| Original Title: | Georges-André KOHN, photographie |
| English Title: | Georges-André Kohn, photograph |
| French Title: | Georges-André KOHN, photographie |
| Description: | This is a photograph of Georges-André Kohn, son of Armand and Suzanne Kohn, in his communion suit. Suzanne Kohn believed her family would be safe from persecution if they converted to Catholicism. Conversion for this purpose was not uncommon for Jews during the war. Suzanne and her children converted and were provided with papers; Armand Kohn refused to convert. The story of Georges-André Kohn is particularly tragic. He was transported from Auschwitz to Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany. In all twenty children were chosen for medical experiments performed by SS doctor Kurt Heissmeyer. They were injected with living tuberculosis bacteria and examined as the disease progressed in each of them. Their condition deteriorated. On April 20, 1945, with the war all but over and the British troops less than three miles from the camp, the children were taken to a school at Bullenhuser Damm where they were hanged from hooks. In 1945, the Hotel Lutétia in Paris became the unofficial registration center for returning victims. The Kohns put up a notice, but received no information. Armand Kohn died in 1962, without knowing the true story of his son’s fate. Information about this atrocity did not emerge until 1979. Today Bullenhuser Damm is a site of memory. A memorial is located in the cellar of the former school: the room where the children were murdered is kept in its original state; an exhibition on the fate of the victims is in the adjoining room. Documents there describe failed efforts to have Arnold Strippel, the senior SS officer in charge, prosecuted. Outside Bullenhuser Damm is a rose garden. Georges-André Kohn was twelve years old; he was the last child to be deported from Drancy. He was one of one-and-a-half million murdered children. |
| Contributer: | Philippe Kohn |
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| Language: | () |
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