Irene Raab

"I hope the next generation will never experience such evil as the Holocaust, and I hope that everybody will live in harmony and peace no matter what race or religion they are."

Name at birth
Irene (Yocheved) Kochan
Date of birth
05/04/1940
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Rovno, Ukraine until 1941
Name of father, occupation
Idel (Yehuda) Kochan, Tailor
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Sara Chudler, Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and myself
How many in entire extended family?
My mother’s four brothers and our maternal grandmother.
Who survived the Holocaust?
Myself, mother and father
When the war started in 1941, my father left for the Army.  There was chaos, with people running away and hiding.  My grandmother wouldn’t leave until later, but my mother and I left.  My mother felt guilty about leaving without her mother and went back to Rovno after one month.  I was left with a Christian family.  No one was left in Rovno, and my mother came back to get me.  We went to Uzbekistan then, but I don’t know much about that time; I was too young.  I know we had to cross the Volga River and went by train.  We had very little to eat.  I remember rooting in garbage to look for watermelons.  
 
We stayed in Uzbekistan until 1945 and then took a cargo train back to Poland.  My father came back from the Army and checked the lists that appeared in newspapers and on walls and found us.  My parents then had two sons.  In 1957 we went to live in Israel, in Mabarat Bat Yam.  I went to live on Kibbutz Ma’anit near Netanya for six months.  I loved it. I worked picking oranges and did kitchen work.  I went to Ulpan and also learned to be a hairdresser.  
 
I met my husband Alex in Israel and we got married in 1960, and then left for the United States in 1962.  I still have two brothers in Israel. When we got to Detroit, I worked for different hair salons and then at Borman Hall for sixteen years. Now I’ve been at Fleischman for 24 years.                    
Where did you go after being liberated?
Back to Poland, then Israel
When did you come to the United States?
1962
Where did you settle?
Detroit, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
My husband had a cousin here.
Occupation after the war
Hairdresser
When and where were you married?
November 22, 1960 in Israel (the day President Kennedy was shot)
Spouse
Alex, Plumber
Children
Miriam Fogelson, housewife Emil, accountant Leah, advertising
Grandchildren
Four: Noah and Aaron Fogelson, Adam and Ben Raab
What do you think helped you to survive?
I was too young to think about it; I just lived. I thought that was how life was supposed to be.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
I hope the next generation will never experience such evil as the Holocaust, and I hope that everybody will live in harmony and peace no matter what race or religion they are.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
04/04/2011

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