Hancock Bank Presents: Forging a Wartime Life

2014.015.001_3

This exhibit presents an extraordinary collection of wartime documents—both forged and authentic—that helped the Rinde family pass as a Polish-Catholic family between 1942-46. For Jewish families with connections and wealth, acquiring forged documents and passing as Gentiles was one strategy of survival. But it was also very dangerous and success depended as much on one’s physical looks, accent, and performance under stress as on the quality of the forgeries themselves. The documents presented here testify to close calls and courageous acts of resistance. The artifacts are greatly enriched by the written and oral testimonies of the Rinde family.