Vera Cohn - Salwitz

Vera Cohn-Salwitz was the daughter of Chaim Alexander Salwitz (Oświęcim/ Auschwitz, 8 October 1867) and Rachel Eckstein (New York, 21 February 1867).^[1] In Berlin she met Erich Gustav Cohn, whom she married on 28 May 1936. After graduating, Born in Berlin on 28 April 28 1909, Erich worked as a lawyer at the Berlin company of entrepreneur and philanthropist Jakob Michael. Due to the anti-Semitic professional ban for Jews imposed by the Nazis, he emigrated to South Africa in April 1933. However, he was unable to provide for himself there, so he returned to Berlin. He was able to work as a janitor at his old law firm. When that also became impossible, he and Vera fled illegally to the Netherlands.^[2]

At the beginning of April 1939 they stayed in the Beneden Heijplaat Refugee Camp, Quarantaineweg 1, Rotterdam. Three weeks later, on 24 April 1939, Erich was transferred to the Protestant and Roman Catholic Refugee Center in Sluis (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), while Vera left on 26 April 1939 for the Lloyd hotel on the Oostelijke Handelskade in Amsterdam, also a relief center for refugees, where Erich eventually ended up too.^[2]

On June 24, 1940, both were transported to Camp Westerbork.^[3] There, Erich worked his way up to 'camp elder'. Alte Kampinsassen were German-speaking Jews who had met each other before the war in refugee camps and therefore acquired privileged positions after their deportation to Westerbork. They were able to use their influence to remove the names of some fellow prisoners from transport lists or change their destination. In this way, Erich was able to save himself and his wife Vera and others from having to be transported. ^[2]

Vera worked as a typist at the registration office in Westerbork and that is where she is said to have met the inhabitants of the Secret Annex. In an interview conducted in 1956, she recalled:

"In all, they were a small group, including Mr. Frank, his wife and two daughters, another couple with a son, and a dentist — all had hid together in Amsterdam. Mr. Frank was a pleasant looking man, courteous and cultured. He stood before me tall and erect. He answered my routine questions quietly. Anne was by his side. Her face, by certain standards, was not a pretty one, but her eyes — bright, young, eager eyes–made you look at her again. She was 15 then; Margot, her sister, was two years older. None of the Franks showed any signs of despair over their plight. (...) their composure, as they grouped around my typing desk in the receiving room was one of quiet dignity. However bitter and fearful the emotions that welled within him, Mr. Frank refused to compromise his dignity as a person. His wife and daughters, as though taking a cue from him, acted precisely the same."^[4]

After the liberation of Westerbork on 12 April 1945, Vera and Erich had to stay here for more than two months until they were allowed to leave the camp on 28 June 1945.^[2] They did not register in Amsterdam at Amstelkade 109-II until 5 October 1945.^[1]

They emigrated to the United States in 1947,^[5] where Erich resumed his work as a lawyer, with his own firm on Fifth Avenue in New York. In 1951, Vera became a staff member of the national office of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.^[2] Erich died on 27 August 1986 and Vera on 15 May 1999.^[6]

Bron persoonsgegevens.^[7]