The Japanese title is “Hitler’s Counterfeit Bills,” but the original title does not include the name “Hitler.” However, I feel that the name “Hitler” is packed with the additional meaning of “dictator” as well as “a dangerous man who could do unfathomably terrible things once he had political power.” By adding this single word to the Japanese translation, people will get a sinister feeling, appropriate for the story of this movie. This movie depicts the tragic struggle for survival by the Jews sent to concentration camps during the dark ages of the Nazis, but the way of depicting this is more than just Nazi (bad) versus Jews (good).
The protagonist is a Jew named Salomon, a masterful manufacturer of counterfeit money and documents. He is arrested for making counterfeit dollar bills and sent to a concentration camp because he is Jewish; because of his ability with drawing, he gains favorable treatment from the German soldiers. Before long, the skilled police officer who arrested this counterfeiter gets promoted to a major of the Nazi S.S. and makes contact with Salomon. The major gathers people among the prisoners sent to concentration camps who have talent with drawing, printing technique, and counterfeiting in order to forge money used by Allied nations such as Great Britain, and he becomes the project leader of the operation to destroy the economy of the Allies. The major appoints Salomon as the technical leader of the project and gives Salomon special treatment to complete the project successfully.
Salomon’s dilemma begins from here. By all means, he doesn’t want to help the Nazis he hates. However, his life as well as the lives of his fellow Jews are in danger if he does not obey the major. His fellow Jews are not united for one cause; some flatter the major, some want to believe that their lives are secure if they succeed with the project, while others are temporarily satisfied with the privileges and relatively comfortable living conditions given to them as an elite, and others still—like the printer Burger—urge for anti-Nazi rebellions. It isn’t easy to unite a team in a situation like that. During the project of counterfeiting British bonds—which are considered to be the most difficult to counterfeit in the world—a pride and passion for their work as counterfeiters gradually develop. When their imitation British bonds are completely accepted as genuine by British banks, there is a moment (just a moment) of shared feelings among the major and Jewish prisoners of, “We accomplished something really great together.” The prisoners of the project team are allowed to play ping-pong as a reward.
However, the state of the war gradually shifted unfavorably for the Nazis. Knowing this, the major plans to flee to Switzerland and has Salomon forge Swiss passports for all of his family members; he tells Salomon as he is about to leave, “These are difficult times now. Each of us must persevere to survive.” If he had lived in times of peace, the major may have been a good father, husband, and friend—family-oriented and capable in his job. However, the major brought Salomon into this difficult situation and unintentionally insults him by saying, “Ha ha, nobody can surpass a Jew when it comes to counterfeiting,” when he is excited by the success of the project team. In times of peace, these two men might not have had any reason to hate each other, but in this situation, Salomon acts in a twisted manner towards the major.
The Allies liberate this Nazi concentration camp; the emaciated Jews who were housed on the other side of the camp enter Salomon’s building, but they don’t believe that Salomon and the others are prisoners held captive by the Nazis because they were too healthy. Salomon and the others have to prove that they are fellow Jews and not Nazi soldiers in disguise. In addition, one of Salomon’s associates commits suicide immediately after the concentration camp is liberated. His only reason to live was to fight the terror of the Nazis, but now that the Nazis collapsed, he lost his will to live. Something had broken inside of him along with the collapse of the Nazis.
This movie was made based on the autobiography of the printer named Burger. The comparison of the actual lives of Burger and Salomon afterwards is interesting. Burger was arrested for forging Catholic baptism certificates to help Jews escape from the Nazis and was sent to a concentration camp. After being released, he became a journalist in order to convey his personal experience to the future and continues to work to impeach fascism through publications and lectures. On the other hand, Salomon continued to make counterfeit bills after World War II and was on international wanted lists. He is said to have secretly escaped to Uruguay and some say he further escaped to Brazil and spent the rest of his life there. The full details of Salomon’s life remain a mystery.