I am the daughter of a forger, not just any forger ... When you hear the word “forger,” you often think “mercenary.” You think “forged currency,” “forged pictures.” My father is no such man. For 30 years of his life, he forged papers -- never for himself, always for other people, and to helpf the persecuted and the oppressed. Let me introduce him. Here is my father at age 19. It all began for him during World War II, when, aged 17, he found himself thrust into a forged documents workshop. He quickly became the forged paper expert of the Resistance. And this story became special as after the Liberation, he went on forging papers until the ’70s.
我是個偽造者的女兒 但他不是一般偽造者 一般聽到「偽造者」,都會想到貪圖錢財的騙子 想到「偽幣」、「偽畫」 我父親不是這種人 他的人生中有三十年 在偽造文書 但從不為自己,都是為別人而做 幫助遭受迫害的人 容我向你們介紹他 這是我父親19歲的照片 他的偽造生涯始於第二次大戰 17歲的他意外投身一間工廠 那是間偽造文書的工廠 他很快就成為抵抗運動方的偽造文書專家 這可不是一般老掉牙的故事 解放運動之後 他繼續偽造文書直到70年代
When I was a child, I knew nothing about this, of course. This is me, in the middle, making faces. I grew up in the Paris suburbs and I was the youngest of three children. I had a "normal" dad like everybody else, apart from the fact he was 30 years older than ... well, he was basically old enoug to be my grandfather. Anyway, he was a photographer and a street educator, and he always taught us to strictly obey the laws. And, of course, he never talked about his past life when he was a forger.
小時候 我當然對此一無所知 那個在中間扮鬼臉的是我 我在巴黎近郊長大 是家中三個孩子的老么 我和所有人一樣,有個「平凡」的父親 只不過他比別人父親老了30歲 基本上他的年紀足以當我祖父 總之,他是個攝影師,也是我家的教育者 他總是教導我們要嚴守法律 當然,他不曾談過自己的過去 偽造文書的那些日子
But there was an episode, I will tell you about, that might have tipped me off. I was in high school and got a bad grade, a rare event for me, so I decided to hide it from my parents. And to do that, I thought I would forge their signature. I started working on my mother’s signature, because my father’s one is absolutely impossible to forge. So, I got working, I took some sheets of paper and started practicing, practicing, practicing, until I reached what I thought was a steady hand, and went into action. Later, while checking my school bag, my mother found my assignment and saw the signature was forged. She yelled at me like never before. I went to hide in my bedroom, under the blankets, and then I waited for my father to come back from work with, one could say, much apprehension. I heard him come in. I remained under the blankets He entered my room, sat on the corner of the bed, and he was silent, so I pulled the blanket from my head, and when he saw me, he started laughing. He was laughing so hard, he could not stop, holding my assignment. Then he said, “Really, Sarah, you could have worked harder! It’s too small!” Indeed, it's rather small.
不過我等等要說的這個小插曲 應該就是我開始懷疑一些事情的契機 我讀高中時,有一次作業成績不好 這對我來說很少見 所以我決定要隱瞞父母 因此,我著手開始偽造他們的簽名 我決定偽造我母親的簽名 因為我父親的百分之百不可能模仿成功 接著我開始動工,拿來好幾疊紙 不斷練習、練習、再練習 直到我覺得已經夠順手了 便付諸行動 不久之後,我媽媽檢查我的書包 看了我的學校作業,馬上發現了簽名是假的 於是我挨罵了,之前她從沒那麼兇罵我 我躲進房間,窩進毛毯 等我父親工作回來 可以說,我真的很害怕 我聽到他回家的聲音 我仍然窩在毯子裡,而他進了我房間 坐在我的床角上 他沒有說話,所以我把毯子從頭上拉下來 他看到我就對我大笑 他笑得不能自己、停不下來,手上還拿著我的作業 接著說:「不過莎拉,說真的,你應該再多用點心,不覺得你簽得太小了嗎?」 的確,我簽得很小
I was born in Algeria. There I would hear people say my father was a “moudjahid” and that means "fighter." Later on, in France, I loved eavesdroppin on grownups’ conversations, and I would hear all sorts of stories about my father’s former life, especially that he had “done” World War II, that he had "done" the Algerian war. In my head, I thought that “doing” a war meant being a soldier. But knowing my father, and how was a non-violent keen pacifist, I found it very hard to picture him with a helmet and gun. And indeed, I was very far from the mark.
