us-005578-irn722904-irn523602
has record set type: Item
type: RecordSet
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/843
identifier: irn523602
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/701
record resource extent: folders 2
is or was included in: us-005578-irn722904
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn722904-irn523602/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Papers consist of a group of letters written to Hena Kohn [donor] during and immediately following World War II by Father Edouard Robert; a false identification card used by Kohn; and a false identification card issued to"Andre Goedweer" that was used by Azriel Gutwirth [donor's husband] while in hiding. Also includes 33 photographs that document Kohn's pre-war and wartime experiences.
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn722904-irn523602/acquisitions/1
has or had holder: us-005578
title: Hena Evyatar papers
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Hena Evyatar (born Hena Kohn) was born on February 1, 1929 in Łódź, Poland to Herschel and Ita Rivka Kohn (née Charlupska). In Łódź, Herschel Kohn made purses and other leather goods. In 1930, the Kohn family moved to Brussells, where their daughter Pola Kohn was born. Hena grew up in a moderately observant Jewish home in the quartier du Midi where many Polish Jewish immigrants lived. Her parents were anti-Zionist with sympathies for the Communist movement. Hena's first language was Yiddish, but she learned French at her locale public school, the école maternelle, and taught it to her parents. After the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, the Kohn family joined a wave of Belgian refugees who fled to France. While en route, however, they were overtaken by German troops who told them that the fighting was over, and they returned home to Brussels. Hena's Christian classmates were not happy that she had returned. In attempt to avoid the growing danger, Hena and Pola Kohn were sent to a Red Cross summer camp located at a castle in the Bois d'Arlon in the Ardennes during the summer of 1942. Their attendance was arranged by a Red Cross worker named Mms Van der Stiekelen, who sheltered the girls at her villa on the outskirts of Brussels for a week before the camp started. Herschel and Ita Kohn visited their daughters at the villa. Five days after saying goodbye to their children Herschel and Ita Kohn were arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz concentration camp where they perished in September 1942. Their daughters did not learn the fate of their parents until after the war. Unaware of the fate of their parents, the girls enjoyed the summer at camp. However, when it became clear that the girls had no home to return too, Mme Van der Stiekelen contacted a resistance network. A young Catholic priest, Edouard “Eddy” Robert, was sent to make arrangement for the girls. Pola Kohn was placed with family named Berquet in a small village. Hena Kohn lived at the home o…