Salomon Smolianoff
Encyclopedia
Salomon Smolianoff was a Russian counterfeiter and Holocaust
survivor involved in Operation Bernhard
. In the film The Counterfeiters
based on Adolf Burger
's memoirs received a foreign-language Oscar
for Austria
in 2008, the character is renamed Salomon "Salli" Sorowitsch. The character is played by Karl Markovics
, an Austrian stage and television actor.
, Russia. He studied painting in Russia, but he had to leave the country in 1922 because his parents were on the wrong side of the Russian Revolution
. He went across Europe, was married in Italy, and finally tried to start a new life in Germany, where he met a counterfeiter and decided to become one himself. He was wanted by several European police forces prior to the outbreak of World War II. In 1939 Bernhard Krüger
, future SS Sturmbannführer
head of Operation Bernhard
, put him behind bars. He was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp, and made himself useful to the S.S. guards as a portraitist and artist. He was selected for Operation Bernhard
, transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
in 1944, and eventually to the Ebensee site of the Mauthausen camp network
, where he was liberated by the US Army on 6 May 1945. All traces of the master counterfeiter Smolianoff were lost after his liberation. He was soon on international "Wanted" lists as a counterfeiter, but he is also believed to have forged emigration papers for Jews trying to go to Palestine.
He then emigrated to Uruguay
, where he counterfeited Russian icons. The Uruguayan police apparently caught on, and Smolianoff moved to Brazil in the 1950s, where he went into the toy business.
Smolianoff died in Porto Alegre
, south of Brazil
, in 1976. He allegedly spent his last years painting portraits and creating toys.
was directed by, and named after, SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Bernhard Krüger
, who set up a team of 142 counterfeiters from inmates at Sachsenhausen concentration camp at first, and then from other camps. Smolianoff was selected for his skills as a counterfeiter. There he befriended Adolf Burger
, a Jewish Slovak typographer who was imprisoned in 1942 for forging baptismal certificates to save Jews from deportation, and later interned at Sachsenhausen to work on Operation Bernhard. Fearing the end of the operation, the inmates stalled for time because the production of British pounds had finished and the hope of the 140-man group was based on the work with dollar bills.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
survivor involved in Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes...
. In the film The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters (film)
The Counterfeiters is a 2007 Austrian-German film written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. It fictionalizes Operation Bernhard, a secret plan by the Nazis during the Second World War to destabilize Great Britain by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England bank notes.The film centres on a...
based on Adolf Burger
Adolf Burger
Adolf Burger Adolf Burger Adolf Burger (born August 12, 1917, Kakaslomnic (aka Nagy-Lomnicz, , , Comitate of Szepes, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire) is a Jewish Slovak typographer, memoir writer, and Holocaust survivor involved in Operation Bernhard...
's memoirs received a foreign-language Oscar
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
for Austria
Cinema of Austria
Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...
in 2008, the character is renamed Salomon "Salli" Sorowitsch. The character is played by Karl Markovics
Karl Markovics
Karl Markovics is an Austrian actor and film director.He starred as Salomon Sorowitsch in Stefan Ruzowitzky's 2007 film The Counterfeiters, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for that year...
, an Austrian stage and television actor.
Life
Salomon Smolianoff was born to a Jewish family in KremenchukKremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
, Russia. He studied painting in Russia, but he had to leave the country in 1922 because his parents were on the wrong side of the Russian Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. He went across Europe, was married in Italy, and finally tried to start a new life in Germany, where he met a counterfeiter and decided to become one himself. He was wanted by several European police forces prior to the outbreak of World War II. In 1939 Bernhard Krüger
Bernhard Krüger
Bernhard Krüger was a Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer during World War II, the leader of the VI F 4a Unit in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA....
, future SS Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
head of Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes...
, put him behind bars. He was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp, and made himself useful to the S.S. guards as a portraitist and artist. He was selected for Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes...
, transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
in 1944, and eventually to the Ebensee site of the Mauthausen camp network
Ebensee concentration camp
The Ebensee concentration camp was established by the SS to build tunnels for armaments storage near the town of Ebensee, Austria in 1943. It was part of the Mauthausen network....
, where he was liberated by the US Army on 6 May 1945. All traces of the master counterfeiter Smolianoff were lost after his liberation. He was soon on international "Wanted" lists as a counterfeiter, but he is also believed to have forged emigration papers for Jews trying to go to Palestine.
He then emigrated to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, where he counterfeited Russian icons. The Uruguayan police apparently caught on, and Smolianoff moved to Brazil in the 1950s, where he went into the toy business.
Smolianoff died in Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
, south of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, in 1976. He allegedly spent his last years painting portraits and creating toys.
Operation Bernhard
Operation BernhardOperation Bernhard
Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes...
was directed by, and named after, SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Bernhard Krüger
Bernhard Krüger
Bernhard Krüger was a Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer during World War II, the leader of the VI F 4a Unit in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA....
, who set up a team of 142 counterfeiters from inmates at Sachsenhausen concentration camp at first, and then from other camps. Smolianoff was selected for his skills as a counterfeiter. There he befriended Adolf Burger
Adolf Burger
Adolf Burger Adolf Burger Adolf Burger (born August 12, 1917, Kakaslomnic (aka Nagy-Lomnicz, , , Comitate of Szepes, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire) is a Jewish Slovak typographer, memoir writer, and Holocaust survivor involved in Operation Bernhard...
, a Jewish Slovak typographer who was imprisoned in 1942 for forging baptismal certificates to save Jews from deportation, and later interned at Sachsenhausen to work on Operation Bernhard. Fearing the end of the operation, the inmates stalled for time because the production of British pounds had finished and the hope of the 140-man group was based on the work with dollar bills.