on this counterfeiting scheme. If they refuse to do something that is morally wrong they will be killed. So they either choose to follow their morals and not go along with a plan that is illegal, or they help the Nazi's and live. The scheme they had to go along with was to destabilize the British government by creating millions of counterfeit banknotes and put them into circulation. The author was one of over 170 prisoners who were pressed into creating exquisite forgeries of the British pound note. The forced prisoners worked as slowly as possible, to frustrate the Nazi plan and to ensure that they never became expendable.
The style of the book is narrative. The author tells vivid stories of what it was like to be a civilian in a country that had been invaded and occupied by the Nazi regime. The author shares the story with us in first-person account of arrest and transportation to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Therefore, I think it is narrative.
My opinion of this book is that it is very informative. I would recommend it to the people who like WW2 stories because this one was very good. The stories told are very vivid and I cant even imagine it. I wouldn't change anything about the book, the book was very intriguing and I kept wanting to read more.
The theme of this book is survival and morals. The chosen prisoners are forced to be apart and work on this counterfeiting scheme. If they refuse to do something that is morally wrong they will be killed. So they either choose to follow their morals and not go along with a plan that is illegal, or they help the Nazi's and live. The scheme they had to go along with was to destabilize the British government by creating millions of counterfeit banknotes and put them into circulation. The author was one of over 170 prisoners who were pressed into creating exquisite forgeries of the British pound note. The forced prisoners worked as slowly as possible, to frustrate the Nazi plan and to ensure that they never became expendable.
The style of the book is narrative. The author tells vivid stories of what it was like to be a civilian in a country that had been invaded and occupied by the Nazi regime. The author shares the story with us in first-person account of arrest and transportation to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Therefore, I think it is narrative.
My opinion of this book is that it is very informative. I would recommend it to the people who like WW2 stories because this one was very good. The stories told are very vivid and I cant even imagine it. I wouldn't change anything about the book, the book was very intriguing and I kept wanting to read more.
April 25, 2012
This book is surprisingly light - Nachtstern doesn't spend much time describing the horrors of his time in Auschwitz and his stories in Block 19 are often lighthearted, given the circumstances.
He dictated the book to his new wife shortly after the war but it has not been available in English until recently.
He dictated the book to his new wife shortly after the war but it has not been available in English until recently.
January 3, 2014
Excellent, excellent, excellent. Of all the personal histories I've read, this has got to be one of the best.
September 5, 2023
A very interesting story of the Nazi counterfeiting oration. However the writing style - almost entirely as dialogues - makes it difficult to read and obscures the details. We of course cannot expect the author, Moritz Nachtstern, to be a professional writer; and indeed the book lists Ragnar Arntzen as a co-author. Ragnar Arntzen is an educator associated with the University of Østfold, and, I assume, is in a large part responsible for the (unfortunate, in my opinion) writing style of this book.
November 16, 2023
These books always amaze me. Survival from so many things. To go through all of the atrocities and be considered one of the lucky ones. What an evil time to be persecuted because of who you were. Sometimes power is a scary thing.
February 27, 2017
This is perhaps the most detailed autobiographical account of WW2 concentration camp confinement that has appeared in print. But very little of it deals with directly with the extermination of Jews. Instead it details the operation of a sequestered group of Jewish prisoners who were individually selected from many concentration camps because of their skill related to engraving and typography. The Nazi objective was to produce counterfeited English pound notes which would be used to sabotage the British financial system. That would occur by injecting millions of fake currency into circulation aiming to bankrupt the Bank of England. To only a minor extent the objective did succeed in doing so.
