Student’s Holocaust research leads to Edmonton connections
EDMONTON— Polish-born hat-maker and restaurateur Wolf Wengrowicz sought to save the lives of his four-yearold twin boys when Nazi forces invaded Belgium in May 1940.
“He feared the worst when he heard Germany’s Nazis were murdering Jewish people and reluctantly dropped off his sons Jacques (later renamed Jack) and Leon from the Jewish ghetto of Anderlecht in Brussels, to the nearby Wezembeek orphanage,” Jack’s son, Max Cohen, said Saturday.
“His fears were justified. He was picked up and sent to Auschwitz, where in just over four-and-a-half years, Nazi Germany systematically murdered close to at least one million deported Jews.
“Records show most prisoners were either gassed, starved, worked to death or sometimes killed in medical experiments.”
The boys’ father, sent to Auschwitz on Oct. 31, 1942, daringly jumped from the train en route and returned home to work in a restaurant.
But he was found by the SS and sent to Auschwitz on Sept. 20, 1943. He perished there, along with his wife and teenage daughter.
DUTCH LAW STUDENT MAKES EDMONTON CONNECTION
New light on what happened to Jack and Leon is shed in a book by fourth-year Dutch law student Reinier Heinsman, 24, who volunteered to help a Belgian museum.
He contacted me from his home in The Netherlands, knowing ‘Jasper Jack’ was well known in Edmonton as a businessman and philanthropist.
“I had a major motivation to write ‘From the Children’s Home to the Gas Chamber,’ which includes a story about Jack and his twin,” said Heinsman.
“My grandmother was born in Antwerp in 1937 and survived the war by hiding. But sadly, many other family members were deported and died in Auschwitz.”
Heinsman told me he had gathered some 50 testimonies and many photos during his Holocaust research.
About 10 files centered on murdered orphans, while the remainder were about surviving orphans from seven countries, including the U.S., Israel, Belgium, Canada, England, the Netherlands and Australia.
TWIN BOYS BROUGHT TO CANADA
Cohen says Heinsman’s book, available on Amazon, has added several missing pieces to his family tree.
“Reinier discovered among many items, a photo of my dad, Jack and brother Leon with a group of other children at Mechelen deportation camp where Belgium Jews were gathered before their deportation to concentration and extermination camps,” said Cohen.
“He also discovered letters written by our grandfather, a letter from an aunt and photos we had never seen before of our grandfather, grandmother and aunt.”
Cohen said Reinier’s work has helped complete “a part of myself that has been a void my entire life.”
Heinsman reports Jack and Leon were on their way to Auschwitz and almost certain death when trains were delayed through intervention by courageous individuals.
“The orphans eventually reached the attention of Yvonne Nevejean, leader of the Children’s National Care Authority in Belgium,” says the author. “Some 150 children were saved.”
In 1947, the twins were among 1,116 youngsters brought to Canada by the Canadian Jewish Congress and settled in 38 communities.
TWINS ADOPTED
Edmonton businessman Harry Cohen, sent to Toronto by his wife Lillian to adopt a little girl, instead returned with the little twin boys, who spoke French and not a word of English.
“Harry Cohen was a loving man and our father Jack desperately wanted him to be his dad,” said business entrepreneur Cohen. “He wrapped his arms around Harry’s legs and wouldn’t let go.”
Jack loathed school, said Cohen. At the age of 12, the twins quit and went to work in what became the family business, Harry Cohen’s Jasper Auto Parts.
In 1946, Harry had founded the company in downtown Edmonton.
“My dad Jack was a veritable encyclopedia on auto parts and could instantly tell the make, model and year of every vehicle manufactured from 1930 to 1970,” said Cohen. “He never had to use any parts reference book.”
When Harry Cohen died in 1965, Jack Cohen purchased Jasper Auto Parts.
In 1992 the property was sold to the Alberta government, the land destined to become part of a transportation corridor.
Cohen owned Windsor Truck Parts in Edmonton and continued to run Jasper Auto Parts from there. He also owned Western Auto and Truck Parts in Calgary, run by his brother Leon.
Jack Cohen ran his businesses with wife Marilyn’s help for 50 years, up until his death in 2017. Leon died only nine months after Jack.
LEGACY CONTINUES
Jack and Marilyn’s daughter, Cherie, and youngest child, David, entered the family business more than 20 years ago and, since Jack’s passing, have successfully run operations in Edmonton and Calgary.
Many years ago, I befriended Jack and enjoyed meeting his many friends, which included the business elite, entertainers, rabbis, police officers and bikers.
He amassed a highly-valued collection of vintage cars and trucks and always just smiled when asked about the time he brought Muhammed Ali to Edmonton to promote boxing in Alberta.
Says Jack’s wife Marilyn: “Reinier’s book is well researched and written. I know Jack and Leon would be immensely proud to have their stories and photos included. We think of Jack every day.”