Karolina Hess Dreifuss, the
great granddaughter of Benedict Hess and Sarah Baum, was Leonard's mother. She emigrated to the US as a young
woman in 1906 with her cousin, Fanny, from Hintersteinau, Germany. She
was a loving family matriarch and there's not a family member who knew her
who doesn't cherish memories of her. The story which follows was written
by Leonard Dreifuss about 1979 and is a great tribute to her life. Dad put
the story together from discussions he had with her and others as well as
his family research. Dad placed at the beginning of his story a table of
contents, which I use more or less as chapter titles. The story is presented
here exactly as written by Leonard without editing, except that I have added
a chapter title on Leonard's discussion of Karolina's
quest to save the lives of thirty family members and friends from the
holocaust. I have also added hypertext links to some of the text.
Dad's story is titled simply...
KAROLINA
The family in
Germany
The Ocean
Voyage
Arrival in
America
Life upon
arrival
The German Jewish
Community
Karolina meets
Joe
Karolina meets Joe's
family
Joe's family's attitude
to a "greenhorn"
Karolina's quest to save the lives of thirty
family members and friends from the holocaust.
PROLOGUE
On a wet cold day in October, 1977, at least 25
to 30 people assembled in a cemetery on Long Island. They did not come
for a funeral; nor did they come to honor their mother or father. It was
an anniversary of the passing of one never to be forgotten by those
attending.
Prayers were said; stones were placed on the headstone.
Then, one by one, they passed the gate where others stood because they
could not enter. They were Cohnen but there eyes were fixed on the
headstone:
KAROLINA HESS DREIFUSS
born March 19, 1884
died October 13, 1963
* * * * * * * * * *
Continue with second page of Karolina's Story