Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. It's one of the only days in the year that I miss being there, instead of here going to the office as usual on a Monday morning.
This thread commemorates some of my murdered relatives, they are not forgotten š§µ
This thread commemorates some of my murdered relatives, they are not forgotten š§µ
The Goldstein family of Hungary/Slovakia. The grandmother Zuzka (Ruth) is second from the top in the first pic. Parents Henriette & Isidor's love story is a classic; they eloped and were disowned by her rich family. He was an engineer with Skoda. Kids are Eva, Agi, Zuzka, Michael
They were all sent to Auschwitz as part of the mass deportation of Hungarian Jews in spring 1944.
The 3 sisters survived, along with Aunt Lilly. Mom, grandparents, aunts, other relatives perished in the camp; Dad, Micheal died on the Death March to Mauthausen, still a teenager
The 3 sisters survived, along with Aunt Lilly. Mom, grandparents, aunts, other relatives perished in the camp; Dad, Micheal died on the Death March to Mauthausen, still a teenager
The Kohn family of Bohemia, lived in Prague, Vienna, and Reichenberg (Liberec). I don't have pictures from before the war. I don't know much at all about the extended family.
My grandfather is Otto Oskar Kohn (Kotek), here on the right with my grandma shortly after the war
My grandfather is Otto Oskar Kohn (Kotek), here on the right with my grandma shortly after the war
Otto was quite yet 16 when the war started. He scammed his way onto a train to Denmark (very on brand!), where he worked on a farm until 1943. He tells a story of the last time he saw his father, he put his hand on his head and blessed him. What a memory to hold onto.
On Yom Kippur, Oct 9, 1943 Otto escaped on a fishing boat to Sweden (as did most Danish Jews) when it became known that the Nazis planned to round up and deport the Jews, who had been left alone until then. After a short stint as a refugee in Sweden, he joined the Czech brigade
and got sent through Norway to the UK for basic training, officer training, and special training in the artillery. He was in Dunkirk! But apparently got sent back to the UK for more training, and it seems didn't see any combat otherwise.
Eventually he made his way back to mainland Europe. In 1946 he made it back to Prague, where he discovered their home and belongings were gone, and no relatives were to be found. He then join the "HaBricha" org, which smuggled Jewish refugees across Europe.
He had a route between Bratislava and Vienna (convenient, as he was a native speaker of both German and Czech). On one such trip he met my grandma, Zuzka, who was with a group of orphan children from the camps; he stuck with her, and the rest is history!
His father, Rudolf Kohn, owned a store in Vienna as well as a textile factory. Mother was Ludmilla nƩe Steisny. Older brother Fred studied law at the University of Vienna and was able to move to England before the war. Grandfather Simon was a Rabbi, but they were a secular family
Rudolf and Ludmilla, as well as some other relatives, perished. Rudolf and Ludmilla were sent to Theresienstadt in 1941; he worked as a painter and she worked in the forest. In 1943, they were deported to Treblinka, and after that there all trace of them is gone.
At age 17, I interviewed my grandfather and wrote a paper about his story, which can be found here (in Hebrew): . I also did archive work, and located and interviewed a dozen or so other people with similar histories. It's one of my proudest accomplishmentshkotek.com/AvodatGmar.pdf
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