“How did you find out after the war what had happened? Did you think about going back?” – “No. Because I have always wanted to come here, and if I had not come today, I would have come tomorrow. I cried very much, because my parents were no longer there. I had not thought that I would never see them again. It was very difficult to leave them and not to see them. They wrote to me that I should not worry, because tomorrow they were going to a new town. That town was Oświęcim, Auschwitz.” – “How did you find out about it after the war?” – “I knew that one of my friends came here and his uncle had come back, and so I wrote to him. He wrote me that they were no longer alive, that I did not have anybody, anybody, anybody.”
“You wanted to go to Palestine?” – “I wanted to. Why I wanted to go? Because I have raised myself like that, and I have raised others in this way, too. I was a very good girl. I would have come here, but later. Very difficult times came, but my parents were chachamim, wise, in sending me here. It was very hard.” – “How did it happen?” – “We received a certificate, well, only I received it, because I was active in working with children, I was an activist, I was working with children.”
“We were in Prague. Only daddy went there, my mom said that she would not be able to go with me. Only daddy was with me. I thought that although I was young, I would help them to come here to Israel. I didn’t know that I would not see them anymore. That was difficult. Because I was the only one who remained. They remained there and immediately after the war I sent a telegram, asking about them.”
Šošana Kohn was born on March 12, 1924 as Ina Weinbergerová in Olomouc, but she grew up in Holešov. Both her parents were from Jewish families and the whole family had Zionist inclinations. Šošana was a member of the organization Maccabi Ha-tzair and later she served as its group leader (madricha). In 1939 she was issued a certificate (as the only one from her family) allowing her to emigrate to Palestine, where she went together with a group of young people in March 1939 when she was fifteen years old. She lived in kibbutzim Degania, Kfar HaHoresh, Nahalal and Matzuva. She worked as a manager of a poultry farm and as a supply manager. In 1944 she married Pavel Kohn and they raised three children. Her parents and most of her relatives have died during the holocaust. Šošana Kohn lives in Kfar Saba in Israel.
Maccabi Ha-tzair in Holešov celebrating Hanukkah. 1936-37. In the photo: last row from left: Bergman, unknown, Rusolf Stamberger, Adolf Wienberger, Walter Stamberger, unknown, Walter Süss, J
Maccabi Ha-tzair in Holešov celebrating Hanukkah. 1936-37. In the photo: last row from left: Bergman, unknown, Rusolf Stamberger, Adolf Wienberger, Walter Stamberger, unknown, Walter Süss, J
A march to honour the memory of T. G. Masaryk. Ina Weinbergerová in the 1st row, 2nd from left. Helena Fischerová (1st row, 3rd from left), her best friend from the movement, helps her carry the wreath. Holešov, September 1937
A march to honour the memory of T. G. Masaryk. Ina Weinbergerová in the 1st row, 2nd from left. Helena Fischerová (1st row, 3rd from left), her best friend from the movement, helps her carry the wreath. Holešov, September 1937
