Cioma Schönhaus

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Cioma Schönhaus (1943)

Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus (born September 28, 1922 in Berlin ; † September 22, 2015 in Biel-Benken ) was a graphic artist who was wanted by the Gestapo during the Second World War because of his Jewish origin and who, among other things, falsified his passport could save.

Life

His Russian parents came to Berlin from Minsk in 1920 after his father deserted from the Red Army . Schönhaus first grew up in Berlin's Scheunenviertel . The family stayed near Haifa ( Palestine ) from 1926 to 1927, but then returned to Berlin. In 1940 he attended an arts and crafts school for a year . From 1941 on he had to work in an armaments factory , among other things .

In June 1942 he and his parents were to be deported to Majdanek . Thanks to his place of work, he managed to escape it. Shortly afterwards he went into hiding in Berlin. In the illegality, Schönhaus forged passports for other Jews living underground by exchanging photos in real passports that were reported as lost. Among other things, he made a passport for the historian Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich . He worked with members of the Confessing Church (including Kurt Müller ). For the forged passports, he received ration cards from a group of helpers around the lawyer Franz Kaufmann , some of which were sold so that he could establish a pseudo-legal existence. For this he used the names "Günther Rogoff", "Peter Schönhausen" and "Peter Petrow".

When the Gestapo began to search for him in 1943, Schönhaus dared to flee Berlin. Disguised as a Wehrmacht soldier on home leave and equipped with a forged military ID card , he rode his bike across Germany to the Swiss border, where he also managed to pass it near Öhningen . The theologian Karl Barth arranged a scholarship for him . He trained as a graphic designer at the arts and crafts school in Basel and later worked in this profession.

Schönhaus had four sons, two of whom embarked on a career as a musician. Based on their family name, they founded the Klezmer formation "Bait Jaffe", which means "beautiful house".

Cioma Schönhaus died on September 22, 2015, a few days before his 93rd birthday.

In 2017 the film The Invisible - We Want to Live , in which he can be seen in interview excerpts, was released. As a young man he is portrayed by Maximilian Mauff .

Fonts

  • The passport forger. The incredible story of a young graphic artist who fought underground against the Nazis . Edited by Marion Neiss. Scherz Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-502-15688-3 .
  • The passport forger in paradise. The end of an incredible odyssey . Huber, Frauenfeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-7193-1558-0 .

literature

  • Reiner Ruft, "Deportation is currently not possible" - The flight of Samson Schönhaus from Berlin to Stein am Rhein in October 1943 and his arrival in 'Paradies' (Switzerland) " , in Hegau: magazine for history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance , vol. 75 (2018), ISSN 0438-9034, pp. 163–170
  • Peter Wyden : Stella Goldschlag. A true story. Steidl Verlag , Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-95829-608-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ death displays portal.ch
  2. ↑ Bait Jaffe Klezmer Orchestra website

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schönhaus, Cioma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schönhaus, Samson (real name); Rogoff, Günther (pseudonym); Schönhausen, Peter (pseudonym); Petrow, Peter (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 22nd September 2015
Place of death Biel-Benken