Oral history interview with Ruth Kohner

Oral History | Accession Number: 2016.198.75 | RG Number: RG-90.062.0006

Some video files begin with 10-60 seconds of color bars.

Interviewee: Ruth Kohner
Interviewer: Borbála Kriza
Peter Murphy
Date: interview: 2018 August 22
Geography: creation: Belfast (Northern Ireland)
Language: English
Extent: 1 digital file : MP4.
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

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Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
Topical Term: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Irish.
Personal Name: Kohner, Ruth.
Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust.
Funding Note: The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Conditions on Access: No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use
Copyright Holder: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
: Record last modified: 2022-07-28 19:53:14
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn694077

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Oral history interview with Dr. Dennis Coppel

Oral History

Dr. Dennis Coppel, born in October 1935 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, discusses his traditional and observant Jewish family; his mother who was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England in 1910; his father who was born in Belfast; his paternal grandfather (Abraham Coppel) who was born in Telsiai, Lithuania; his paternal grandmother (Leah) who was born in Poland; his paternal grandparents going to Belfast in 1895; his maternal grandparents who were both born in Suwalki, Poland and settled in Yorkshire; his father owning a furniture shop on York Street in Belfast which was bombed by the Germans in 1940; living near the Lough Shipyards which were a target for many bombings; evacuating to Newcastle, Northern Ireland for a few years with several other Jewish families; being too young to understand what was happening to the Jews in other parts of Europe; having memories of the war through visits with his father to the Millisle Farm which housed refugees from 1938-1948; 300 people living on the farm, including many children that came on the Kindertransport from Europe; his Grandfather Abraham Coppel who was part of setting up the farm along with Barney Hurwitz and the Kohner family; Rabbi Schachter from Belfast who was the farm’s Rabbi although he clashed with the Kohner family; the farm closing after the war; studying medicine at the university in Belfast; becoming the only Jewish consultant in the hospital; the unrest in the 1970s when his uncle’s factory (Emco) was burned down; the Northern Ireland Protestant community associating itself with Israel; and his thoughts on a united Ireland.