Roger Moorhouse

the-forgers

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more

source_10558

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our <a href="/company/about-us/notices/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>

Keep an eye out for a confirmation in your inbox

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations

source_10972

The latest books, activities and tips to help you grow little readers

source_10975

About us

About Us (Header 4)

john-le-carre-a-legacy-of-spies-960-2.jpg

Margaret Atwood

Richard Osman

Malorie Blackman

George Orwell

marian_keyes_mobile_320x200px.png

Elif Shafak

shonfaye

Authors (Header 3)

Books (Header 2)

Company

Features (Header 1)

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

The Polish War 1939

First to Fight

Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941

The Devils' Alliance

Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45

Berlin at War

The Third Reich and the Plots Against the Fuhrer

Killing Hitler

A Portrait of a Central European City

Microcosm

The Forgers

The Forgers is a well-constructed and agreeably concise book with a clear narrative drive and fascinating detail ... Moorhouse's most laudable achievement is the light he shines on Lados and his team, who saved at least 2,000 Jews from extermination. Until now, they have not received the recognition they deserve

Among the many remarkable aspects of The Forgers is the fact that the prime movers were Poles, many of whom were notorious for antisemitism ... [Moorhouse] does well to highlight that some Poles displayed admirable compassion.

Roger Moorhouse, the leading historian on Poland's war, publishes a full account of Lados's efforts in an excellent book on the passport ring

Absorbing... It is a story that seems not to have been told much outside the academic literature, and it is deeply researched and well reported here

In this fascinating book, Roger Moorhouse shines a light on extraordinary, audacious and little-known rescue operation

There is much fascinating research in Moorhouse&rsquo;s book

Many inspiring stories have emerged from the horror of the Holocaust. This is one of them. Moorhouse's account of the remarkable humanitarians who gave life to thousands of Jews by providing them with forged South American passports, is as gripping as it is moving

Julia Boyd, author of Travellers in the Third Reich

Every now and again a new story emerges about the Holocaust despite the wealth of literature already available. Roger Moorhouse is to be congratulated for finding the remarkable account of thousands of Jews rescued by the efforts of a determined circle of Polish helpers. Original and thought-provoking, the history of the Lados circle challenges the argument that there was no way for the Allies to rescue Jews from Hitler's Europe. With sufficient will and ingenuity, it was possible, against all the odds, to rescue a fraction of those otherwise doomed to die

This is a powerful story about a group of brave individuals who found a unique way of saving Jewish lives from the Nazis. Moorhouse's original research is characteristically scholarly, his insights illuminating and his narrative gripping. An inspiring read and an important addition to the history of the Holocaust

A powerful and painful book. The Forgers offers new details of the brave efforts of the Polish Underground to rescue Jews. It is heartbreaking when Moorhouse details the bureaucracy and bad intentions of the international community who knowingly turned their backs on these rescue operations. This is an intimate portrait of the cycles of hope and despair that the sadistic ruses and bestial atrocities of the Nazis imposed on concentration camp prisoners

Rosemary Sullivan, author of The Betrayal of Anne Frank

Precise yet heartfelt. The Forgers is an important and harrowing contribution to Holocaust literature. Essential reading

Clare Mulley, author of The Women who Flew for Hitler

The Forgers is an important contribution to the way we understand international responses to the Holocaust. Powerfully told and meticulously researched, Moorhouse's new book outlines the courageous efforts of the Lados Group, a circle of Polish diplomats in Switzerland who provided false documents for thousands of Jews during the Second World War in an attempt to save as many as possible from persecution and death. The Forgers is an astonishing book about one of the most ambitious rescue operations of the Holocaust

Once again Roger Moorhouse has produced an original and thrilling narrative which challenges several of the stereotypes about World War II. A tremendous story.

Norman Davies, author of Vanished Kingdoms

A captivating narrative of heroism and an illuminating account of the international diplomatic response to the Holocaust

As gripping and dramatic&hellip;as any thriller&hellip; The Forgers does a remarkable job of shining a light on this little-known truth

Moorhouse&hellip;is one of today&rsquo;s academic experts on 20th-century Central Europe&hellip; I knew little of the extraordinary story he recounts

The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust’s Most Audacious Rescue Operation

**A Telegraph Best History Book 2023 and Spectator Book of the Year** 
 
The inspirational story of the ordinary people who forged the documents that saved thousands of Jewish lives in World War Two. 
 
'Powerful ... gripping ... inspiring' JONATHAN DIMBLEBY 
 
Between 1940 and 1943, a small group of Polish diplomats and Jewish activists in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable - and until now, almost completely unknown - humanitarian operation. Under the leadership of the Polish Ambassador, Aleksander Lados, they undertook a systematic programme of forging identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust. 
 
The Lados operation was one of the largest rescue missions of the entire war, and The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time. We follow the desperate bids of Jews to obtain these life-saving documents, and their painful uncertainty over whether they will be granted protection from the Nazis' murderous fury. And we witness the quiet heroism of those who decided to act in an attempt to save thousands of lives. 
 
'Fascinating' The Times 
'Remarkable' Sunday Times 
'As gripping as it is moving' JULIA BOYD 
'An astonishing book' KATJA HOYER

The True Story of the Holocaust’s Most Audacious Rescue Operation

Roger Moorhouse is a historian and author specialising in modern German history. He is the co-author, with Norman Davies, of Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, and the author of Killing Hitler: The Third Reich and the Plots Against the Fuhrer and The Devil's Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin.

Between 1940 and 1943, a group of Polish diplomats in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable - and until now, completely unknown - humanitarian operation. In concert with Jewish activists, they masterminded a systematic programme of forging passports and identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust. 
 
While the Nazis unleashed their murderous fury, they retained a strange legalism that respected the citizens and passport holders of neutral countries. At first, these Jews were interned, in relative comfort, to be exchanged for German citizens held in these countries. Yet when it became obvious that the Latin American states were unwilling to honour these illegally issued documents, the 'Exchange Jews' gradually lost the protection that had saved them from the death camps. 
 
With the international community failing to act, the operation was one of the largest actions to aid Jews of the entire war. The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time. We follow the desperate bids of Jews to obtain these life-saving documents; we witness their painful uncertainty over whether they will offer the desired protection, as the Nazi death machine draws ever closer. And we witness the quiet heroism of a group of ordinary men who decided to do something rather than nothing and saved thousands of lives.

The Forgers

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

Reviews

About the author

Roger Moorhouse

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter