Elie Aron Cohen
Encyclopedia
Elie Aron Cohen was a Dutch
doctor (Groningen July 16, 1909 – Arnhem
October 22, 1993) who, being Jewish, was sent to the Amersfoort concentration camp. He arrived there on September 16, 1943. His first wife, his first son as well as his parents-in-law were killed upon arrival, but he managed to survive through a combination of chance and skill. His status and abilities as a doctor were instrumental for his survival. On May 6, 1945, he was liberated by the U.S. military in Melk, where he had been transported by way of Mauthausen-Gusen.
After World War II, Elie Cohen remarried a Jewish woman. They got two children, a daughter and a son.
Elie Cohen is the author of a number of books about the Holocaust
. The first of these was the Ph.D. thesis on which he graduated on March 11, 1952, at Utrecht State University (supervisor: H.C. Rümke, professor of psychiatry). The book (in Dutch) was entitled "The German Concentration Camp — a medical-psychological study", and it was one of the first scientific descriptions of what had happened in killing centres such as Auschwitz. It also provided an analysis of the psychology of the SS-men who manned these camps. At that time there was little interest in the Netherlands in recounting these events, but surprisingly the thesis was much in demand. It was later translated into English, Swedish and Japanese.
Elie Cohen went on to write a number of books and publications about extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Sobibor
and their survivors. He was instrumental in obtaining recognition in the Netherlands of the "post-concentration camp syndrome" from which many survivors came to suffer in their later years.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
doctor (Groningen July 16, 1909 – Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
October 22, 1993) who, being Jewish, was sent to the Amersfoort concentration camp. He arrived there on September 16, 1943. His first wife, his first son as well as his parents-in-law were killed upon arrival, but he managed to survive through a combination of chance and skill. His status and abilities as a doctor were instrumental for his survival. On May 6, 1945, he was liberated by the U.S. military in Melk, where he had been transported by way of Mauthausen-Gusen.
After World War II, Elie Cohen remarried a Jewish woman. They got two children, a daughter and a son.
Elie Cohen is the author of a number of books about the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. The first of these was the Ph.D. thesis on which he graduated on March 11, 1952, at Utrecht State University (supervisor: H.C. Rümke, professor of psychiatry). The book (in Dutch) was entitled "The German Concentration Camp — a medical-psychological study", and it was one of the first scientific descriptions of what had happened in killing centres such as Auschwitz. It also provided an analysis of the psychology of the SS-men who manned these camps. At that time there was little interest in the Netherlands in recounting these events, but surprisingly the thesis was much in demand. It was later translated into English, Swedish and Japanese.
Elie Cohen went on to write a number of books and publications about extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Sobibor
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
and their survivors. He was instrumental in obtaining recognition in the Netherlands of the "post-concentration camp syndrome" from which many survivors came to suffer in their later years.
Publications
- Het Duitse concentratiekamp.(thesis) H.J. Paris, Amsterdam, 1952 (no ISBN)
- Human Behaviour in the Concentration Camp. Reprint edition (February 1, 1989) Free Association BooksFree Association BooksFree Association Books is an innovative project started in 1980s London. It arose as the brainchild of Bob Young and colleagues, who, disillusioned by the decline of the liberatory movement, began a search using psychoanalysis to understand the problems of liberation...
. English translation of thesis "Het Duitse concentratiekamp". Translated by M.H. Braaksma. ISBN 1-85343-047-1 - De Afgrond. E.A. Cohen, 1971 (publication in bookform of four interviews with journalist Joop van Tijn, that had previously appeared in the weekly Vrij Nederland) ISBN 90-6006-123-3
- The abyss: A confession. Publisher: Norton; (1st ed. January 1, 1973). (English translation of "De Afgrond") ISBN 0-393-07477-3.
- Het post-concentratiekampsyndroom: een 'disaster'-syndroom. Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, 1972;116;1680-1685.
- De negentien treinen naar Sobibor. Elsevier, Amsterdam/Brussel, 1979 ISBN 90-10-02513-6
- Beelden uit de nacht. de Prom, Baarn, 1992 ISBN 90-6801-322-x