Sophie Herrmann (born Cohn)

Sophie Cohn was born on September 24, 1887, in Warsaw, and she grew up in Berlin. In 1915 she married her singing teacher, Georg Herrmann, and the couple went on to have a child. Sophie and Georg divorced in 1931, and after that Sophie and her daughter lived on Altonaer Str., in the house where she had spent her childhood. In 1939 Sophie’s daughter succeeded in emigrating to London, but Sophie herself was obliged to remain in Berlin. Following the German invasion of Gdansk, Sophie’s 15-year-old niece, Daisy Gutmann, returned to Berlin, and from this time forward Daisy lived with Sophie in the house on Altonaer Str. During the next two 2½ years Daisy went to school in Berlin, and Sophie worked as an aide in a Jewish hospital. Daisy was then ordered to join the evacuation to Riga on the Ninth Jewish Transport, departing January 19, 1942. Sophie could have remained in Berlin, as her former husband was a war veteran, but she decided to accompany her niece to Riga, as she felt responsible for the teenager. After the war word came that a witness had seen Sophie in Riga in mid-1942. Immediately thereafter, a large group of Jews were shot in a forest near Riga. It is suspected that Sophie died there.