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by aakresearch 1609 days ago
My nana lived a long and good life. When I was a little boy, I discovered that she's actually one year older than her official documents suggest. She revealed that it was not done by a mistake or a typo, but by a deliberate action. The story was that in the early 1940s the village she was living in was under German occupation and young people were being conscripted into "labor camps" and transferred to Reich mainland. So her family pulled all the strings, bribed all right people to make a "correction" to the documents in a way indistinguishable from original record. The war was over in a few years, but nobody bothered to "fix" the fake record.

By the way, German administration at the time wanted to be seen as "liberators from communist oppression". The conscription was promoted as highly noble thing, beneficial for the "New Order". Those joining "labor camps" were celebrated. There were bounties set for dobbing in partisans ("bandits"). Although collaborators were many, nonetheless many others, lacking the necessary connections to obtain fake ausweiss, chose to fight the "liberators" with all the rage they could muster. Many paid the ultimate price. If my grandma's document forgery was revealed, the whole family would be in line for execution. By no means it was an "easier" option than conscription, but certainly "easier" than fully joining "people's avengers".

I believe when the matter is perceived as life-and-death, the lack of "easier" option to take out a fake document may very well push some people into full-blood fight. You don't need many of them before society falls into a bloody war. So, the prevalence of fake vaccine certificates may be not a problem, but a blessing in disguise. If one is willing to consider a possible alternative.