我在阿爾及利亞出生 常聽到有人說我父親是個moudjahid 也就是「戰士」的意思 後來在法國,我愛上偷聽大人談話 也就能聽到各式各樣我父親早年的故事 尤其他曾「參予」二次大戰的部分 他「參予」過阿爾及利亞戰爭 我認為「參予」戰爭,應該就是當士兵的意思吧 但因為熟知我父親的為人,加上他不斷強調自己是和平主義和反暴力者 我發現很難想像他戴鋼盔、背著槍的樣子 的確,我猜的離真相可遠了
One day, while my father was working on a file for us to obtain French nationality, I happened to see some documents. These are real! These are mine, I was born an Argentinean. But the document I happened to see, that would help us build a case for the authorities, was a document from the army thanking my father for his work on behalf of the secret services. And then, suddenly, I went "wow!" My father, a secret agent? It was very James Bond. I wanted to ask him questions, which he didn’t answer. And later, I told myself that one day I would have to question him. By then I was a mother of a little boy and thought it was now time, that he absolutely had to talk to us. I had just become a mother and he was celebrating his 77th birthday, and suddenly I was very, very afraid. I feared he'd go and take his silences with him, and take his secrets with him. I managed to convince him that it was important for us, but possibly also for other people that he shared his story. And so he did and I made a book of it, from which I will read you some excerpts later.
某天我父親在處理一份卷宗 要讓我們取得法國國籍 我湊巧看到了一些文件 引起我的注意 這些護照是真的 兩本都是我的護照,我是阿根廷裔法國人 我看到的那份文件 讓我們能得到法國官方承認 是軍隊所發的 這要多虧我父親在工作之餘 做了點額外的秘密服務 發現之後,我說「哇」 我爸爸難道是個情報員? 這真的很像詹姆士龐德做的事 我想問他好多問題,那些他不曾回答的問題 之後,我告訴自己 總有一天,我得好好問他 後來我成為了母親,育有一子 才終於下了決心,是時候讓他說明白了 我當媽媽時 他正好過77歲生日 我突然很害怕 我怕他會突然離開 把他的沉默帶走 也把他的秘密帶走 我說服他,他的故事 不單對我們很重要 也可能對其他人很重要 他才決定告訴我 我把這些事寫成一本書
Here’s his story: my father was born in Argentina. His parents were of Russian descent. The whole family came to settle in France in the ’30s. His parents were Jewish, Russian and above all, very poor. So at the age of 14, my father had to work. And with his only diploma, the primary school certificate, he found work at a dry cleaner’s. That’s where he discovered something totally magical, when he talks about it, it’s fascinating -- it's the magic of dyeing chemistry. that was during the war and his mother had been killed when he was 15. This coincided with the time when he threw himself body and soul into chemistry as it was the only consolation for his sadness. He would ask his boss many questions all day long, to learn, to gather more and more knowledge, and at night, when no one was looking, he'd put his experience to practice. He was mostly interested in ink bleaching.
我要跟各位分享一些書中的片段 我父親的故事從他在阿根廷出生開始 他的雙親是俄國人的後代 他們家在30年代搬來法國定居 他父母是俄國人,也是猶太人,而且很窮 所以我父親14歲就得工作 他唯一的文憑 就是小學畢業證書 他在染坊工作 在那兒,他發現了一種魔法 他說到這裡時一臉陶醉 他發現的魔法就是染色化學 他母親在戰時遭到殺害 當時他15歲 在這段期間裡 他將身心都投入了染色化學之中 因為唯有這樣才能減輕他的哀痛 他整天追著老闆問問題 學習累積更多更多的知識 晚間四下無人時 他便將所學付諸實踐 他對漂白墨水最有興趣
All this to tell you that if my father became a forger, actually, it was almost by accident. His family was Jewish, so they were hunted down. They were all arrested eventually and taken to the Drancy camp. They got out at the last minute thanks to their Argentinean papers. They were out, but still in danger. The “Jew” stamp was still on their papers. It was my grandfather who decided they needed forged documents. My father had been instilled with such respect for the law that although he was being persecuted, he’d never thought of forged papers. But it was he who went to meet a man from the Resistance.
