Leni Kohnke - Leyens

Helene (Leni) Leyens was a descendant of a well-to-do family from Wesel, who owned the textile department store Leyens & Levenbach. The founder of the department store, Hermann Leyens, and his wife Sara Levenbach had three sons - Erich, Heinrich and Walter - and two daughters - Margarete and Helène.^[1] Following the Nazi power take-over in 1933, the situation for Jews in Wesel became increasingly dire. Because of the boycott of Jewish businesses, the situation for Jewish businessmen deteriorated rapidly, which manifested itself in an attack by the SA on the Leyens family business at the Großer Markt. Erich Leyens, who was in charge of the department store after his father's death in 1930, sold his business in 1934 and moved to Milan, eventually fleeing to the United States in 1942 with the help of his brother Walter, who was already living there.^[2]

His sister Helène had already left Wesel and gone to Amsterdam in October 1933.^[3] In January 1935 she moved to The Hague,^[3] where she got to know divorcee Erich Kohnke. In 1934, Kohnke had moved with his first wife from Chemnitz to The Hague, where they lived for nearly two years before moving to Amsterdam. Eventually this marriage did not last: on 2 September 1938, they were officially divorced.^[4] After which, he met Leni Leyens. They were married in The Hague on 3 January 1940.^[4] Their daughter Anneke was born on 25 December 1940 in HIlversum. In Hilversum, the family lived with Erich's mother Henriette and Leni's mother Klara Leyens, who had sought refuge with her daughter in the Netherlands after the November Progrom of 1938.^[1] In Hilversum, the family lived with Erich's mother Henriette and Leni's mother Klara Leyens, who had sought refuge with her daughter in the Netherlands after the November Progrom of 1938.^[1]

After the forced relocation of the Hilversum Jews to Amsterdam, Kohnke and wife and daughter Anneke found refuge with the Frank family on Merwedeplein in May 1942. Otto Frank described Leni as a good friend of Edith.^[5] The Kohnke family is mentioned several times by Anne. For her 13th birthday, Anne received from Leni the book Daisy's bergvacantie (Daisy's mountain holiday) as a gift and “a bracelet from Anneke with a kiss” and a "book from Mr. Kohnke."^[6] In October 1942, Anne wrote in her diary that the Kohnke family had gone into hiding.^[7] In January 1943, the Jewish Council requested Kohnke to disclose his "current address".^[8] However, the Kohnkes were tracked down, interned at Westerbork transit camp, deported and murdered in Auschwitz on 23 September 1943.^[9] Leni's mother and mother-in-law met with the same fate.^[10]

Daughter Anneke survived the war. Her parents had managed to get her to go into hiding in time. They had entrusted Anneke to the young student Cora de Jong, who worked in the resistance and who handed the child over to the Blacquière family in Voorburg, near The Hague, on the same day.^[1] In the summer of 1945, Otto Frank found out that Anneke Kohnke was still alive. As there was no sign of her parents, he tried to get in touch with her mother's brother in Switzerland.^[5] With the help of Otto, she emigrated to New York in 1946 to stay with her uncle Erich Leyens.^[11] Since then, Anneke lives in the United States. A documentary was made about her, entitled The baby, which premiered at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam in 2012.^[12]

Source personal data.^[13] Addresses: Stieltjeslaan 8, Hilversum;^[14] Merwedeplein 37 II, Amsterdam (May '42);^[5] Vossiusstraat 50 boven.^[14]