The author, Moritz Nachtstern, was a Norwegian-born Jew who optimistically chose to stay in Norway by keeping a low profile rather than to escape to Sweden, Britain, Canada or the U.S.A. as did the other members of his family and fellow Jews soon after the April, 1940, German occupation. Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ (the extermination of the Jews) did not have much impact on Norway until mid-1942 when Jews were required to register with the Quisling-controlled police. In October arrests were made and about eight hundred Jews were deported by ship from Oslo destined for Auschwitz. But, by a fortuitous circumstance Nachtstern avoided being gassed. Instead he was selected to become a member of the counterfeiting group that was being established in a unit of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp located in the outskirts of Berlin. There he became an integral and successful part of producing the fake English notes in forced collaboration with an array of Jews from a dozen and more European countries.
Almost the entire narrative recounts the conditions and events in connected with the counterfeiting operation as it affected dozens of individuals. The reader becomes acquainted with these men and their SS officers and subordinates, their meager diets, their slavish working conditions, their injurious tortures, their subjection to cutthroat gamesmanship, their rivalries and camaraderie, their covert conversations and shenanigans. Some readers may find the detailed day-to-day accounts repetitive and boring, however situations are frequently interrupted by the heartless vagaries of their superiors. I thought that what seemed to be insignificant events needed to be included to provide the complete picture. This book recreates the ruthless atmosphere that threatened a tiny specialized segment among the millions of Jews who were subjected to the Nazi objective to decimate their race.
The author, Moritz Nachtstern, was a Norwegian-born Jew who optimistically chose to stay in Norway by keeping a low profile rather than to escape to Sweden, Britain, Canada or the U.S.A. as did the other members of his family and fellow Jews soon after the April, 1940, German occupation. Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ (the extermination of the Jews) did not have much impact on Norway until mid-1942 when Jews were required to register with the Quisling-controlled police. In October arrests were made and about eight hundred Jews were deported by ship from Oslo destined for Auschwitz. But, by a fortuitous circumstance Nachtstern avoided being gassed. Instead he was selected to become a member of the counterfeiting group that was being established in a unit of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp located in the outskirts of Berlin. There he became an integral and successful part of producing the fake English notes in forced collaboration with an array of Jews from a dozen and more European countries.
Almost the entire narrative recounts the conditions and events in connected with the counterfeiting operation as it affected dozens of individuals. The reader becomes acquainted with these men and their SS officers and subordinates, their meager diets, their slavish working conditions, their injurious tortures, their subjection to cutthroat gamesmanship, their rivalries and camaraderie, their covert conversations and shenanigans. Some readers may find the detailed day-to-day accounts repetitive and boring, however situations are frequently interrupted by the heartless vagaries of their superiors. I thought that what seemed to be insignificant events needed to be included to provide the complete picture. This book recreates the ruthless atmosphere that threatened a tiny specialized segment among the millions of Jews who were subjected to the Nazi objective to decimate their race.
July 14, 2020
Another must read!
good look inside the camps
good look inside the camps
July 27, 2020
Fantastic read! This book was so quick and easy to read, what a story. There is so much to be learned about the inner operations of concentration camps in WW2. This story is so unique.
November 17, 2008
Counterfeiting was done by German prisoners during WWII. Hundreds of millions of British bank notes were dropped from planes over London to destabilize the British economy.This is a shocking story of a Norwegian Jew who was arrested in Oslo, taken to Germany, and escaped death in the gas chambers because of his skill.
May 18, 2016
A fascinating story of a Norwegian Jew sent to a concentration camp and nearly dying along with the others from his country when he was picked up to be part of a team of counterfeiters creating British pound notes for the Germans. Over 700 Norwegian Jews were sent to concentration camps. Only 34 returned after the war. Well worth reading.
April 15, 2010
This is a very interesting story of survival in a German POW Camp during WW2 by a group of printers who worked on a project to make counterfeit British Pounds and US Dollars
October 17, 2010
Just when you think you've heard it all.
January 11, 2013
An amazing first person account of what happened to a Norwegian Jew who was force to help the Nazis counterfeit British pounds during WWII. Really powerful.
March 31, 2013
Fast read
May 25, 2012
Totally amazing. Totally heart-wrenching and full of suspension.
January 7, 2015
A must read. Surviving hell. Amazing story of "life" in World War 2.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews