Samson Schönhaus, known as Cioma, lived with his parents Fanja and Boris Schönhaus in Berlin. His parents’ mineral water factory was appropriated by the National Socialists in 1938. Since he was Jewish, Cioma Schönhaus had to change schools. He also had to abandon his training as a graphic designer and perform forced labor.
In June 1942 his deportation was deferred because he was working in the armaments industry. His parents, however, were taken to a camp and murdered. 19-year-old Cioma Schönhaus remained alone in Berlin, and went into hiding.
Together with the Jewish printer Ludwig Lichtwitz, he set up a forgery workshop. Schönhaus forged over 200 identity papers over the following months for the Protestant aid network formed around Franz Kaufmann.
When Schönhaus lost his own forged papers, he was placed on a nationwide wanted list. Helene Jacobs, who worked with Kaufmann to help people at risk, hid Cioma Schönhaus in her home. He forged more papers there.
After a denunciation, the aid network was discovered in August 1943. Under immediate threat, he fled to southern Germany by bicycle in early October 1943, and secretly escaped across the Swiss border.
Rear courtyard of Sophienstrasse 32, where the Schönhaus family ran their mineral water bottling plant, Berlin, 1933. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
The Schönhaus family, left to right: Cioma, Fanja (1899–1942), and Boris Schönhaus (1898–1942), front right Cioma’s grandmother Enta Berman (1869–1943), around 1938. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Identity card forged by Cioma Schönhaus in the name of Heinz Gützlaff for Kurt Hirschfeldt, issued in Berlin in 1940, altered in 1942/1943. Source: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Sammlung Hirschfeldt
Police wanted notice for Cioma Schönhaus, published in a special edition of the “Deutsches Kriminalpolizeiblatt,” September 30, 1943. Source: Deutsches Kriminalpolizeiblatt, Sonderausgabe vom 30. September 1943
