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Outlook: The birthday gift that survived the Holocaust

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Compilation of photos of Eva Cohn, her mother's poetry book, and a photo of her mother, Eva and her two sisters

16/03/2021 GMT

The birthday gift that survived the Holocaust

BBC World Service - Outlook, The birthday gift that survived the Holocaust

In 1942 Sylvia Cohn wrote her daughter a book of poems. They're her "greatest treasure"

For her 11th birthday in March 1942, Eva Cohn asked her mother, Sylvia, to write down some of her own poems as a gift. Now nearly 90, Eva has had them translated at last.

For her 11th birthday in March 1942, a little girl called Eva Cohn asked her mother Sylvia to send her some of her own poems. At the time, Eva and her sister Myriam were in a Jewish children's home in France, and Sylvia was imprisoned in an internment camp. Separated from her children by the Holocaust, and not knowing when or if she would see them again, Sylvia wrote this inscription in a small shabby exercise book: "to my children... know that your mother loves you." The book contained her own poems, written from memory, some of them detailing the family's experiences in the Holocaust. At the end of the war, Eva finally made it to England to be reunited with her father, her only possessions the clothes on her back, and the book of poems Sylvia had given her. Now nearly ninety, she's had them translated at last. The story of one family in the Holocaust. 

Mike Konesky and Bill Akers lead seemingly ordinary lives in the city of Spokane in the US state of Washington. But in 2018 they were riding the wave of celebrity - appearing on big talk shows in the US to talk about a film that had been made about them. And not just them – it's a film based on the story of their 10 closest friends, and a 35 year game of tag. They told Emily Webb their story in 2018.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com


Picture: Eva with her sisters Myriam and Esther and their mother Sylvia; Eva Cohn; Sylvia's book of poems 
Credit: Eva Mendelsson

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