Egg crate used as a suitcase by family living in hiding

Uriel Cohn was born on July 13, 1940, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Adolph, a graphologist, and Elfriede Strauss Cohn, a teacher. He had an older brother, Michael, born in Amsterdam in 1936. His parents had emigrated from Germany in1935 because of the increasingly harsh anti-Semitic policies and persecution of Jews by the Nazi government. They were refused permission to immigrate to Palestine, so they went to the Netherlands. Adolph was able to re-establish his practiced as a professional graphologist and had several large Dutch companies as clients. The Germans occupied Holland in 1940. On July 15, 1942, the family was told to report for deportation to a labor camp. They decided to go into hiding instead. Michael was hidden alone with the van Lith family in Geldrop, a village close to Eindhoven, but the rest of the family had to keep on the move, hiding in different places, sometimes together, sometimes not. Executives from one of the factories that used Adolph’s services offered to help the family find refuge, but the offer was soon withdrawn because of fear of the German authorities. Two-year-old Uriel was taken in by Marinus and Everdina van Beck on their isolated farm in the village of Bennekon, near Arnhem. The van Beeks were strict Calvinists who felt it was their duty to help the Jews during this difficult time and they contacted underground groups offering to provide refuge for Jews. In 1943, they took in Elfriede and soon afterwards, Adolph as well, when their hiding place with another family, the van der Put’s, became too dangerous. The Cohn’s had 2 small rooms in the farmhouse and a hiding place in the basement. Visitors were told that Elfriede and Uriel were distant relatives whose home had been destroyed in the war. They went to church with the van der Beek’s on Sundays and often went on trips to the market. Adolph, however, never left the farm, as his features were recognizably Jewish. A local Protestant priest, E.H. Broekema, also helped them during this time, and even appealed to his parishioners during sermons to assist the family. In late September 1944, an Allied operation, Market Garden, failed to liberate Arnhem. The van der Beek’s were ordered to evacuate the area, but they found the Cohn’s another hiding place and notified the Red Cross about their situation. The area was finally liberated in April 1945 and Uriel and his parents were reunited with his brother, Michael. The Cohn family later moved to Israel. Their rescuers have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

The crate was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Uriel Cohn.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Uriel Cohn