到這裡我想說的是 其實我父親會成為一個偽造文書專家 完全是意外 由於他家是猶太人,所以當時被人追捕 最後全家都被逮捕,送進德蘭西營 直到最後一秒多虧阿根廷的身份文件,他們才得以離開 可是他們逃出來後 卻仍然處於危險之中,因為身份文件上有大大的猶太人印記 於是我祖父決定他們需要假身份文件 我父親從小被灌輸要遵守法律 所以雖然遭受迫害 他也不曾想過要偽造文書 不過他還是去見了從事抵抗運動的人
Back then, documents had hard covers, they were filled in by hand, and they stated your job. In order to survive, he needed work. He asked the man to write "dyer." Suddenly, the man looked very, very interested. “As a “dyer,” do you know how to bleach ink marks?” Of course, he knew. Suddenly, the man started explaining that actually the whole Resistance had a huge problem: even the top experts could not manage to bleach an ink called “indelible,” the "Waterman" blue ink. And my father immediately replied that he knew exactly how to bleach it. The man was very impressed with this 17-year-old who could immediately give him the formula, so he recruited him. Unknowingly, my father had just invented something you find in every schoolchild’s pencil case: the so-called "correction pen." (Applause)
那時候的身份公文都是硬殼裝 手工把文書夾入 上面要寫你的職業 我父親為了生活得要工作 他要那個人在職業上寫了 染坊工人 那人突然看起來很有興趣的樣子 問他,你是染坊工人,知道怎麼漂白墨水印嗎? 我父親當然知道 那人隨即開始解釋 其實抵抗運動團體有一個大難題 連一流專家也搞不定 那就是漂白一種人稱「去不掉」的 藍色「華德曼」墨水 我爸爸馬上回答他知道 怎麼去掉這種墨水印 這下子,那人當然對這位17歲的年輕人感到很驚艷 因為他立刻能交出配方洗掉墨水,所以我父親就被徵召了 其實就算不知道配方,我父親早已發明了一件東西 我們可以在每個學童的鉛筆盒裡找到它 那就是「修正液」 (掌聲)
But it was only the beginning. That's my father. As soon as he got to the lab, though he was the youngest, he immediately saw there was a problem with the making of forged documents. All the groups would stop at falsifying.. But demand was ever-growing and it was difficult to tamper with existing documents. He thought they should be made from scratch. He started a press and started photoengraving. He started making rubber stamps, inventing all kind of things -- he invented a centrifuge using a bicycle wheel. Anyway, he had to do all this because he was completel obsessed with output. He had made a simple calculation: In one hour, he could make 30 forged documents. If he slept one hour, 30 people would die.
不過這只是開始 這是我父親 他一進到實驗室 雖然在裡面他年紀最輕 他馬上發現那兒在製作假文書上有個問題 所有流程到竄改的關卡都陷入停擺 需求卻有增無減 可是光處理手邊的文件都很費時了 他告訴自己一切得從頭做起 他開始做印刷機,開始照相製板 開始做橡皮章 開始發明各種必需品 他用腳踏車輪等材料發明了離心機 總之,他什麼都做了 因為他很在乎輸出的成果 他粗略估計 一小時能製作三十份偽造文件 所以只要他睡一小時,就可能有30人死亡
This sense of responsability for other people’s lives when he was just 17 -- and also his guilt for being a survivor, since he had escaped the camp when his friends had not -- stayed with him all his life. And this is maybe explains why, for 30 years, he continued to make false papers at the cost of every sacrifice. I'd like to talk about those sacrifices, because there were many. There were obviously financial sacrifices because he always refused to be paid. To him, being paid would have meant being a mercenary. If he had accepted payment, he wouldn't be able to say "yes" or "no" depending on what he deemed a just or unjust cause. So he was a photographer by day, and a forger by night for 30 years. He was broke all of the time.
