104:, 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) 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
129:
117:
20:
179:(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
141:
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
492:
by Tal
Bruttmann : as early as 16 May 1944, four convoys, each carrying 3,000 Jews from Hungary in 45 wagons, had to leave Hungary daily for Auschwitz. After being removed from Auschwitz in November 1943 by order of Himmler, Rudolf Höss was called back to the camp commandment to prepare the site
749:
The "four partners" organized for survival. So-and-so got this, so-and-so did that, so-and-so did the other. Mostly they got food.And then they shared. Leon Cohen and Saul Hazan were incredible at this; simply the best, but the thought of Leon evokes a fond chuckle at the welling of memory. "He was
699:
Almost all the
Sonderkommando men who had survived to that time - about a hundred men - left Auschwitz on this march. They included Shmuel from France, Leibl from Grodno, Lemke Pliszko, David Nencel from Rypin, Moshe and Yankl Weingarten from Poland, Aba from Grodno, Berl Beirach from Luna, Sender
140:
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
322:
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:
318:. 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
456:
One the men who was in the
Sonderkommando, a Greek named Leon Cohen, is still alive. He was married to the daughter of a bank manager in Salonika. When Cohen was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, his wife fled with her
230:
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
720:
Among the Jews who survived, I remember the Gabai brothers, Shaul Chazan, the
Venezia brothers - one of them is living in Italy now, the other is in America - and the late Leon Cohen.
96:, 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
203:
658:
Our group was made up mainly of Greek Jews, including Michel
Arditti, Josef Baruch of Corfu, the Cohen brothers, Shlomo and Maurice Venezia, me and my brother
88:
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
238:(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
408:
344:
348:
324:
293:
768:
Un soir, je ressentis une douleur aigüe dans le bas-ventre, du côté droit. J'en fis part à mon camarade Léon Cohen (que j'ai revu à Salonique en 1986)
215:
211:
199:
839:
542:
809:
332:
207:
381:
Only five former members of this unit published memoirs : Marcel Nadjari, Leon Cohen, Filip Müller, , Miklos Nyiszli, and Zalman Gradowski.
336:
328:
639:, translated from the French by Jose-Maurice Gormezano, postscript by Lily Eiss-Perahia nee Cohen, Salonika Jewry Research Center, 1996.
515:
prisoners stood at 207. On May 15, a contingent of 100 men is taken from the quarantine camp among the Greek Jews selected on April 11.
804:
834:
541:
by Chaim Marin and Razia Israeli, a play for an actress based on "We Wept without Tears" by Gideon Greif, with actress
550:
814:
275:
255:
47:
100:
school. After he graduated, he first worked at the Thessaloniki international fair. Later on, he worked for
503:
51:
128:
105:
194:
and was very close with French industrialist Hersz Strasfogel. He took part in the preparation of the
116:
267:
819:
304:
in November 1944 by the Germans and to which he had promised to visit his family if he survived.
829:
824:
700:
from Berlin, Maurice from Greece, Leon Cohen from Salonika, and Shaul Chazan from Salonika.
8:
799:
157:
from April 13 to May 11. Then he was selected, along with 100 Greeks, to be part of the
92:. Leon Cohen had two sisters, Agnes and Margot, and one brother, Robert. He went to the
565:
p. 53. Picture of Hersz Strasfogel in Sonderkommando Auschwitz channel's video :
290:
He went back to Thessaloniki in August 1945. He had two children, Lily and Jean-Jose.
278:. Almost dead, he was treated in hospital (between 40 and 50 former members of the
551:
http://www.theenglishtheatre.nl/stet-productions/2012/test-productie-2012-2.html
69:
404:
384:
352:
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223:
219:
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73:
56:
31:
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191:
793:
392:
101:
659:
372:
311:
39:
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with his second wife. He was interviewed three times by Israeli Historian
781:
Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz
526:
Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz
497:). On 9 May, orders are given to increase the number of prisoners of the
239:
64:
from May to November 1944. He was one of the only three members of the
274:
concentration camps from which he was liberated on May 6, 1945 by the
183:
250:
mingled with the crowd of prisoners (about a hundred members of the
477:
I remember that Leon Cohen was the only one of us who spoke German.
411:, are testimonies or interviews, and not strictly speaking memoirs.
246:
were not allowed to leave the camp, Cohen and other members of the
146:
89:
61:
383:
We can consider that the last writer mentioned by Dr. Greif, Dr.
