Berta Berkovich Kohút
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Berta Berkovich Kohút (; November 8, 1921 – February 14, 2021) was a Czechoslovakian-born
survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...
of the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
. By the time of her death in 2021, she was the last surviving seamstress who lived through internment at the camp by creating
dress A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso, hangs down over the legs, and is primarily worn by women or girls. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt. Dress shapes, silh ...
es for the wives of Nazi officers.


Life

Berta Berkovich, known as Betka or Bracha, was born on November 8, 1921, in Chepa, a small village then located in the eastern region of
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
and now in Ukraine. Her father, Solomon Berkovich, was a tailor by profession and
deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both hearing impairment, deaf and muteness, could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak ...
. Her mother, Karolína Štern was originally from , Hungary, and the family was Jewish. They relocated to
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
in 1926, where Solomon established his own successful tailoring firm, and came to employ three deaf-mute workers. His wife worked with him as an interpreter and fitter for their customers. When she was twelve, Berta was confined in a sanatorium for tuberculosis treatment, and learned to speak
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
. Despite attending a commercial high school, Berta had limited opportunities due to the rising
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
and
anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
in
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
. She was taught tailoring by her father.


Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

In 1942, 21-year-old Berkovich was taken to
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
, along with her sister and around a thousand other women of similar age. She was assigned the identification number 4245. During the peak of the Holocaust, a group of twenty-five young women, primarily
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, were chosen to produce high-end garments for prominent Nazi women in a specialized salon at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Berkovich sisters were among the seamstresses chosen to work in the tailoring studio.


Upper Tailoring Studio

Hedwig Höss, the wife of camp commandant
Rudolf Höss Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; ; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he w ...
, founded a dressmaking workshop where both everyday dresses and luxurious evening gowns were among the creations. The (Upper Tailoring Studio), was operated by female inmates who were selected for their sewing expertise. These women included former couture seamstresses, fashion designers, and salon owners. Marta Fuchs, a
Kapo A kapo was a type of prisoner functionary () at a Nazi concentration or extermination camp. They were, whether voluntary or coerced, collaborators who worked under the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) to carry out administrative tasks or supervise th ...
, who headed the studio, worked with inmates like Alida Vasselin, a French corsetière arrested for smuggling anti-Nazi pamphlets in her corsets, and Marilou Colombain, a
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
sergeant. Fuchs utilized her abilities and expertise as a former salon owner to recruit additional staff, including her niece, Rozsika, who had minimal sewing skills but assisted with picking up pins. Because sewing in the studio ensured their relative safety, the seamstresses worked in the internal underground of Auschwitz to help other inmates. Using external fabric suppliers as go-betweens for communications, the tailors kept inmates informed of the progress of the war. They also were able to get messages out of the camp. When the evacuation of the camp was ordered in 1945, the seamstresses gathered warm clothes before being marched across occupied Poland. Although the other family members did not survive, both Berta and Katka were saved by their sewing ability and employment in the tailoring studio.


Family

After the war, Berkovich married Leo Kohn Kohút, a writer who had lost his first wife in the camps. They initially lived in Bratislava for three years, and then moved to
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, where Kohút worked in the publishing house, Smena. They had two sons, Tom and Emil, who both relocated to
Marin County, California Marin County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat a ...
. When Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1968, the couple moved to California to be near their children.


Death

Kohút died on February 14, 2021, at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in
San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city in and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of th ...
. Her death at age 99 from COVID-19 was possibly related to the Kaiser emergency department's repeated refusal to treat her with the life-saving antiviral medication
Remdesivir Remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. is a Broad-spectrum antiviral drug, broad-spectrum ...
, in spite of her pharmacist son's pleas to do so. Tom Areton stated to ''
The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...
'' that his mother spent one thousand days in Auschwitz and reportedly expressed the sentiment that she felt as though death could have occurred on numerous occasions during each of those days. When she died, Kohút was the last known surviving seamstress of those who worked in the sewing studio at Auschwitz.


Legacy

In 2017, an oral interview of Kohút was recorded in California and published in an article "My Experiences during a Three-Year Imprisonment in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp" in the journal ''Judaica et holocaustica'' in 2019. British novelist and fashion historian, Lucy Adlington, wrote ''The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive'' (2021), after interviewing Kohút. The book provides an account of the manner in which the Nazis profited from confiscating the belongings of deportees, reconditioning them, and making them available for use by citizens of the Reich. In a review, Laura L. Camerlengo, a costume curator at the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...
, noted that the well-documented and researched publication also explores the experiences and personal stories of the seamstresses, like Kohút, who worked in the fashion studio.


See also

*
Luise Danz Luise Danz (11 December 1917 – 21 June 2009) was a Nazi concentration camp guard in World War II. Danz was captured in 1945 and put on trial for crimes against humanity at the Auschwitz trial in Kraków, Poland. She was sentenced to life impri ...
* Roza Robota *
Alma Rosé Alma Maria Rosé (3 November 1906 – 4/5 April 1944) was an Austrian and Jewish violinist. Her uncle was the composer Gustav Mahler. She was deported by the Nazis to the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, for 10 months, she directed ...
*
Mala Zimetbaum Malka Zimetbaum, also known as "Mala" Zimetbaum or "Mala the Belgian" (26 January 1918 – 15 September 1944), was a History of the Jews in Belgium, Belgian woman of Polish Jews, Polish Jewish descent, known for her escape from the Auschwitz-Birke ...
*
Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ) were Extermination through labor, work units made up of Nazi Germany, German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the di ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkovich Kohút, Berta 1921 births 2021 deaths Czechoslovak Jews Auschwitz concentration camp survivors 20th-century tailors Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in California