Holocaust Herman Cohn and Malka Baran Testimony

Surviving the Holocaust was a trying thing to do during a horrible time in history. Herman Cohn who was raised in Essen Germany was one of those survivors along with his brother, father and stepmother. Herman can remember the beginning of when things started to turn in his country. Born in 1921 he experienced and can detail by memory the horrible things that happened and that people had to live through. While attending grade school Herman lost most of his schoolmates as friends as they were not allowed to be friend Jewish children anymore. Soon after this the beatings and bullying began by schoolmates. Herman's brother was lucky enough to escape before the worst had started. His brother was part of the kinertransport. Eventually ending in Chicago with his fathers family. When Herman was 17 he was told to go home from work as it would be dangerous for him to be there. Later he would know why. That became the day of Kristallnacht. During this time he waited for his visa to leave his country to travel to the United States. Herman then took papers to the social security office to have them stamped for his visa. There he ran into an old friend that said that he would get the paperwork done and stamped for him. As time went by waiting Herman was escorted to another office where the head of the Gestapo was sitting. He was then escorted to another building and told should he run or walk to fast that he would be shot dead for trying to flee. Once there he placed into a corner and beaten. Herman lost his home, his friends, his way of life and all that he knew. Time went by and his family had received there visa's to come to the united states. Many things happened to Herman and is family that he describes in detail. Luckily they all made their trip to the united states to again be with other family that had left before them. Herman continued to work as a tailor and went on to have a family of his own. His store is still open and running after 43 years of service. Herman was a lucky man to never have been sent to a camp, he survived and lived to tell of his experiences and what really happened to the people around him. "I have told everyone, tell them everything, it is not a rumor." Malks Baran was also a survivor of the Holocaust. Much of her story is the complete opposite of Herman. Malka was born in Warsaw Poland where she grew up with her family. Her mother would soon disappear and much of her story she states,"Living in the ghetto I do not remember that time, it must have been too traumatic." Malka stayed in the ghettos for almost two years. After that she was sent to a concentration camp in Hausa where she then spent the remainder of her time until the liberation. She was starved and the conditions were horrendous with people sick everywhere. Malka can remember babies being thrown against the walls to their deaths. A site as this would terrify anyone. As you can see these stories are very different. One similarity though is that they survived the most cruel time in all of history of being ousted of a community and being persecuted for their beliefs.