Leon Cohen
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Leon Cohen (; 15 January 1910 in
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, Greece – in August 1989 in
Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...
, Israel), was a
Greek Jewish The history of the Jews in Greece can be traced back to at least the fourth century BCE. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews." The term "Greek Jew" is p ...
survivor of the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
. He was a member of the ''
Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...
'' in
Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
from May to November 1944. He was one of the only three members of the ''Sonderkommando'' who wrote his memoirs after the war, along with
Filip Müller Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and a member of the ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens ...
and Marcel Nadjari. He took part in the preparation of the ''Sonderkommando'' uprising.


Biography

The father of Leon Cohen was a well-off, successful merchant, who imported goods from Germany and Austria and had commercial relations with small merchants in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
. Leon Cohen had two sisters, Agnes and Margot, and one brother, Robert. He went to the ''Leon Gatenyo business school'', a French-German institution. He was given a strong French education and learned the finest French literature, because the teacher was the principal and founder of the ''Chevalier de la Liaison Française'' school. After he graduated, he first worked at the Thessaloniki international fair. Later on, he worked for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
, an enterprise that sold records and radio sets. Before the occupation, he was an official supplier for the Greek Ministry of Defense. Later on, he was drafted into the Greek army. He was arrested in 1942, like thousands of young Jewish men, and was sent to the German prison in Thessaloniki, from which he escaped. On January 15, 1943, he married his first wife, Germaine Perahia, the daughter of Yehoshua Perahia, owner of the Bank Union (along with
Joseph Nehama Joseph Nehama (March 17, 1881 – October 29, 1971) was a Jewish educator and historian from Salonika. He worked as a banker and survived the Holocaust by fleeing to Athens. After the war, he became an advocate for Zionism. Biography Nehama ...
) in Thessaloniki. The Jews of Thessaloniki were sent into a ghetto from which he escaped with his wife. He arrived in Athens and was arrested by the Germans, while his wife and her parents hid themselves. He was sent to the
Haidari concentration camp The Haidari concentration camp (; ) was a Nazi concentration camps, concentration camp operated by the German ''Schutzstaffel'' at the Athens suburb of Haidari during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II. Operating from September 1943 unt ...
.


Experiences in Auschwitz

He was deported from Athens on April 2, 1944, and arrived at Auschwitz on April 11. His mother and his younger sister Margot, who was pregnant, were murdered upon their arrival. Cohen is one of the 320 Greek men selected for labor (serial numbers from 182440 to 182759). His number is 182492. As he could speak German, it was a vital asset, considering that most of the Sephardic Jews from Thessaloniki could only speak Greek, Ladino, Italian, or French. They were isolated in the camp most of the time, in particular with regards to the other Jews who were speaking mostly in Yiddish. After spending two days in the ''Zentral Sauna'' in
Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
, he and the other Greek men lived in the ''Block'' 12 of the ''Männerquarantäne Lager'' from April 13 to May 11. Then he was selected, along with 100 Greeks, to be part of the ''
Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...
'' After a few days at the cremation pits of the ''Bunker'' 2 and at the ''Krematorium'' IV, he was permanently assigned to ''Krematorium'' III as "dentist" or ''Zähnekontrolle'' (i.e. examining the mouths of the people who have been murdered and ripping out their gold teeth). He witnessed the destruction of the Hungarian Jews during the summer of 1944, the definitive evacuation of the family camp (from 10 to 12 July) and the gassing of the Gypsies in the beginning of August. As with many witnesses, he remembered the cruelty of the ''Hauptscharführer''
Otto Moll Otto Hermann Wilhelm Moll (4 March 1915 – 28 May 1946) was an SS non-commissioned officer who committed numerous atrocities at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Moll held the rank of ''SS-Hauptscharführer'' "Head S ...
. At the ''Krematorium'' III, he met the French painter David Olère and was very close with French industrialist Hersz Strasfogel. He took part in the preparation of the ''Sonderkommando'' uprising, alongside Yaacov Kaminski, Lemke Chaïm Pliszko, Dawid Kotchak, Giuseppe Baruch, Leibl Paul Katz, Marcel Nadjari and
Alberto Errera Alberto Israel Errera (, 15 January 1913 – August 1944) was a Greek-Jewish officer and a member of the anti-Nazi resistance. He was a member of the ''Sonderkommando'' in Auschwitz-Birkenau from May to August 1944. He took part in the preparat ...
. But when it happened on October 7, 1944, the prisoners of the ''Krematorium'' III could not take part in the rebellion and were quickly surrounded by the Germans. After the end of the extermination by gas in mid-November, Cohen and his comrades were drafted into the ''Abbruchkommando Krematorium'', which means the unit in charge of the demolition of the ''Krematoriums'' (about 70 prisoners). On January 18, 1945, the SS begun to evacuate Auschwitz, and the few thousand inmates that could walk were filed out of the camp on a
death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...
. Although the members of the ''Sonderkommando'' were not allowed to leave the camp, Cohen and other members of the ''Sonderkommando'' mingled with the crowd of prisoners (about a hundred members of the ''Sonderkommando'' escaped from the camp that way). He was sent to the
Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...
. He was deported to
Melk Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named ...
,
Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
, Gusen and
Ebensee Ebensee am Traunsee (; ) is a market town in the Traunviertel region of the Austrian state of Upper Austria, located within the Salzkammergut Mountains at the southern end of the Traunsee. The regional capital Linz lies approximately to the nort ...
concentration camps from which he was liberated on May 6, 1945 by the 80th Infantry Division of the US Army. Almost dead, he was treated in hospital (between 40 and 50 former members of the ''Sonderkommando'' survived after the camps were freed).


After Auschwitz

He went back to Thessaloniki in August 1945. He had two children, Lily and Jean-Jose.
In 1946, he met in Paris the daughter of Herzs Strasfogel, a member of the ''Sonderkommando'' who became a close friend and was killed during a ''Selektion'' in November 1944 by the Germans and to which he had promised to visit his family if he survived.
In 1972, he settled in Israel in
Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...
with his second wife. He was interviewed three times by Israeli Historian
Gideon Greif Gideon Greif (; born 16 March 1951) is an Israeli historian who specializes in the history of the Holocaust, especially the history of the Auschwitz concentration camp and particularly the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. He served as a visiting lec ...
and wrote a book in French : ''From Greece to Birkenau, the crematoria workers' uprising''. He received no reparations from Germany, evidently due to bureaucratic foot dragging or negligence. His health deteriorated and he died in 1989 in Bat Yam. Select excerpts of his book appeared in Hebrew in the journal ''Pe'amim'' in 1986 and an English edition of the memoirs came out in 1996. Unfortunately, the original manuscript in French is lost and this publishing lacks the beginning in Greece and the end in Mauthausen. Leon Cohen is mentioned by numerous survivors: Ya'akov Gabai, Shaul Chazan,
Shlomo Dragon Shlomo or Szlomo is the English language, English form of שְׁלֹמֹה, the Hebrew language, Hebrew name of the Israelites, Israelite King Solomon. It is a popular name among Jews, especially in Israel. As a mononym * Solomon, king of ancie ...
, Jozef Sackar, Marcel Nadjari, Daniel Bennhamias,
Jacques Stroumsa Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...
and Shlomo Venezia.Shlomo Venezia & Béatrice Prasquier, '' Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz '', Polity, 2011.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Leon Greek Jews Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Jews from Thessaloniki Sonderkommando 1910 births 1989 deaths Greek emigrants to Israel Mauthausen concentration camp survivors