Leslie Blanco-Herman Cohn (survivor testimony)

     Herman Cohn was born September 8, 1921 in Essen, Germany. At the time of the interview Cohn was 75 years old. His first childhood experience was when he was 5 years old when his mother passed away at childbirth. When Hitler first came into power Cohn and his family thought that the Nazi movement would quickly fade away like most other movements. When Herman realized that the Nazis were very serious about their movement he decided to visit the city synagogue. When he arrived at the synagogue he realized that it had been destroyed and set on fire. That very same day his father had been taken from his home. His father was later found beaten and was taken to the hospital. That is when Herman's family decided to send him away to Holland on the Kindertransport on November 1938. He was 17 when he left Germany.
     When the United States joined the war Herman decided to join the army. He was first shipped to New Jersey in 1944 to Camp Kilmer. He ended up having to go to Paris where it was liberated. He finally crossed the line after the battle of the bodge. He then had to pack up and follow combat units into Germany. Once in Germany, he had the job of telling S.S. officers to evacuate their homes once their city had been invaded. He also had been to some of the labor camps. He had seen so many dead bodies and he told the stories of his experiences.

Quotes:

“It was like an angel from heaven was walking down the street” -he attended one of the Hitler rallies and this is what he said the people reacted like when they saw Hitler

“...so may were killed, starved. There were so many dead bodies that it will take more than a day to count.” -he wrote in a letter to his wife about his experiences