The Day I Me t Anne Frank: Poignant Tale of Eye Witness

By VERA COHN
(As Told to Harold Berman)
(Editor's Note: The follow-
ing story, reprinted from the
June, 1956 issue of The ADL
Bulletin, official organ of the
Anti-Defamation League of
Bnai Brith, is told by Vera
Cohn, a former inmate of
Camp Westerbork in Holland
where Anne Frank and her
family were confined for a
time. Here, she. recalls her
meetings with the Franks.
After liberation, Vera and her
husband emigrated to the U.S.
where Vera, in 1951, joined
the national staff of ADL.)
* * *
I sat through a performance
of The Diary of Anne Frank in
a daze. Only part of me was
present in the theater. The rest
of my mind drifted off, lost in
a blur of faces that rose out of
the past.
Those faces, marked by hope
and anxiety, belonged to men,
women and children martyred
by the Nazis. I had seen so
many of them, old and young.
Theirs was a world of torment.
So many Anne Franks were
swallowed up in it.
I had met Anne Frank one
afternoon early in August. The
Frank family had just arrived
from Amsterdam. They had
been transported by train, in
sealed compartments.
Because I knew how to type,
the Nazis had assigned me to
the camp's receiving center
where I filled out • identification
cards. That's how I first met
the Franks. They had been
caught living underground in
Amsterdam. For that, they were
penalized with special confine-
ment. They were assigned to a
strafbarak (punishment bar-
rack).
Inmates herded into these
bleak quarters under
severe restrictions. They were
kept under the closest surveil-
lance and could not move
around freely, like other prison-
ers, within the camp compound.
We all wore blue overalls but
the Franks, like others in a
strafbarak, had to wear red
shoulder patches to distinguish
them as prisoners who were to
receive harsher treatment be-
cause . they had been in hiding.
To us, the red shoulder patch
was a mark of esteem.
In all,' they were a small
group, including Mr. Frank, his
wife and his two daughters, an-
other couple with a son, and a
dentist—all had hid together in
Amsterdam.
Mr. Frank was a pleasant-
looking man, courteous and
cultured. He stood before me
tall and erect. He answered
my routine questions, quietly.
Anne was by his side. Her

face, by certain standards,
was not a pretty one, but her
eyes—bright, young, eager
eyes—made you look at her
again. She was 15 then; Mar-
got, her sister, was two years
older.
None of the Franks showed
any signs of despair over their
plight. Their discovery and in-
ternment was indeed tragic,
touched with irony. We all
knew, by the inevitable prison
grapevine, that the Nazis were
losing the war. The Frank
family had successfully evaded
capture for two years—only to
be trapped in the final months.
Their composure, as they
grouped around my typing desk
in the receiving room was one
of quiet dignity. However bitter
and fearful the emotions that
welled within him, Mr. Frank
refused to compromise his dig-
nity as a person. His wife and
daughters, as though taking a

oue from him, acted precisely
the same.
I thought them to be nice
people, conspicuously so; a fine
family group. I remember that
the thought of it, at the time,
filled me with disquiet. For
family groups seemed to inspire
the most sadistic impulses of
our masters.
One Sunday morning, 2,000
inmates, including the Frank
family, were loaded into a train
heading east for Auschwitz.
Another group left the next day
for Theresienstadt in Czecho-
slovakia. Shortly after, a third
group left for Bergen Belsen.
This mass exodus of death
was being repeated in other
West European camps. Many
prisoners refused to accept the
knowledge of the fate awaiting
them. Reports of the gas cham-
bers came over BBC, which we
listened to in secret. But the
stark truth was more than one
could bear; it was dismissed as
British propaganda!
Firm Calls Arab Bluff;
My husband and I were
among the last to leave Wester-
"Business as Usual"
boric, liberated -by Canadian
LONDON, (JTA)—A British troops. Our survival was a
firm has forced the Iraqi gov- miracle. Or so it seemed to us.
ernment to back down on a de-
mand that it satisfy the Iraqi $1 1/2 Million Gift for Center
Embassy in London that none in Israel Given by European
of its directors or management
BRUSSELS (JTA)—A dona-
personnel were Jews, the Lon- tion of $1,500,000 for the erec-
don press reported.
tion of a "Center for the Ad-
One newspaper , commented vancement of Human Culture"
that if the Iraqi government in Jerusalem by Bernard van
could be forced to retreat, the Leer was announced in connec-
other Arab states could also be tion with the arrival here of
forced to give up their anti- Daniel Auster, former Mayor of
Jewish boycott campaign.
Jerusalem, who is head of the
The specific case dealt with organizing group for the center.
a shipment of medical supplies
Auster is touring European
sent to Iraq by Medochemicals, capitals to consult with aca-
Ltd. The shipment was im- demic leaders on the structure
pounded and held by customs and operation of their institu-
agents in Iraq pending the Brit- tions. The center which will
ish concern's "clearing" itself. rise in Jerusalem is projected
Medochemicals refused to sup- as a clearing house for intellec-
ply the information demanded. tuals from all parts of the world.
- Information about the case It will include academies of
found its way into the press and sciences, moral science and poli-
a number of questions were tics and fine arts.
asked in Parliament, whereupon
the Iraqi government reversed
itself and admitted the medical
supplies.

