Barbaric Execution of a Rothschild Family Member Hanged on a Hook and Called a "Guinea Pig" by the Nazis
In this deeply moving and harrowing account, I want to take you through the tragic story of Georges André Kohn, a young boy from a wealthy Jewish family connected to the Rothschilds, who was brutally murdered by the Nazis during World War II. This article draws from extensive historical research and testimonies, shedding light on the atrocities committed in the final days of the war and the medical experiments inflicted on innocent children.
As the author of this story, I invite you to explore not only the heartbreaking details of Georges’ fate but also the broader context of Nazi persecution of Jewish children and the cruel medical experiments that remain some of the darkest chapters in human history. This narrative is inspired by the video produced by World History CZ, and I have expanded it to provide a comprehensive, informative, and respectful tribute to the victims and survivors.
🌍 The Context of Nazi Persecution and the Holocaust
By 1939, just months before the outbreak of World War II, Nazi Germany had already forced approximately 34,000 Jews to emigrate, leaving only about 2.1 million Jewish citizens within its borders. Over six years, Nazi legislation systematically marginalized Jewish citizens, stripping them of their civil rights, excluding them from professions and commercial life, and subjecting them to escalating persecution.
When World War II officially began on September 1, 1939, with Germany’s invasion of Poland, Nazi anti-Jewish policies became even more radical and brutal. These policies varied across occupied territories but commonly involved direct, violent occupation and reliance on collaborationist regimes. The most vulnerable victims of Nazi persecution were children. An estimated 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered or died at the hands of the Nazis or their collaborators during the war.
Children were targeted not only because of their race but also for other reasons, such as disabilities or alleged involvement in resistance activities. This widespread targeting reflects the ruthless and inhumane nature of Nazi ideology and its devastating impact on innocent lives.
🧒 Georges André Kohn: A Child of Privilege and Tragedy
Among the countless children tragically lost was Georges André Kohn, born April 23, 1932, in Paris, France. He was the youngest of four children in a wealthy Jewish family related to the Rothschilds, one of Europe’s most prominent banking dynasties.
Georges’ father, Armand Edward Kohn, was the director of the Rothschild Hospital in Paris, a Jewish hospital, and from 1940, he worked with the Rothschild Foundation. Georges’ mother, Suzanne, came from another affluent Jewish family in France; her father was a millionaire who owned a tobacco company. The family was known for its cohesion and wealth, a stark contrast to the horrors they would later face.
When war broke out in 1939, Georges was just seven years old, attending school in Paris. His father used his position to try to protect Jewish patients in the hospital by hiding them under the pretense of serious illness, hoping to shield them from deportation. Despite their efforts, the family could not escape the growing threat.
🚨 Nazi Occupation of France and Escalation of Persecution
On May 10, 1940, Germany launched its invasion of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, a campaign known as the Battle of France. Paris fell to the Germans on June 14, 1940, and by June 22, the French government signed an armistice with Germany, effective June 25. The Nazi occupation brought with it a wave of anti-Jewish measures and deportations.
In the summer of 1942, the Nazis began deporting Jews from France to death camps. Armand Kohn’s hospital became a refuge for many, but the family’s fate was sealed in 1944. During the last weeks of the German occupation of Paris, Alois Brunner, the notorious commander of the Drancy transit camp in France, personally came to arrest Georges and his family.
Georges, then 12 years old, was deported with his parents, grandmother, sisters, and brother in the last transport from Drancy on August 17, 1944, just a week before Paris was liberated. Their wagon was attached to the end of a train carrying German military personnel, including Brunner himself, who intended to use 51 deported Jews as potential hostages.
🚂 The Last Transport and the Escape of Georges’ Siblings
During the journey, Georges’ older siblings, Philippe (20) and Rozmier (18), managed to escape with about 30 other prisoners. Their daring escape was aided by the French resistance, which caused the train to stop multiple times. Philippe and Rozmier broke through the bars of a small window in the freight car and jumped out, successfully avoiding recapture and surviving the war.
Georges wanted to escape with them, but his father forbade it, fearing reprisals against those who remained on the train. This heartbreaking decision meant Georges would face the horrors awaiting them at the camps.
🏚️ Arrival at Buchenwald and Separation of the Family
Upon arrival at Buchenwald concentration camp, the family was separated. Georges’ mother Suzanne and sister Antonette were transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where they both died in March 1945. Armand, Georges’ father, remained in Buchenwald but survived imprisonment.
Georges and his grandmother, Marianne, were sent to Auschwitz, but they were separated shortly after arrival. Marianne was murdered soon after, leaving Georges alone in the camp. Isolated and desperate, Georges struggled to survive as he received no news from his family.
🩺 Medical Experiments at Neuengamme: The Role of Dr. Kurt Heissmeyer
Georges’ fate took a darker turn when he was transferred to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. Here, a sinister medical experiment was underway under the supervision of Dr. Kurt Heissmeyer.
Heissmeyer was obsessed with testing how the human body reacted to injections of tuberculosis bacteria and evaluating a supposed antibody he had developed. His experiments were cruel and largely fatal, involving about 30 Polish and Russian prisoners who were injected with live tuberculosis bacilli, many of whom died.
In autumn 1944, Heissmeyer requested the transfer of 20 Jewish children from Auschwitz to Neuengamme to serve as experimental subjects. These children, aged between 5 and 12, came from various countries, including Poland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and Slovakia. Among them were Georges and his friend Jacqueline Morgenstern, who shared the same language and quickly bonded.
