Content Warning: This article discusses historical events involving persecution, deportation, and the Holocaust, which may be distressing. It aims to educate on the resilience of survivors and the importance of remembrance, encouraging reflection on human rights and the dangers of discrimination.
Zvi Cohen, born Horst Cohn on May 21, 1931, in Berlin, Germany, endured the horrors of Nazi persecution as one of the last Jewish children deported from the city in 1943. At age 12, he and his parents were sent to Theresienstadt ghetto-camp, surviving amid starvation and death. Through ingenuity and luck, they escaped to Switzerland in a secret transport, eventually reaching Palestine. Renaming himself Zvi Cohen, he rebuilt his life. This analysis, based on Cohen’s personal account and historical sources like the Theresienstadt Memorial, provides an objective overview of his story, highlighting survival’s triumph over Nazi terror.
Childhood in Nazi Berlin
Horst Cohn was born into a Jewish family in Berlin, where his father was Germany’s only Jewish master tailor. At age 2, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, unleashing anti-Semitic laws. Horst’s first memory was the 1936 Berlin Olympics, when Nazis temporarily curbed overt persecution for international eyes. Post-Olympics, life worsened: his grandfather was sent to Sachsenhausen in 1938.
Horst faced daily violence en route to school, beaten by Hitler Youth with a 40 cm stick on a 2.5 m leather cord ending in a metal ball. Covered in blood, he asked “why,” met with “because you are a Jew.” Confined at home, he learned harmonica folk songs, a skill that later saved him.
Deportation to Theresienstadt
On May 7, 1943—Horst’s 12th birthday—two SS men knocked on the door. Alone, Horst delayed them by playing harmonica, calling his parents home. Unlike cattle cars elsewhere, they traveled in a passenger train to hide deportation from Berliners. Destination: Theresienstadt, a ghetto-camp in Bohemia and Moravia, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Arriving, the first order was to surrender valuables or face punishment. Overcrowded barracks had triple-decker bunks; deaths at night led to bodies tossed down, collected mornings. Latrines served 100, with no privacy. Theresienstadt lacked gas chambers but had a crematorium for the first 10,000 dead, burning bodies at 2,500 degrees in 10–17 minutes, leaving ash.
The Secret Transport to Switzerland
Rumors of extermination spread, but in 1945, an SS order offered a “transport to Switzerland” for volunteers. Skeptical of Nazi tricks, only 1,200, including Horst’s family, volunteered, dressed in nicest clothes. The train passed ruined Germany, with wounded Waffen-SS soldiers.
This was Heinrich Himmler’s secret deal with Swiss authorities for 5 million Swiss francs in medicine and supplies for Germany, exchanging 500,000 Jews. Hitler, learning of it, canceled as betrayal. Horst’s family stayed six months in Switzerland, then boarded a British warship to Palestine in August 1945. Horst became Zvi Cohen.
Post-War Life and Legacy
In Palestine (later Israel), Zvi rebuilt, serving in the IDF and raising a family. His story, shared in interviews, highlights survival’s ingenuity—like harmonica delay—and Nazi deception’s cruelty.
Theresienstadt, a “model ghetto” for propaganda, masked 33,000 deaths. Zvi’s escape, one of few, underscores luck and resistance.
Historians view his account as testament to child survivors’ resilience amid 6 million Jewish deaths.
Zvi Cohen’s journey from tortured Berlin boy to Theresienstadt survivor and free Israeli embodies human spirit’s endurance. His harmonica ploy and Swiss escape defied Nazi intent. For history enthusiasts, Zvi’s story urges remembrance of Holocaust victims, discussion on discrimination’s dangers, and commitment to human rights. Sources like the Theresienstadt Memorial ensure accurate education, promoting a tolerant future.