Nisso Cohen – date of death January 27.
(By Jack Almeleh)

Nisso Cohen was my gay uncle who was killed in Auschwitz.  Since I do not know his date of birth or death, I am commemorating his death on Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th.

Nisso Cohen was the youngest of 8 children of my maternal grandparents, Jacob and Rivka Cohen who lived on the Island of Rhodes.  Unlike his 7 siblings who left Rhodes for economic opportunities and to settle down and raise a family, Nisso left Rhodes, but returned and was the only sibling there with his widowed mother when the Germans arrived in 1944.  Unlike some of his friends who sneaked out of Rhodes at night on row boats to neighboring Turkey (visible from Rhodes) when the deportation plans were announced, Nisso stayed with his elderly mother, who was too frail to attempt an escape.  I’m sure he decided that he could not allow his elderly mother to make the journey alone.  My grandmother, of course, was killed upon arrival at Auschwitz, and my uncle Nisso worked until his death at the concentration camp.

I know that my uncle Nisso was gay because I met a contemporary of his who told me that her father, a Rabbi on Rhodes, got my uncle released from custody after he was arrested in Rhodes for engaging in gay-related activity.  When I told my mother what this lady recounted, she never denied the story.

As with so many gay people of his generation, Nisso never had a chance to live a completely fulfilled life.

Nisso was my mother’s closest sibling, and every Yom Kippur she asked my father to bless his memory when he was called to the Torah.

 

Photo 1: Nisso Cohen is the chaperone in the middle in the outing to the countryside.  His sister (my mother) is second from the left.

Photo 2: Nisso Cohen is at the top of the tree, and his sister (my mother) is seated at the left.