Robert Cohen

Arrival at Auschwitz

On 5 March 1944, a transport organised by the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt – Reich Main Security Office) left the Netherlands carrying 732 Jewish prisoners from Westerbork Transit Camp to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

After the selection upon arrival, 179 men were registered and tattooed with prisoner numbers 174684 to 174862, while 76 women received prisoner numbers 75816 to 75891. They were admitted to Auschwitz as forced labourers.

The remaining 477 men, women and children were murdered in the gas chambers shortly after arrival.

This original document from the archives of Auschwitz confirms that Robert ("Bob") Cohen arrived at Auschwitz on 5 March 1944. He was tattooed with prisoner number 174708, a number that remained on his left forearm for the rest of his life.

Prelude

Robert ("Bob") Cohen was born on 25 January 1926 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He lived with his father, Alex Cohen (13 September 1893), his mother, Mathilda Cohen (10 August 1890) and his older brother Freddy Cohen, who was born in 1923. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Bob witnessed every stage of the persecution of the Jewish population. He experienced the gradual exclusion of Jews from public life, discrimination at school, increasing anti-Jewish legislation, deportation and ultimately the horrors of Auschwitz and the Nazi concentration camp system.

In April 1942, the German occupation authorities ordered all Jews in the Netherlands to wear the yellow Star of David prominently on their clothing. Ironically, Jewish people even had to purchase the badge themselves using textile ration coupons. One of Judaism's oldest religious symbols was deliberately misused by the Nazis to isolate, humiliate and stigmatise the Jewish population.

After leaving school, Bob found work in a factory producing equipment for the German war industry. Following a German raid at the factory, he decided to go into hiding.

In March 1943, however, Bob's parents persuaded him to surrender voluntarily. They feared that if he was arrested while in hiding, an "S" (Straf – Punishment) notation would be placed in his records, resulting in even harsher treatment. Before leaving, they even sent him to the dentist and the hairdresser. Bob also said goodbye to his girlfriend.

At just 17 years old, Bob reported to the Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch Theatre) in Amsterdam. During the German occupation, this former theatre had been converted into a collection point for Jews awaiting deportation to the transit camps at Vught and Westerbork, before being transported to the extermination camps in occupied Poland. His father accompanied him for part of the journey before saying goodbye.

It was the last time Bob ever saw his parents, his brother, or the rest of his immediate family. They were deported to Sobibor Extermination Camp, where they were murdered in the gas chambers on 2 April 1943.

Vught

From March 1943 until October 1943, Bob was imprisoned in Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, better known as Vught Concentration Camp. The camp was guarded by members of the SS, while prisoners were forced to work for the German war industry. The Dutch electronics company Philips operated workshops inside the camp, where prisoners assigned to the Philips Kommando generally received somewhat better treatment than many other inmates.

Although conditions at Vught were brutal, approximately 800 prisoners died there, a comparatively low number when measured against many other Nazi concentration camps. Like other concentration camps, Vught was enclosed by two electrified barbed-wire fences separated by a strip of open ground approximately three metres wide. Guard towers stood every 100 to 150 metres, each manned by an SS guard equipped with binoculars, a searchlight and a machine gun.

The brick barracks each housed around 400 prisoners.

Bob was assigned to a work detail carrying heavy rocks. The work was physically exhausting and throughout his life he carried the scars that testified to this labour. He was also repeatedly beaten by Dutch members of the Landwacht, Dutch SS auxiliaries who were training at Vught before being sent to fight on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union.

Eventually, Bob received orders transferring him to Westerbork Transit Camp.

Westerbork

From October 1943 until March 1944, Bob was imprisoned in Westerbork Transit Camp in the northeastern Netherlands. Unlike Vught, Westerbork primarily served as a transit camp. Almost every week trains departed carrying Jewish prisoners to extermination camps in occupied Poland. Upon arrival, Bob was assigned to a work detail stuffing straw into mattresses for camp bedding. Compared with the concentration camps in Germany and occupied Poland, conditions in Westerbork were less severe and many prisoners believed they might survive there indefinitely. Nevertheless, deportation always remained a constant threat.

At the beginning of March 1944, Bob's name appeared on a deportation list.

The transport consisted of approximately 15 to 20 cattle wagons, each packed with around 75 to 80 people. After the final roll call, the train departed Westerbork for Auschwitz-Birkenau, although the prisoners were never told their destination.

The journey lasted several days under appalling conditions.

The wagons were so overcrowded that few people could sit down, let alone lie down. There was no ventilation, almost no food or water and only a single bucket served as a toilet for everyone inside. It quickly overflowed, leaving the floor covered with human waste. Babies cried continuously while the stench became almost unbearable.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

After several days locked inside overcrowded cattle wagons, Bob's transport finally arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the concentration- and exterminationcamp in Poland, commanded by Rudolf Höss.  The train entered the camp through the infamous gate "The Gates Of Hell" before coming to a halt on the unloading ramp, known by prisoners as the Rampe. It was here that thousands of newly arrived deportees learned their fate within a matter of seconds. As the doors of the wagons were thrown open, SS guards shouted orders while prisoners were forced onto the platform carrying whatever belongings they had managed to bring with them. Families were immediately separated amidst confusion, fear and violence. Many believed they were about to be registered for labour. Few realised they had arrived at the largest extermination camp established by Nazi Germany.

Immediately after disembarking, Bob faced the notorious selection. German SS doctors and officers examined every arriving prisoner in just a few seconds. Those considered fit enough for forced labour were directed to one side. The elderly, mothers with young children, the sick, the disabled and anyone judged unable to work were sent in the opposite direction.

For them, the decision meant immediate death.

