Bruno COHN (CARTER)

Marriage with Edith LEWY (- 1993)

Notes

From article sent by Tommy Carter:

Bruno Cohn passed his Abitur in March 1923 in Königsberg, studied law and set up as a lawyer in Luckenwalde in early 1931. Only two years later the National Socialists brought his career as a lawyer to a halt: In June 1933 he was banned from practising as a lawyer because he was Jewish. Bruno Cohn found a new job in a hat factory in Luckenwalde, where he worked until this Jewish enterprise was liquidated on Government order in late 1938. In October 1934 Bruno Cohn got married. With his wife Edith he had three children. A daughter was born in 1935, a son followed in 1938, and a second son was born in 1943, just as they were fleeing the country. Shortly after Pogrom Night, Bruno Cohn was arrested on 10 November 1938 in East Prussia. He was released after seven weeks on the condition that he would leave Germany within a month. In late January 1939 Bruno Cohn left for Holland. His family remained in Luckenwalde. Bruno Cohn did not obtain a work permit in Holland, he was only tolerated there and his family was not allowed to join him. Cohn applied for a visa to the United States. Due to the long wait- ing lists he bought a visa for Chile in November 1939. His wife and his one-year- old son were finally able to leave Germany half a year later; the four-year-old daughter had already been taken to England in March 1939. At the end of May 1940 the refugees reached Chile on the freighter Ulysses. The authorities refused the permission to land and declared the visas invalid. The refugees were facing the risk of having to return to Holland. Due to the War, however, the ship was sent to the island of Curaçao in Dutch West Indies and they were held in an internment camp as German citizens until the end of 1942. Only after they had been released from the camp the family could return to a fairly normal life. Bruno Cohn managed to find a job. His income remained very modest, but it was just enough to make ends meet. After more than eight years of separation, the family was finally reunited in late 1947: The daughter, now 14 years old, who had been sent to England in 1939, was allowed to move to Curaçao. However, living conditions remained oppressive and they all suffered under the tropical climate. In the spring of 1953 the family finally obtained the permission to enter the United States and settled down in Los Angeles. Bruno Cohn acquired US citizenship and changed his name to Bruce Carter. Finding an occupation that would have corresponded to his qualifications turned out to be impossible. At first he worked in a shoe shop and later in a factory. In March 1988 Bruce Carter died in Los Angeles. He was buried on the local Jewish cemetery.

Sources