他才17歲 就已經背負了拯救人命的責任感 同時他也懷有作為倖存者的罪惡感 因為當年他成功逃走了,他的朋友卻沒有逃掉 責任及罪惡感終生與他為伍 這或許可以解釋為什麼三十年內 他不停偽造文件 不計一切犧牲代價 我想談談他付出的那些代價 因為實在太多了 顯見的是經濟上的犧牲 因為他總是拒絕收錢 對他來說,拿了錢就等於是在詐財 一旦他收了錢 他就沒有權利談要接受或拒絕 那些在他看來不正當的案子 他白天照相製板 晚上偽造文件,三十年來天天如此 一直是經濟拮据
Then there were the emotional sacrifices: How can one live with a woman while having so many secrets? How can one explain what one does at night in the lab, every single night? Of course, there was another kind of sacrifice involving his family that I understood much later. One day my father introduced me to my sister. He also explained to me that I had a brother, too, and the first time I saw them I must have been three or four, and they were 30 years older than me. They are both in their sixties now.
他也付出了情感上的代價 一個身負重多秘密的人要如何和妻子共處? 如何去解釋他每晚在實驗室裡在做些什麼? 還有一種代價少不了的 就是犧牲他的家庭,這我後來才明白 某天我父親讓我和姊姊相認 同時他跟我說,我還有個哥哥 我想我多半3、4歲時曾初次見過他們 他們比我年長三十多歲 現在都六十幾歲了
In order to write the book, I asked my sister questions. I wanted to know who my father was, who was the father she had known. She explained that the father that she’d had would tell them he’d come and pick them up on Sunday to go for a walk. They would get all dressed up and wait for him, but he would almost never come. He'd say, "I'll call." He wouldn't call. And then he would not come. Then one day he totally disappeared. Time passed, and they thought he had surely forgotten them, at first. Then as time passed, after almost two years, they thought, "Well, perhaps our father has died." And then I understood that asking my father so many questions was stirring up a whole past he probably didn’t feel like talking about because it was painful. And while my half brother and sister thought they’d been abandoned, orphaned, my father was making false papers. And if he did not tell them, it was of course to protect them.
為了寫這本書 我問了姊姊一些問題,我想知道我父親的事 想知道父親在她眼中是怎樣的人 她說,她認識的父親 會告訴他們星期天要來帶他們去走走 為此他們總盛裝打扮等著父親 可是父親幾乎都食言了 他說「等我的電話」,卻總等不到 後來他也沒回家 從某天起父親就真的不見蹤影 時光飛逝 起初,孩子們都以為 父親已經忘了他們 又過了一段時間 幾乎快過了兩年,他們想 「父親可能過世了吧」 我這才發現 我問了父親許多問題 都會讓他想起那些過去,他大概不想多談的事情 因為太痛苦了 在我的異母兄姐認為自己被遺棄 成了孤兒的時候 我父親其實在偽造文書 他不告訴兒女,當然是想保護他們
After the Liberation, he made false papers so the survivors of concentration camps could immigrate to Palestine before the creation of Israel. As he was a staunch anti-colonialist, he made false papers for Algerians during the Algerian war. After the Algerian war, at the heart of the internationa resistance movements, his name circulated and the whole world came knocking at his door. In Africa there were countrie fighting for their independence: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Angola. And then my father connected with Nelson Mandela’ anti-apartheid party. He made forged papers for persecuted black South Africans.