Only around 10 to 15 percent of the transport was selected for forced labour. The overwhelming majority, including the elderly, children and entire families, were taken directly to the gas chambers, where they were murdered within hours of arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Bob never saw the hundreds of people from his transport again.

An Industrial Killing Centre

Approximately 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, making it the largest killing centre created by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The overwhelming majority of the victims were Jewish men, women and children deported from across occupied Europe. Prisoners considered unfit for work, including elderly people, young children, pregnant women and the sick, were usually taken directly to the crematoria immediately after the selection.

The crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau were purpose-built extermination facilities combining underground gas chambers with large cremation furnaces capable of disposing of thousands of bodies. Crematorium I was located in Auschwitz I, the original main camp. The much larger Crematoria II, III, IV and V were situated at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most of the mass murder took place.

The victims were deceived into believing they were entering communal shower rooms. Instead, they were forced into sealed gas chambers where Zyklon B pellets were introduced through openings in the roof. Within minutes almost everyone inside had suffocated. Their bodies were then transported to the cremation furnaces by Jewish prisoners forced to work in the Sonderkommando.

Registration

Because Bob had been selected for forced labour, he was taken to the building known as the Sauna, where all newly admitted prisoners underwent the registration process. His hair was completely shaved, followed by the removal of all body hair. He was disinfected, forced to surrender every remaining personal possession and stripped of his civilian identity.

Bob was then tattooed with prisoner number 174708 on his left forearm.

Auschwitz was the only Nazi concentration camp where prisoners were routinely tattooed with identification numbers. From that moment onwards, Bob ceased to be known by his name in the eyes of the SS. He became simply prisoner 174708. He was issued the familiar blue-and-grey striped concentration camp uniform, wooden clogs and a prisoner cap before being assigned to the D-Lager, one of the labour compounds within Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Forced Labour

Bob survived the initial selection for one reason only: he was young, healthy and physically strong enough to perform hard labour for the German war industry. His first assignment was the Kartoffelkommando, where prisoners spent long days peeling thousands of potatoes destined for the watery soup distributed throughout the camp. The soup contained little nutritional value and did almost nothing to relieve the constant hunger suffered by the prisoners.

Food rations consisted mainly of a small piece of bread, watery soup and occasionally a little margarine or sausage. Malnutrition rapidly weakened even the strongest prisoners, making them increasingly vulnerable to disease and exhaustion. Bob was later transferred between various work details, each involving physically demanding labour carried out under constant SS supervision. Prisoners who slowed down, collapsed or failed to meet expectations were frequently beaten without warning.

Later, Bob was assigned to the infamous Kanada Kommando. Prisoners in this work detail were forced to sort and catalogue the clothing, luggage, valuables and personal belongings confiscated from the thousands of men, women and children who had been murdered immediately after arrival in the gas chambers. The warehouses became known as "Kanada" because they were filled with an unimaginable abundance of goods, a bitter contrast to the starvation and deprivation endured by the prisoners. For Bob, handling the possessions of people who had been alive only hours before was a constant reminder of the industrial scale of the genocide taking place around him.

Selections Inside the Camp

The danger did not end after surviving the arrival selection. Throughout his imprisonment Bob witnessed repeated selections inside Auschwitz itself. SS guards regularly inspected working parties and barracks, searching for prisoners who appeared weak, ill or exhausted. Those selected were removed from the camp population. Many disappeared into the gas chambers. Others were executed by shooting. For the remaining prisoners, these selections created a constant atmosphere of fear in which survival depended not only upon strength and endurance but also upon luck.

Every morning prisoners awoke uncertain whether they would still be alive by evening.

Life in the Barracks

The barracks in which Bob lived had originally been prefabricated horse stables designed to accommodate approximately 52 horses. The SS instead crammed between 800 and 1.000 prisoners into each building. Three-tiered wooden bunks filled the barracks from end to end. Several prisoners were forced to share each sleeping space. There were few blankets, little heating during the harsh Polish winters and virtually no sanitation.

Disease spread rapidly through the overcrowded accommodation. Lice, fleas and rats were everywhere, while outbreaks of typhus and dysentery claimed countless lives. Despite these conditions, prisoners still had to report for forced labour every morning before sunrise. Anyone unable to stand during roll call risked immediate punishment or death.

For Bob Cohen, every single day inside Auschwitz-Birkenau became a struggle simply to stay alive.

Survival Against All Odds

Bob's ordeal did not end at Auschwitz-Birkenau. As the Red Army advanced into occupied Poland in January 1945, he was forced to join one of the brutal death marches, during which thousands of exhausted prisoners were driven westward by the SS in freezing winter conditions. Anyone unable to keep pace was often shot where they fell. Bob survived this march and was eventually transported to Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp, where prisoners were forced to build the infamous V-2 rockets inside the underground tunnels of the Kohnstein mountain under horrific conditions. There his hands came under a railway cart and shattered his dream of becoming a violin player. 

Returning to Amsterdam

Against all odds, Bob survived Auschwitz, the death march, Mittelbau-Dora and the final months of the Second World War. Following Germany's surrender in May 1945, he eventually returned to his home city of Amsterdam, only to discover that almost his entire family had been murdered during the Holocaust. His parents, his brother Freddy and many other relatives had been deported to Sobibor Extermination Camp, where they were murdered in the gas chambers. Bob was one of the very few members of his family to survive.

Throughout the rest of his life, he dedicated himself to sharing his experiences, ensuring that the victims of the Holocaust and the crimes committed against them, would never be forgotten.

I was honoured to count Bob Cohen among my friends. Before he passed away, he gave me a signed copy of his book, a treasured keepsake that reminds me not only of his remarkable survival, but also of my responsibility to help preserve and share his story for future generations.