Oskar Huth

Oskar Huth (26 February 1918 – 21 August 1991) a German graphic artist, forger, a word smith and compelling teller of tales,

During World War II he got hold of a printing press which he installed in the cellar of a house vacated by a friend who had sought refuge from the bombing by moving to the Thuringian countryside after her husband was killed in the war. Under the wartime conditions of the time, people who did not officially exist had no access to food rations. By producing high quality forged identity documents and ration stamps, Huth enabled many people who, officially, did not exist (often because they were Jewish), to eat.

Life Oskar Huth was born in Berlin. His father was an organ builder and piano maker, who taught his trade to his son who evidently inherited the necessary craft skills. Interaction with his father's customers provided access to the world of books and stimulating conversation beyond the conventional proletarian class constraints of his background, and he would grow up to become an unconventional man. A few weeks before his fifteenth birthday the Nazis took power in Germany. He considered joining the Hitler Youth but, as he later recalled an interview with a Gestapo officer about his Jewish friends "opened his eyes". "For this lot", as he later put it, "I was not going to join in the war", It is not clear from sources whether in the end his military call-up was deferred for one year or two. In any event, during that time he lived his life in the local bars, becoming increasingly aware of the way that when his Jewish friends disappeared to concentration camps they seemed never to come back. He used the press to create himself a fictitious identity as "Oskar Haupt", creating both an official (seeming) identity document and a certificate of military unfitness. The quality was excellent: even the usual watermarks were correctly incorporated.

Having perfected his technique he quickly branched out, specialising in official documents, notably military identity cards and ration stamps for butter. Most food ration coupons were marked with the name and address of the holder, but these butter coupons were meant for travellers and were anonymous and were untraceable and they could be used and traded for other ration coupons on behalf of people who were living illegally (unregistered) and therefore received no ration coupons from the authorities.

Celebrations Huth continued his easy going alcohol fueled lifestyle till his death in the summer of 1991. He wore his minor celebrity lightly but was nevertheless celebrated by members of the artistic community.

The writer Peter O. Chotjewitz presented a portrayal of Huth in his story "" (A man called Nail).

In his novel Dog Years, Günter Grass created a recognisable character called (Little Hat), a piano maker and forger by profession. From a younger generation, the writer Friedrich Christian Delius wrote in his biographical novel (My Year as a Murderer) about Huth, and about his own inability, when opportunity presented itself, to speak to him.

After death Huth's body was placed in a (grave of honour) in the (cemetery at the Hallesches Tor) at the Mehringdamm, close to his old haunts.

He is honoured in Berlin's (memorial to dead heroes) which opened in 2008. There has, since then, been at least one major exhibition celebrating his life.