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Commemorative Plaque for Věra Kohnová


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Vera Kohnová (26 June 1929 – 1942) was a young Czechoslovak Jewish diarist. She and the family were put on a transport to Theresienstadt on 22 January 1942. The last record of Vera came from 11 March 1942, when she transported to another Nazi camp Izbica.

Věra Kohnová was born in Pilsen in 1929, into the family of Otakar Kohn, a secretary for the Gustav Teller company. In 1941, at the age of twelve, she began keeping a diary. She wrote in it for five months, during which time the situation of her family and other Jews in Plzeň gradually worsened. She didn't describe the fate of Jews of the time but wrote mainly about her personal feelings. The last entry in her diary is, "We are here just tomorrow and after tomorrow, who knows what will be then. Bye-bye, my diary!".

On 22 January 1942, the family was put on transport "S" to Theresienstadt. The last record of Věra Kohnová comes from 11 March 1942, when she left Theresienstadt on a transport for another Nazi camp in Izbica—a transfer station to the extermination camps. Although she and her family did not survive, her diary was hidden by Marie Kalivodová and Miroslav Matouš for 65 years.

In March 2022, a commemorative plaque honouring Vera was unveiled at her former home at Koperníkova Street 2.

Koperníkova Street 2, 30100 Pilsen, Czechia