🧪 Torture and Suffering: The Children’s Ordeal
The 20 children were housed in the same barracks as adult prisoners and subjected to horrific medical procedures. They were infected with live tuberculosis bacteria by having their skin cut open and treated with infected pus. Under Heissmeyer’s supervision, surgeons removed lymph nodes from the children’s armpits twice for examination.
Photographs were taken of the children holding their hands up to reveal the surgical scars. These young victims endured unbearable pain and illness for months, weakened and isolated from any hope of rescue.
When asked after the war why he used humans instead of guinea pigs for his experiments, Heissmeyer chillingly replied, “For me, there was no fundamental difference between people and guinea pigs. Then he corrected himself, ‘Jews and guinea pigs.’” This statement reveals the depth of dehumanization that fueled Nazi atrocities.
🔚 The Final Horror: The Massacre at Bullenhuser Damm
By early 1945, it was clear that Germany was losing the war. In a desperate attempt to cover up their crimes, the Nazis began destroying evidence, including the victims of Heissmeyer’s experiments.
On the night of April 20, 1945, shortly before the war's end, a small postal truck stopped outside a former school building at Bullenhuser Damm in Hamburg. This building served as a subcamp of Neuengamme. First, six Russian prisoners were taken into the basement and killed. Then, the 20 Jewish children were brought in, crammed into one room with Alfred Trzebinski, a camp doctor.
Unaware of the impending doom, the children chatted quietly among themselves, while in adjacent rooms, Russian prisoners were silently murdered. One by one, the children were hanged on ropes stretched across heating pipes. The executions were carried out by SS officers Ewald Jauch and Johann Frahm.
😢 The Chilling Final Moments of Georges and the Other Children
After the initial killings, Frahm ordered the children to undress. They looked to Trzebinski for reassurance, and he coldly told them they were only going to be vaccinated against typhus. During the post-war trial, Trzebinski recounted how he quietly asked Frahm what would be done to the children, to which Frahm replied that they must be hanged.
Trzebinski injected the children with large doses of morphine, and together with Frahm, laid them under blankets in the basement. Most children, exhausted and sedated, quickly fell asleep, though a few remained awake, whispering quietly. Frahm then carried the 12-year-old Georges to a room with a noose hanging from a hook about six to eight meters away.
Because Georges was so thin, the noose did not tighten immediately. Frahm had to pull hard to secure it. In his 1946 interrogation, Frahm described hanging the children “like pictures on a wall.” Remarkably, none of the children cried.
Georges was murdered three days before his 13th birthday. On that same night, four adult prisoners who cared for the children were also killed.
⚖️ Post-War Justice and the Search for Truth
World War II ended on May 8, 1945, with Germany’s unconditional surrender. In 1946, during the main trial at the Hamburg Curiohaus, Alfred Trzebinski, Ewald Jauch, Johann Frahm, and Wilhelm Dreimann were sentenced to death for their roles in the children’s executions.
Despite these convictions, the identities of the children killed at Bullenhuser Damm remained a mystery for many years. Some family members survived ghettos and concentration camps, but many lost their possessions and all tangible reminders of their loved ones during deportation. Few photographs survived, preserved by relatives who escaped or went underground, serving as some of the only evidence of the lost children.
🔍 Rediscovery and Remembrance: Günther Schwarberg’s Investigative Work
It was not until 33 years after the massacre that journalist Günther Schwarberg uncovered the story. His series of articles titled “The SS Doctor and the Children” was published in the German magazine Stern, bringing renewed attention to this forgotten tragedy.
Schwarberg’s tireless research across multiple countries helped identify some of the children’s relatives. In 1978, Philippe Kohn, Georges’ brother, learned of his younger brother’s fate through Schwarberg, who had tracked down the family in Paris. Sadly, Georges’ father Armand had died 16 years earlier and never learned what had happened to his son.
🌹 Preserving the Memory: The Bullenhuser Damm Children Association
In 1979, the Bullenhuser Damm Children Association was founded to honor the memory of the murdered children. Philippe Kohn was among its founding members and served as honorary chairman, dedicating himself to keeping their story alive.
For Georges André Kohn and the 1.5 million Jewish children killed during the Holocaust, countless tears were shed and memories preserved thanks to the courage of survivors, family members, and historians who refused to let their stories be forgotten.
📚 Reflections on the Tragedy and Lessons for Humanity
This story of Georges André Kohn and the other children is a sobering reminder of the depths of human cruelty and the resilience of those who seek truth and justice. The systematic dehumanization and brutal experimentation inflicted upon these innocent lives reveal the catastrophic consequences of hatred and prejudice.
As we remember these children, it is our responsibility to educate future generations about the Holocaust’s horrors, ensuring that such atrocities never happen again. Their lives, though tragically cut short, continue to teach us the importance of compassion, human dignity, and vigilance against injustice.
🙏 Final Thoughts and Call to Remembrance
Thank you for joining me in this detailed exploration of one of the most painful stories from World War II. The legacy of Georges André Kohn and the other victims of Bullenhuser Damm lives on through remembrance and education.
May their stories inspire us all to stand against hatred and protect the vulnerable, honoring their memory by building a more just and humane world.
If you want to learn more about this and other historical events, I recommend exploring works by historians and institutions dedicated to Holocaust research and remembrance. Together, we keep history alive and honor those who suffered unjustly.
