Analysis Of Destined To Survive By Israel Cohen

Summary on “Destined to Survive” By Israel I. Cohen
As I read the book, “Destined to Survive” many thoughts raced through my mind. It is very hard to fully grasp the horrible, grueling, situation that the Jews were in during WW2. Israel Cohen’s story is depicted and discussed in this book through his very eye’s. While this is his very own life story, we must not forget the horrors that numerous other Jews faced during those traumatic times.
Israel Cohen is a young Auschwitz Holocaust survivor and a true Gerer Chassid. He was born in Lodz, Poland, to a beautiful family. As a sincere maamim Ba’ Hashem, Israel Cohen was “Destined to Survive” the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, and then Chamfering, until liberation. Prior to 1939, Anti-Semitism was prevalent
The Jews at that time lived in small towns or villages, and many were part of the average town folks. However, Jews in Europe throughout the ages faced many pogroms and always lived separately from the gentiles. The Jews were also unfortunately divided into different groups Chasidim and Misnagedim as they were called. Each Chasid had his Chasidus that he belonged to; while, Misnagedim were just anti-Chasidim and there were also those who did not take sides. Mr. Cohen was a Gerer Chasid who lived in the shadow of his Rebbe. In the first chapter, he speaks about the greatness of his Rebbe and tells of a miracle that had happened to him, through listening to his Rabbi’s advice. In this chapter, he also describes the daily life in the village before ww-1. Mr. Cohen was a little boy by ww-1 and he managed to miraculously survive
In the year 1939, the Germans viciously attacked Poland and targeted the Jews. They placed the Jews in ghettos until the final solution came into play. This was not something remarkable, because looking back in time, there were many other nations that targeted the Jews specifically and placed them in the ghettos. No one in their wildest dreams, could have predicted the horrors of the holocaust. (Albeit, many great Rabbis are quoted mentioning this war among them the Chofetz Chaim Zet”zal.) The Jews prior to ww-2 faced aggression from the Christians and priests. However, it never targeted so many Jews at once and often came with an excuse. The final solution is one which many will deny and as Mr. Cohen puts it, it was evident who should live and who shall die. During the holocaust, many Jews were gassed and killed in the crematoriums. The final solution was meant to eradicate all the Jews, just like it did to the gypsies. However, with Hashem’s great mercy and compassion many Jews survived the holocaust. In the book, Mr. Cohen places an interesting fact embedded within his story. He mentions that any person they wanted to persecute was suspected of being a gypsy. A gypsy was someone who lived differently, and all gypsies were considered low in German society even prior to