307:
271:
43:
226:. But when it happened on October 7, 1944, the prisoners of the
545:. The play tells the story of the daughter of the "dentist" of
637:
From Greece to Birkenau : the crematoria workers'uprising
19:
263:
259:
745:
The Holocaust odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias, Sonderkommando
234:, which means the unit in charge of the demolition of the
316:
From Greece to Birkenau, the crematoria workers' uprising
662:, Leon Cohen, Marcel Nadjari, and Daniel Ben-Nachmias.
577:
422:
Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers
549:
III, a Jew from Salonika who went living in Israel.
254:
escaped from the camp that way). He was sent to the
300:who became a close friend and was killed during a
791:
395:, even if he was living with the members of the
68:who wrote his memoirs after the war, along with
674:Life Didn't Matter Anymore, Death Was Too Close
469:Life Didn't Matter Anymore, Death Was Too Close
511:by Danuta Czech). In mid-April, the number of
163:After a few days at the cremation pits of the
437:, Ιδρυμα Ετσ - Αχα'ι'μ, Thessaloniki, 1991.
379:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 80 :
734:, Ιδρυμα Ετσ - Αχα'ι'μ, Thessaloniki, 1991
595:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H0oWQoXvi8
111:
149:, he and the other Greek men lived in the
779:Shlomo Venezia & Béatrice Prasquier,
524:Shlomo Venezia & Béatrice Prasquier,
391:, as he was performing autopsies for Dr.
292:In 1946, he met in Paris the daughter of
76:. He took part in the preparation of the
127:
115:
18:
840:Mauthausen concentration camp survivors
712:To Survive, so the Truth Would Come Out
697:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 176:
656:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 181:
614:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 286 .
475:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 263:
454:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 209:
810:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
792:
718:, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 93:
282:survived after the camps were freed).
747:, University of Alabama Press, 1993:
624:Pe'amim 27, Studies in Oriental Jewry
276:80th Infantry Division of the US Army
766:, Les éditions du Cerf, 1998 :
608:We Were Dehumanized, We Were Robots
171:IV, he was permanently assigned to
13:
314:and wrote a book in French :
285:
14:
851:
580:- Προσωπική ιστοσελίδα Jean Cohen
306:In 1972, he settled in Israel in
98:Chevalier de la Liaison Française
589:Conference by Jean Cohen on the
493:for the scheduled mass arrival (
387:, may not be really part of the
805:Greek people of Israeli descent
773:
754:
737:
724:
704:
691:Together—in Despair and in Hope
683:
666:
642:
629:
617:
600:
583:
571:
190:III, he met the French painter
16:Greek Jewish Holocaust survivor
680:, Yale University Press, 2005.
555:
531:
518:
482:
461:
440:
427:
414:
365:
242:. Although the members of the
1:
358:
256:Mauthausen concentration camp
42:, Greece – in August 1989 in
94:Leon Gatenyo business school
83:
52:Auschwitz concentration camp
7:
689:Abraham and Shlomo Dragon:
232:Abbruchkommando Krematorium
10:
856:
106:Haidari concentration camp
835:Greek emigrants to Israel
54:. He was a member of the
35:
399:. The other books about
112:Experiences in Auschwitz
563:From Greece to Birkenau
815:Jews from Thessaloniki
750:so good at stealing!".
424:, Stein and Day, 1979.
155:Männerquarantäne Lager
137:
125:
24:
743:Rebecca Camhi-Frome,
716:We wept without tears
695:We wept without tears
678:We wept without tears
654:We wept without tears
650:I'll Get Out of Here!
612:We wept without tears
473:We wept without tears
452:We wept without tears
448:I'll Get Out of Here!
377:We wept without tears
258:. He was deported to
131:
119:
38:; 15 January 1910 in
22:
198:uprising, alongside
175:III as "dentist" or
764:Tu choisiras la vie
578:http://www.cohen.gr
509:Auschwitz Chronicle
204:Lemke Chaïm Pliszko
732:Χρονικό 1941–1945
561:Leon Cohen :
435:Χρονικό 1941–1945
296:, a member of the
138:
126:
25:
714:in Gideon Greif,
693:in Gideon Greif,
676:in Gideon Greif,
652:in Gideon Greif,
610:in Gideon Greif,
471:in Gideon Greif,
450:in Gideon Greif,
409:Daniel Behnnamias
403:members, such as
345:Daniel Bennhamias
46:, Israel), was a
847:
784:
777:
771:
762:
758:
752:
741:
735:
730:Marcel Nadjary,
728:
722:
708:
702:
687:
681:
670:
664:
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627:
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598:
593:uprising :
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486:
480:
465:
459:
444:
438:
433:Marcel Nadjary,
431:
425:
418:
412:
369:
349:Jacques Stroumsa
294:Herzs Strasfogel
181:Hauptscharführer
50:survivor of the
37:
855:
854:
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848:
846:
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790:
789:
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783:, Polity, 2011.
