Zvi Cohen was born in 1931 as Horst Cohn in Berlin. He attended the Jewish school in Choriner Straße from 1937. On his way to school, he was repeatedly attacked by the Hitler Youth and from 1941, he lost the courage to leave the apartment at all. During this time he learned to play the harmonica. In May 1943, Zvi Cohen and his parents were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. In the children’s opera Brundibár by Czech composer Hans Krása performed there, he played his harmonica several times.
This event has been cancelled!
In February 1945, Zvi and his parents were among the 1200 Jews who were bought free and arrived in Switzerland on a train from Theresienstadt. Not long after, the Cohn family managed to immigrate to Palestine, and settled in Kibbutz Ma’abarot, where Zvi Cohen still lives today.
Zvi Cohen; photo: Elisa Makowski, Kibbutz Ma’abarot, Israel, April 2019
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Event Series: Eyewitness Talks (12)
Eyewitness Talks
In this event series eyewitnesses tell of their fates during the nazi era (video recordings available, in German)
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In Conversation with Eva Schloss
On 27 January 1945, 15-year-old Eva Geiringer and her mother Elfriede were among the around 7,000 people who witnessed the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps by the Soviet Army.
Eyewitness Talks
Wed 27 Jan 2021 (video recording available, in German) -
The Family Album
Peter Schaul recounts the life of his mother, Dora Schaul, whose estate is part of the interactive installation The Family Album
Discussion
9 Nov 2020 (with video recording, in German) -
Zvi Cohen: The Boy with the Harmonica
Zvi Cohen was born in 1931 as Horst Cohn in Berlin. He attended the Jewish school in Choriner Straße from 1937. On his way to school, he was repeatedly attacked by the Hitler Youth and from 1941, he lost the courage to leave the apartment at all. During this time he learned to play the harmonica.
Eyewitness Talks
9 Mar 2020 - cancelled! -
Zvi Aviram: Brushes with Death
16 September 2019
Zvi Aviram was born in January 1927 in Berlin as Heinz Abrahamsohn. From age 14, he had to perform forced labor in the arms industry. During the so-called factory operation on 27 February 1943, his parents were arrested and deported and he himself went into illegality. -
Sally Perel:
Hitlerjunge Salomon12 June 2019
Sally Perel was born in Peine in April 1925. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union he pretended to be a Volksdeutscher and called himself Josef Perjell.
In 1990, his memoirs were published and were filmed in the same year under the title Hitlerjunge Salomon. -
Peter Neuhof: A Youth in the Shadow of the Persecution
3 December 2018
Peter Neuhof speaks about his memories and experiences in an interview with Aubrey Pomerance, head of the archive (in German). His parents were active members of the German Communist Party (KPD) and were arrested in 1943. Peter was able to remain in the parental home. -
Hanni Levy: Surviving in Berlin
Born in 1924, survived the Nazi era in hiding in Berlin with the help of friends, in German
Eyewitness Talks
25 Jun 2018 (with video recording) -
Anita Lasker Wallfisch
28 and 29 May 2018
Born in Breslau in 1925, Anita Lasker Wallfisch studied cello in Berlin from 1938. In 1942, Anita’s parents were deported to Izbica and murdered, and in 1943 Anita and her sister Renate were deported to Ausschwitz. -
Margot Friedländer: Try to Make Your Life
9 April 2018
Margot Friedländer was born in 1921 in Berlin and has had close ties with the museum for many years. She reads from her memoir, which takes its title from her mother’s last message to her: Try to Make Your Life. Followed by a brief discussion with Aubrey Pomerance, Head of the Archive. -
Walter Frankenstein: Not with Us
31 January 2018
Born in 1924 in West Prussia, Walter Frankenstein lived in Berlin from 1936. When deportation threatened, he went into hiding with his wife and their five-week-old son. The family managed to survive with the help of friends. -
Kurt Roberg: A Visa Or Your Life
Born 1924 in Celle, emigration at the end of 1938 via the Netherlands, return to Berlin in March 1941 and re-emigration in May 1941 via Lisbon to the USA, in German
Eyewitness Talks
4 Dec 2017 (with video recording) -
Henry Wuga: A Nuremberger from Glasgow
23 October 2017
Henry Wuga was born to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father in Nuremberg in 1924. In 1938, his parents were able to send him to Scotland with a children’s transport and later in 1947, he could bring his mother, who had survived in hiding, to his home in Glasgow.