解放運動後他繼續偽造文書 幫助集中營的倖存者在以色列建國前 移民到巴勒斯坦 再者,由於他忠實擁護反殖民主義者 他也在阿爾及利亞戰爭期間幫助該國人偽造文書 阿爾及利亞戰爭過後 由於他身處國際反抗運動核心 他的名字傳遍了世界 全世界的人都求助於他 當時非洲有許多國家發動獨立戰爭 包括幾內亞、幾內亞比索、安哥拉 我父親於是和曼德拉的反種族隔離派聯繫 他替被迫害的南非黑人偽造文書
There was also Latin America. My father helped those who resisted dictatorships in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and then it was the turn of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Mexico. Then there was the Vietnam War. My father made forged papers for the American deserters who refused to take up arms against the Vietnamese. Europe was not spared either. My father made forged papers for the dissidents against Franco in Spain, Salazar in Portugal, against the colonels’ dictatorship in Greece, and even in France. There, just once, it happened in May of 1968. My father watched, benevolently, of course, the demonstrations of the month of May, but his heart was elsewhere, and so was his time because he had over 15 countries to serve.
同樣,在拉丁美洲 我父親幫助拒絕獨裁政權的人民 這些人來自多明尼加共和國和海地 後來更幫助了巴西、阿根廷、委內瑞拉、薩爾瓦多、尼加拉瓜 哥倫比亞、秘魯、烏拉圭、智利和墨西哥等國人民 越戰時期 我父親替美國逃兵偽造文書 因為這些人不希望拿起武器和越南人交戰 在歐洲也不例外 我父親替異議份子偽造文書 反抗西班牙的佛朗哥 抵抗希臘的獨裁殖民政權 甚至在法國也是 有一次,在1968年五月的時候 我父親以慈悲之心 關注整個五月示威的進展 同時他也心繫他方,當時其他人也是 因為有超過15個國家的人民需要我父親的服務
Once, though, he agreed to make false papers for someone you might recognize. (Laughter) He was much younger in those days, and my father agreed to make false papers to enable him to come back and speak at a meeting. He told me that those false papers were the most media-relevant and the least useful he’d had to make in all his life. But, he agreed to do it, even though Daniel Cohn-Bendit’s life was not in danger, just because it was a good opportunity to mock the authorities, and to show them that there’s nothin more porous than borders -- and that ideas have no borders.
有一次他答應要為一個人偽造文件 那個人你們應該也認識 (笑聲) 那時候他還很年輕 我父親答應了要幫他偽造文件 讓他能夠回國,在一個會議上發言 父親告訴我,這些假文件是他做過媒體最感興趣 也是最無用武之地的一件案子 但他仍答應要做 雖然Daniel Cohn-Bendit並沒有生命危險 他答應的唯一理由 就是要藉這個機會 好好戲弄一下掌權人士 讓他們看到,沒什麼比各國國境更漏洞百出了 而且這個想法舉世皆然
All my childhood, while my friends’ dads would tell them Grimm’s fairy tales, my father would tell me stories about very unassuming heroes with unshakeable utopias who managed to make miracles. And those heroes did not need an army behind them. Anyhow, nobody would have followed them, except for a handful [of] men and women of conviction and courage. I understood much later that it was his own story my father would tell me to get me to sleep. I asked him whether, considering the sacrifices he had to make, he ever had any regrets. He said no. He told me that he would have been unable to witness or submit to injustice without doing anything. He was persuaded, and he's still convinced that another world is possible -- a world where no one would ever need a forger. He's still dreaming about it. My father is here in the room today. His name is Adolfo Kaminsky and I’m going to ask him to stand up. (Applause) Thank you.
我的整個童年 當朋友的爸爸都在講格林童話的故事 我父親告訴我的,都是無名英雄的故事 而且毫無置疑充滿烏托邦色彩 那些英雄都締造了奇蹟 而他們身後都不需要軍隊的支持 總之,沒有人會追隨他們 只有小部份有信念和勇氣的男男女女會跟隨他們 很久以後我才明白 父親講的床邊故事,正是他自己的故事 我問他,考慮到他所付出的犧牲 他是否曾後悔過 他說,他不曾後悔 他告訴我,若他當初什麼都沒做 就不能見證這一切,或者就向不公義投降了 他當時就確信,而現在依然堅信 我們能擁有不一樣的世界 而這個世界裡沒有人需要人幫忙偽造身分 這依然是他的夢想 我的父親 今天就在現場 他叫作Adolfo Kaminsky,我要請他站起來 (掌聲) 謝謝你