Henriette Cohen

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Henriette Cohen (born on August 17, 1917 in Marseille ; died there on June 24, 2019 ) was the last French survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp .

Life

Henriette Cohen had fled with her husband Lucien and their two children, Monique (born 1941) and Nicola (born 1943), after the old port was blown up from Marseille to Eyguières to live with their in-laws. In April 1944, Lucien Cohen's father was arrested for forging papers. A few weeks later, on May 21, 1944, the Gestapo wanted to arrest the rest of the Cohen family as well. Henriette and her family were at the in-laws' house at the time. Lucien Cohen immediately recognized the danger and fled out of a window with both children. Henriette Cohen was arrested together with her mother-in-law, Rosine Cohen. Lucien Cohen and the two daughters were hidden by the Vincent family on the nearby farm. All three survived. The Vincent family was later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations .

Henriette Cohen and her mother-in-law were initially interned in the Drancy assembly camp. The two women were deported to Auschwitz on June 30, 1944 in convoy No. 76. While the mother-in-law was murdered in the gas chambers of the Birkenau extermination camp immediately after arriving , Henriette Cohen survived the selection at the ramp, came into the camp, was registered and tattooed and had to do forced labor. Her inmate number was A-8546.

On January 1, 1945, she was deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. On April 15, 1945, Henriette Cohen was liberated by British forces in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp when a typhus epidemic had just broken out there. She was seriously ill and only weighed 35 kilograms.

Henriette Cohen returned to her family. Her husband founded Corania perfumery and they had four more children. She made herself available as a contemporary witness and told young people about her experiences in the concentration camps, "so that no one can deny the Holocaust ".

The umbrella organization of Jewish organizations in France ( Crif ) announced on June 26, 2019 that Henriette Cohen, the last French survivor from Auschwitz, died on June 24, 2019 at the age of 101.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henriette Cohen, doyenne française des rescapés d'Auschwitz, s'est éteinte. In: The Times of Israel . June 27, 2019, accessed June 28, 2019 (French).
  2. ^ The Righteous Among The Nations: Family Vincent. Yad Vashem, accessed June 28, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Mémoire - Henriette Cohen, la doyenne des rescapés d'Auschwitz-Birkenau est décédée. In: Crif.org . June 26, 2019, accessed June 28, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ Hervé Vaudoit: Auschwitz: la Marseillaise Henriette Cohen se souvient. In: La Provence . January 26, 2015, accessed June 28, 2019 (French).
  5. ^ Richard Lough: France's eldest Auschwitz survivor dies, aged 101. In: reuters.com . June 28, 2019, accessed June 28, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Henriette Cohen died at the age of 101. In: Tagesspiegel.de . June 27, 2019, accessed June 28, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Henriette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French survivors of the Holocaust
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Marseille
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 2019
Place of death Marseille