Discuss Membership Plan
for Zionist Federations

Leaders
through
WELCOME WAgg:fig

Where to phone:

WO. 1-7750
VE. 6-3464
KE. 3-6598
VE. 7-8142
No Cost or obligation)

allinsonsummass===ssidge

JERUSALEM, (JTA) — A
synagogue and a Talmudic
school - named after Rashi, the
great commentator on the Bible
and Talmud, will be establish-
ed in Miron in commemoration
of the 850th birthday of Rashi
which falls this year, it was
announced by the Israel gov-
ernment.

44

41 Years of SERVICE

Phone for Estimate
THE BEST COSTS NO MORE

Leader

Carpet Cleaning Co.

Plant and

Office,

8700 LINWOOD

TY 5-8400

A few openings are available at

SHOLEM ALEICHEM DAY CAMP

(For boys awl girls 4-7)

18495 Wyoming

DI 1-2552

• Transportation provided
• Sports and games
• Lunches and Snacks

• Crafts — Music.
• Trip;
• Well-trained staff

AIR CONDITIONED BUILDING
DI 1-2552
Call Now

This Year . . . Therefore You

Must Plan AT ONCE Your

Greetings to Relatives and

Friends Through the Columns of

THE JEWISH NEWS

Following an established tradition, we will publish. Greetings

as a service to our readers in our New Year Issue, Sept. 7. For

the nominal cost of Two Dollars, you will be able to reach

nearly all your relatives and friends in Detroit and Michigan.

By this method, you will avoid the necessity of writing,

stamping and mailing your greetings ... thereby saving

Dublin's Mayor Briscoe
Plans Two Trips to U.S.

Friendly Neighbors
& civic & Social Wens,*

Honor Rashi's Anniversary

Rosh Hashanah Comes Early

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Mem-
bership in the projected ter-
ritorial federations which the
last World Zionist Congress
voted to establish will be on
an individual basis, a World
Zionist Organization committee
decided.
The unit, called the Commit-
tee on Territorial Federations,
also decided that members of
any Zionist party or organiza-
tion would automatically be-
come members of the federa-
tion.
Each federation will maintain
its own local branches and
ippmesz eer=TmEammersomed membership rolls, but the parties
and organizations will remain
autonomous in those fields
which do not impinge on the
exclusive provinces of the
federation.

GREETINGS & GIB
vo brought to you from

The rapid advance of. the Allied
armies threw the Nazi execu- -
toners off balance and cheated
them out of many victims
marked for the slaughterhouse.
We were among the lucky ones.
After the war, those of us
who survived had an insatiable
thirst for news. I got my first
report of the Franks shortly
after - the Nazi surrender. The
girls, I learned had been trans-
ported from Auschwitz to Ber-
gen Belsen, where Margot died
of starvation. Anne, her will to
live gone, succumbed shortly
after. Only a few weeks later,
Bergen Belsen was liberated.
Mrs. Frank died in Auschwitz.
Mr. Frank, the only one who
survived, got back to Holland.
He later settled in Switzerland.
When Anne's dairy was
found and turned over to him,
at , first he refused to read it.
He nursed the hope that she
was still alive; he was reluc-
tant to invade her privacy. He
consented to. read it only
when he was convinced that
Anne was dead ..
There are moments when this
whole nightmare becomes too
oppressive. At such time s,
Anne's diary has a strangely
curative quality. Such is the
miracle of this 15-year-old
healer whom I will always re-
member as the slim little girl
with the expressive eyes and
the persiStent dignity of our
people.

Synagogue, Talmudic School

LONDON, (JTA) — Dublin's
Lord Mayor Robert Briscoe has
accepted the invitation of New
York Mayor Robert F. Wagner
to visit New York and review
the St Patrick's Day parade
on March 17.
Mayor Briscoe, the first Jew
in Dublin history to hold that
post, also announced he would
make an earlier trip to the
U.S. this fall.

Agency Names Seven
to Immigration Board

JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
Jewish Agency named seven
members of its executive to
serve on the Agency, Israel gov-
ernment coordination board
which deals with immigration
and settlement policy. The gov-
ernment will appoint a like
number.
Named to the board were:
Yehuda Braginsky, Meir Gross-
man, Eliahu Dobkin, Dr. Giora
Josephtha•, Moshe Kol, Zalman
Shazar and S. Z. Shragai.

time and energy.

To assure appearance of your Greeting during the Holyday

Season, simply fill in the coupon below and mail it together

with $2. Be sure it reaches us no later than Friday, Aug. 24.

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