Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus

Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus

Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus was a Graphic Artist who was wanted by the Gestapo during World War 2 because he was both Jewish and a Forger of Documents (Kennkarte Identity Cards, Certificates of Aryan Lineage, etc.)

Cioma was born in Berlin, Germany on September 28, 1922.

His Russian Parents moved to Berlin from Minsk, Belorussia, USSR in 1920 after his Father deserted from the Red Army.

In 1926-1927 his Family was in Haifa, British-Mandatory Palestine (today Israel) but they then returned to Berlin, Germany.

From 1941 the Nazis forced him (and other Jews) to do Forced Labor at an Armaments Factory.

In June 1942 he was supposed to be deported to the Majdanek Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland, along with his Parents, but he managed to hide and started living in the Nazi Capital underground.

He started making Forged Passports, Kennkarte and other Documents to help both Jews and Members of the Protestant Confessing Church who opposed the Nazis including for the Historian Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich (who was able to use the Document to flee to Switzerland where he died in 2007.)

When the Gestapo tracked him down in 1943 Cioma fled Berlin.

Disguised as a Wehrmacht Soldier on Leave home and with a forged Military Passport that he created he rode his bike from Berlin to the Swiss Border.

He received a Scholarship for the School of Arts and Crafts in Basel, Switzerland and became a Graphic Artist.

Cioma had 4 Sons.

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

 

In 2017, the film “The Invisibles” was released, in which he can be seen in interview excerpts. As a young Man, he is portrayed by Maximilian Mauff.

The 2022 feature film “The Passport Forger” is also dedicated to his life. Schönhaus is portrayed here by Louis Hofmann.

In the feature film “Stella. One life” about Stella Goldschlag, (a Jewish Collaborator with the Gestapo) Schönhaus is played by Joshua Seelenbinder.