When we think of heroes who stood up to the fascist regime of the Nazis, we think of people like Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, celebrated icons of resistance. Famous names you recognize from films and history books, rightfully celebrated for their actions.
But, not all heroes went go on to become household names. Some just return to their normal lives. They blend in and become just another face in the crowd, their acts of bravery unrecognized in their own time.
Such is the case for Julius Kuhl, a Polish born Toronto resident who quietly saved hundreds of Jewish lives during the holocaust.
If you were to have bumped into Mr. Kuhl on the streets of Toronto before his death in 1985, you probably wouldn't have guessed there was anything remarkable about him. Mr. Kuhl looked like any other random person you might find sipping coffee or buying groceries. A typical looking businessman with a pair of glasses, standing a little on the short side. This was a man who spent his adult years selling watches, building a construction company, and raising his family, a completely ordinary Canadian immigrant success story.
What you wouldn't realize was that as a young man, Mr. Kuhl was once a low-level diplomat stationed at the Polish legation in Bern, the Swiss capital, during WWII. Of Jewish decent himself, Mr. Kuhl was all too painfully aware of the persecution being experienced by Polish Jews under the boot of the Nazi regime. The grim fate that awaited innocent Jews who were rounded up, dragged out of their homes like criminals, and shipped off to slaughter like animals. Unlike many others though, he was in the position - and had the moral courage - to do something about it.
As a member of the legation's staff, Kuhl was able to quietly come into possession of thousands of blank passports. These blank IDs were collected from the nearby embassies and counsels of various South and Central American countries. With the help of an his consul associate Konstanty Rokicky, Mr. Kuhl forged the credentials of thousands of Jews still stuck in the Warsaw ghetto.
Kuhl also used his position in the Polish legation to relay covert messages and aid the Jewish community. Using the privilege of the Polish diplomatic pouch, Kuhl was able to get in contact with figures such as Rabbi Michael Dov-Ber Weissmandel, a leader in the Jewish underground in the Warsaw ghetto, and other sympathetic sources. He was able to coordinate with other efforts in rescuing Jews from persecution, collecting names of needy Jewish resident, disseminating the forged passports, and gaining knowledge on what was occurring within Nazi occupied territories.
Funds donated from American Jews, funneled in through the Polish consulate in New York, were used to finance the operation. Passports were purchased from various South American consulates, and stamps officiating them were attained from friendly diplomats of these consulates (although often at a price). When rumors of the operation began to rumble, Mr. Kuhl was shielded by his superior Aleksander Lados who was serving in something akin to an ambassadorial role at the time.
These efforts, documented and verified by both the Polish government and the the Yad Vashem holocaust museum in Jerusalem directly saved the lives of hundreds of Jews who were able to secure travel across the boarder using the documents, or were held as "Latin prisoners” in a French detention center instead of a German extermination camp when caught. Not all of the fake passports held up to extended scrutiny, and in time, officials became suspicious of the number of South American residents apparently living in Switzerland at the time, but Kuhl's actions saved lives and gave many a better chance for escape than they would have had otherwise.
The network was eventually exposed, and while Mr. Kuhl and Mr. Lados managed to keep their positions until the end of the war, they were on thin ice. When the postwar government re-took the consul, Mr. Khul was stripped of his diplomatic status and was forced to emigrate with his young family. They resettled in Toronto and Kuhl integrated into the Jewish community with a renewed faith and a talent for business.
For his part, Mr. Kuhl never publicly discussed his actions, celebrated them, or sought any status or recognition for them. By all accounts, he never saw his actions as particularly heroic despite the fact that the passport scheme placed him in serious danger (the network was essentially an act of espionage and broke several laws). He simply saw them as the responsible actions anyone in his position would have been expected to perform.
Mr. Kuhl's quiet, dignified, moral clarity should be an inspiration to us all. When we see evil in this world, it is our duty to do what we can to stand against it. Never allow yourself to be a silent enabler of hate, or to be cowed into inaction through threats. Instead, use what you can to protect the victims of persecution and resist evil in all of its forms.
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