Berta Berkovich Kohut

Age: 99

City: San Rafael

Died: Feb. 14, 2021

Berta Berkovich grew up in Czechoslovakia, the daughter of a tailor who taught her to sew. That skill probably saved her life when she was sent to Auschwitz at age 20. Branded No. 4245, she was put to work making dresses for the wives of Nazi officers. She and her younger sister survived the death camps that claimed every other member of her extended family. After a career in publishing, she immigrated to Marin County to be near her son, Tom Areton. At her San Rafael home, she hosted lunches for Holocaust survivors and is the main source for the nonfiction account “The Dressmakers of Auschwitz,” due out this fall. “She was such a fighter that we were sure she was going to win this battle against COVID,” said Areton, “because she won so many of them in her life.”