Franz Kaufmann (5 January 1886 – 17 February 1944) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. His role helping underground Jews survive in hiding in Berlin and his execution are documented in ''The Forger'', the memoirs of

Cioma Schönhaus Samson "Cioma" Schönhaus (28 September 1922 in Berlin – 22 September 2015 in Biel-Benken) was a German graphic artist and writer who lived illegally as a Jew in hiding in Berlin during World War II. He forged hundreds of identity documents t ...

. Kaufmann was born to Jewish parents on 5 January 1886 and baptized a Protestant. He served in the

first World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in the 10th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment receiving, among other medals, the Iron Cross. After being wounded he was discharged from the army in 1918 as a reserve lieutenant. He obtained a doctorate in law and political science and in 1922 was appointed to a specialist post in government finances in the Prussian ministry of the interior. He later became chief secretary of the Reich Public Accounts Office, in the finance ministry. In 1936, because of his Jewish origins, he was dismissed from his post as chief secretary. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out in 1939, he volunteered for the Red Cross but was refused, again due to his Jewish origins. He continued to enjoy privileged status due his then so-called racially mixed marriage to an Aryan-classified woman and because he brought up his daughter as a Christian. Kaufmann joined a bible study group with The Confessing Church at Berlin-Dahlem in 1940, and—with other members of the church—began to supply post-office identity cards to on-the-run Jews. Ultimately he headed an underground group that created and supplied all manner of fake documents to underground Jews, including certificates of Aryan descent, driving licenses, and food ration cards. These documents were essential to the survival of many Berlin Jews. He was arrested in August 1943. No charges were laid against him, since as a Jew in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

he was subject not to German law but to police power. On 17 February 1944 he was taken to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

and shot.

References

Jurists from Berlin German Protestants German Jews who died in the Holocaust People who died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp German civilians killed in World War II People from Berlin executed in Nazi concentration camps People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm 1886 births 1944 deaths Jews in the German resistance Protestants in the German Resistance {{Germany-academic-bio-stub