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774:
760:
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755:
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729:
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709:
705:
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671:
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648:Ya'akov Gabai:
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560:
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528:, Polity, 2011.
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519:
504:Kanada Kommando
487:
483:
466:
462:
446:Ya'akov Gabai:
445:
441:
432:
428:
419:
415:
370:
366:
361:
305:
291:
288:
286:After Auschwitz
216:Leibl Paul Katz
212:Giuseppe Baruch
200:Yaacov Kaminski
136:III in Birkenau
124:III in Birkenau
114:
86:
17:
12:
11:
5:
853:
843:
842:
837:
832:
827:
822:
820:Sonderkommando
817:
812:
807:
802:
786:
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772:
753:
736:
723:
710:Josef Sackar:
703:
682:
672:Shaul Chazan:
665:
641:
628:
616:
599:
591:Sonderkommando
582:
570:
554:
543:Razzia Israeli
530:
517:
513:Sonderkommando
499:Sonderkommando
481:
467:Shaul Chazan:
460:
439:
426:
420:Filip Müller,
413:
405:Shlomo Venezia
401:Sonderkommando
397:Sonderkommando
389:Sonderkommando
385:Miklos Nyiszli
363:
362:
360:
357:
353:Shlomo Venezia
341:Marcel Nadjari
298:Sonderkommando
287:
284:
280:Sonderkommando
252:Sonderkommando
248:Sonderkommando
244:Sonderkommando
224:Alberto Errera
220:Marcel Nadjari
196:Sonderkommando
177:Zähnekontrolle
160:Sonderkommando
113:
110:
85:
82:
78:Sonderkommando
74:Marcel Nadjari
66:Sonderkommando
57:Sonderkommando
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
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393:Josef Mengele
390:
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364:
356:
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342:
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333:Shlomo Dragon
330:
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325:Ya'akov Gabai
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208:Dawid Kotchak
205:
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167:2 and at the
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143:Zentral Sauna
135:
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102:Decca Records
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53:
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45:
41:
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29:
21:
780:
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739:
731:
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719:
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711:
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698:
694:
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685:
677:
673:
668:
660:Dario Gabbai
657:
653:
649:
644:
636:
635:Leon Cohen,
631:
623:
619:
611:
607:
606:Leon Cohen:
602:
590:
585:
573:
562:
557:
546:
538:
533:
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498:
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455:
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442:
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429:
421:
416:
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396:
388:
380:
376:
373:Gideon Greif
367:
337:Jozef Sackar
329:Shaul Chazan
319:
315:
312:Gideon Greif
301:
297:
289:
279:
251:
247:
243:
236:Krematoriums
235:
231:
227:
195:
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142:
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133:
132:Entrance to
121:
97:
93:
87:
77:
70:Filip Müller
65:
55:
48:Greek Jewish
40:Thessaloniki
27:
26:
830:1989 deaths
825:1910 births
761:(in French)
547:Krematorium
539:The dentist
495:Aktion Höss
240:death march
228:Krematorium
192:David Olère
188:Krematorium
173:Krematorium
169:Krematorium
134:Krematorium
122:Krematorium
800:Greek Jews
794:Categories
359:References
153:12 of the
80:uprising.
28:Leon Cohen
23:Leon Cohen
490:Auschwitz
302:Selektion
186:. At the
184:Otto Moll
84:Biography
36:Λεών Κοέν
147:Birkenau
120:Ruin of
90:Brussels
62:Birkenau
626:, 1986.
457:father.
320:Pe'amim
308:Bat Yam
272:Ebensee
44:Bat Yam
165:Bunker
507:(see
268:Gusen
151:Block
32:Greek
537:See
501:and
488:See
371:See
351:and
270:and
264:Linz
260:Melk
222:and
72:and
407:or
145:in
60:in
796::
375:,
355:.
347:,
343:,
339:,
335:,
331:,
327:,
266:,
262:,
218:,
214:,
210:,
206:,
202:,
108:.
34::
770:.
597:.
568:.
479:.
30:(
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