Survival
Ralph Cowan
Let me take you for a stroll down my memory lane….
Year: 1942
Place: A German POW camp, Stalag 8B situated near the Polish border.
It comes to my notice; (it’s so long ago that I don’t remember how,) that there was an Israeli soldier (then called Palestinian) in one of the barracks. I made contact with him to discover that, under the nose of the Nazis, he was laying tefilin. However did he manage to pass German inspection? Furthermore, he made his own wine from raisins he received in his Red Cross parcels and used it to make Kiddush.
It appears he made no effort to conceal he was Jewish. I, on the other hand, was just the opposite, concealing my identity. Upon capture I had thrown away my identity discs and then changed my name from Cohen to Cowan.
When I look back I think; what a remarkable man, never losing his Jewishness even under those trying conditions. In my case concealing my Jewishness, which I can never forget.
Ralph Cowan is a long-time member of Moorabbin Hebrew Congregation.