Věra Kohnová
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Věra Kohnová (26 June 1929 – 1942) was a Jewish girl who was deported with her family first in January 1942 from
Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
to a concentration camp in
Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
and in March 1942 to the Izbica Ghetto in Poland. Věra Kohnová became famous for her diary, which she wrote from August 1941 to January 1942. The diary, in which she watched the last months of life of the Jewish inhabitants of Plzen as a child, she stopped writing a few days before her deportation to Theresienstadt. Věra Kohnová is one of the child victims of
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. Due to her being the same age and her also writing a diary, she is often compared to
Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...
.


Biography


Věra Kohnová's family

Věra Kohnová was born on 26 June 1929 in
Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
, the daughter of Otakar Kohn (1889–1942), an official at the Plzeň iron and metal goods company ''Gustav Teller''. Otakar Kohn came from a family living in
Týn nad Vltavou Týn nad Vltavou (; ) is a town in České Budějovice District České Budějovice District () is a Okres, district in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of České Budějovice. Administrative division Česk ...
. He came to Plzeň in 1908, and in 1913 his younger brother Rudolf (1894–1942) also moved in with him. Věra Kohnová's mother's name was Melanie. Melanie Langerová was born in
Dobřív Dobřív is a municipality and village in Rokycany District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,400 inhabitants. The municipality is known for its unique hammer mill. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as ...
near
Rokycany Rokycany (; ) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monument zone. Admini ...
, where her father David Langer, originally a teacher from Dolní Cetno near
Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It lies on the left bank of the Jizera (river), Jizera River. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region. I ...
, was a shopkeeper, tobacconist, and a pubkeeper. In 1912, Melanie moved with her parents to Plzeň, and in late March 1923, she married Otakar Kohn. The couple had two daughters. The first child, Hanka was born in January 1924. Věra was thus five years younger than her sister, and she celebrated her tenth birthday the same year the Germans invaded and occupied Czechoslavkia. In addition to Rudolf Kohn, their paternal uncle, Hanka and Věra also had a maternal grandmother named Otýlie Langerová. Otýlie lived with Věra and her family in Plzeň, until she died in 1936. Věra's maternal grandfather David Langer died in 1927, before Věra's birth. Together with his wife Otýlie, he is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Rokycanská Street in Plzeň. Before deportation to
Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
, Otakar and his wife Melanie were friends with a couple named Jaromír Kalivoda and his wife Marie. Their friendship with the couple is rather obscure. Marie Kalivodová (1912–1992), was a full twenty years younger than Věra's mother, Melanie, and was born only at a time when Melanie and her family no longer lived in Dobřív. Marie and Melanie were actually sisters. The reason why Marie was a full twenty years younger than her sister Melanie, is disputed. It is disputed whether Melanie's father David Langer, was also the father of Marie Kalivodová. Marie Kalivodová and her husband Jaromír Kalivoda were enthusiastic patriots, ''Sokol'' members, athletes, and members of the
Unity of the Brethren Unity of the Brethren (Latin ''Unitas Fratrum'') may refer to: *Unity of the Brethren (Czech Republic), the province of the Moravian Church in the Czech Republic * Unity of the Brethren (Texas), a Protestant church formed in the 1800s by Czech immi ...
. On 22 January 1942, the family was put on transport "S" to
Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
. The last record of Věra Kohnová comes from 11 March 1942, when she left
Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
on a transport for another Nazi camp in
Izbica Izbica ( ''Izhbitz, Izhbitze'') is a town in the Krasnystaw County of the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina administrative district called Gmina Izbica. It lies approximately south of Krasnystaw and south-east of ...
—a transfer station to the extermination camps. She and her family arrived at Izbica two days later on 13 March. Although she and her family did not survive, her diary was hidden by Marie Kalivodová and Miroslav Matouš for 65 years. In 2006, the diary was published as a book in Czech, English and German (Czech title: ''Deník - Věra Kohnová'', English: ''The Diary of Vera Kohnova'', German: ''Das Tagebuch der Vera Kohnova''), . In 2023, a new edition of the diary completed with recently discovered historical facts was published (Czech title: ''Deník Věrky Kohnové''), .


References


See also

*
List of Holocaust diarists Diarists who wrote diaries concerning the Holocaust (1941-1945). English translations of some of these diaries are commercially available, for example Anne Frank's, Eva Heyman's, Janusz Korczak's. * Janina Altman - a Jewish diarist in the Lw ...
*
List of diarists This is an international list of diarists who have Wikipedia pages and whose journals have been published. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Diaries of disputed authenticity *The ...
*
List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims This is a list of Holocaust victims whose writings were published posthumously. Published in English or translated into English *Hinde Bergner (1870–1942): ''On Long Winter Nights: Memoirs of a Jewish Family in a Galician Township, 1870–1 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohnova, Vera 1929 births 1942 deaths Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust Writers from Plzeň Women diarists Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners People who died in Izbica Ghetto 20th-century Czech women writers 20th-century Czech writers Jewish children who died in the Holocaust Jewish women writers Children who died in Nazi concentration camps Holocaust diarists 20th-century Polish diarists