Vol. 127, No. 100 Thursday, February 22, 2018
OPINION
SPORTS
A&C
STOP STEREOTYPING ANOREXIA
CSU EMBARRASSED BY BOISE STATE
AUTUMN BURN HEATS UP MUSIC SCENE
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Marthe Cohn, Holocaust survivor, speaks about her experiences through the Holocaust, modern day neo-Nazis and her opinions surrounding today’s political climate. PHOTO BY TONY VILLALOBOS MAY COLLEGIAN
Cohn talks espionage, engagement for Holocaust Awareness Week By Austin Fleskes @Austinfleskes07
The crowd rose to their feet in a rousing round of applause as Marthe Cohn, the guest speaker for Colorado State University’s 20th annual Holocaust Awareness Week, took the stage Wednesday night. Cohn, a 97-year old French native was a spy for the Intelligence Service of the French First Army. Cohn gave her story to the community in a touching speech in the main ballroom of the Lory Student Center, as well as in a interview with the Collegian, CTV and KCSU on Wednesday morning.
Cohn was born in Metz, France in 1920. Growing up, education was emphasized for Cohn in a time when education would not have been. “All seven, we had the best education we could get. For my parents, it was extremely important,” Cohn said. “We were not rich, we were comfortable. (My brother) helped us and he financed everything. I was in school during the war, which was not permitted. We had no right to be in school, but I was in school anyways.” When the Germans invaded France, Cohn’s sister was eventually arrested and taken by the SiPo, a Nazi military police
force. After plans were made to free her, Cohn’s sister refused to escape, and later Cohn found out that she had been sent to multiple camps, and eventually Auschwitz, where she disappeared. “We don’t know how she died, we don’t know anything,” Cohn said. “We know that she never came back.” Cohn explained to the crowd she liked to honor her sister before telling her story. Before joining the army, Cohn trained and finished school as a nurse. Cohn went on to explain that she joined the Army in November of 1944, where she eventually was
assigned to the 151 Regiment of the French Army. Cohn became a member of the Intelligence Service of the French First Army when she met the colonel of her regiment, Pierre Avia, during a lunch. After the two talked about Cohn’s ability to read and speak German, the colonel explained why the Intelligence Service needed her as a spy. “He explained to me in Germany, all males from the age of 12 to old age are in uniform,” Cohn said. “So any men in civilian clothes walking the streets of Germany would be noticed and arrested.” After 13 attempts to cross
the border into Germany, Cohn was eventually successful on try 14, where she crossed the border through an area in northern Switzerland. The first time she crossed, she was told to crawl behind a patch of bushes and wait for two sentinels to turn their backs, and walk in between them into the country and to the east, as there was no barrier between the countries. “Once lying behind those bushes, seeing the sentinels come and go, I absolutely, frantically, desperately didn’t want to go,” Cohn said. “I felt that no one had the right to make me go. I felt very see HOLOCAUST on page 6 >>