Meet Holocaust Survivors

Page 2 of 13

• Ruth Cohen

  Born: April 26, 1930, Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia

  Ruth Cohen was born Renee Friedman on April 26, 1930 to Herman and Bertha Friedman in Mukačevo, Czechoslovakia. Herman and his brother were wholesale wine and beer manufacturers. Ruth, her older sister, Teresa, and younger brother, Aharon, often helped to fill bottles on Friday evenings before the Sabbath. The Friedmans were Orthodox Jews as well as Zionists and Ruth and her siblings were sent to the Hebrew Gymnasium, a school where the curriculum was taught entirely in Hebrew.

  Learn more
• Frank Cohn

  Born: August 2, 1925, Breslau, Germany (present day: Wrocław, Poland)

  Frank Cohn was born Franz Cohn on August 2, 1925, in Breslau, Germany (present day: Wrocław, Poland) to Martin Cohn and Ruth Potlitzer Cohn. An only child, Frank lived comfortably with his parents in German middle class society. Martin owned a successful sporting goods store. But the violent antisemitism of the Nazis impacted Frank’s family even before the Nazis came to power. In January 1927, a group of Nazis brutally beat Frank’s uncle Max Berdass who later died in June 1930 from his injuries. 

  Learn more
• Joan Da Silva

  Born: May 31, 1937, Przemyśl, Poland

  Joan Da Silva was born Jonata Abend on May 31, 1937 in Przemyśl, Poland to Shmulek and Sala Abend (née Adolf). Joan’s father Shmulek was born to Polish Jewish immigrants in New York, but the family returned to Poland a few years after his birth. At home the Abend family spoke Polish. While they did not attend synagogue, the family observed Jewish holidays, traditions and customs, such as lighting candles for Sabbath.

  Learn more
• Isak Danon

  Born: 1929, Split, Yugoslavia

  Isak was born in Split, a small town on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia with a prewar population of about 50,000 and a rather active Jewish life. Isak’s father owned a small dry goods store, and Isak helped run the family business along with his mother and three sisters.

  Learn more
• Susan Darvas

  Born: April 24, 1934, Budapest, Hungary

  Died: February 28, 2020, Columbia, MD

  Susan Darvas was born Susan Lakatos on April 24, 1934 in Budapest, Hungary to an assimilated Jewish family. Her father, Mano, owned a pioneering dental laboratory in Budapest employing both Jews and gentiles. Susan’s mother, Margit, assisted Mano in his dental practice. Susan was very close to her two cousins, Magdi and Imre, and they were constant playmates.

  Learn more
• Louis de Groot

  Born: June 28, 1929, Amersfoort, the Netherlands

  Died: September 29, 2020, Washington, DC

  Louis de Groot was born on June 28, 1929 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. His father, Meijer, owned and operated a store which sold small electrical appliances in Arnhem. Sophia, his mother, assisted with the store. The family, which included Louis’ older sister Rachel, lived in an apartment above the store. Meijer was an avid amateur film maker, recording the family’s adventures to the park, the pool, and the ice skating rink on an 8mm video camera. They were a traditional Jewish family and attended synagogue on the high holidays. Both children were members of Jewish youth organizations.

  Learn more
• Isaac Dickmann

  Born: November 11, 1919, Stryj, Poland

  Died: June 30, 2017, Bethesda, MD

  Isaac was raised by his widowed mother who received support from a nearby uncle and an aunt in New York.

  Learn more
• Marcel Drimer

  Born: May 1, 1934, Drohobycz, Poland

  Marcel Drimer was born on May 1, 1934 in Drohobycz, Poland a small town now part of Ukraine.  His father, Jacob, worked as an accountant in a lumber factory while his mother, Laura, raised Marcel and his younger sister, Irena.

  Learn more
• Ania Drimer

  Born: April 16, 1942 in Kharitonovo, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Soviet Union

  Ania Drimer was born Franciszka Silbiger on April 16, 1942 to Adam and Ernestine (née Berglas) Silbiger. She was born in a Soviet forced labor camp (gulag) in the interior of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) in a town called Kharitonovo, near the Arctic Circle.

  Learn more
• Maria Dworzecka

  Born: June 19, 1941, Bialystok, Poland

  Died: January 16, 2023, Fairfax, VA

  Maria Dworzecka was born Marysia Rozenszajn on June 19, 1941, in Bialystok, Poland. Her parents, Izak Rozenszajn and Bela Kaufman Rozenszajn, had recently fled German-occupied Warsaw for Soviet-occupied Bialystok. Three days after Maria’s birth, German forces began their invasion of the Soviet Union. Izak was killed on June 23, 1941, during the first bombing of Bialystok.

  Learn more