Remembrance Elie Aron Bridge

The bridge on Albert Harkemaweg over the Van Starkenborg Canal in Aduard is named after former fellow townsman Elie Aron Cohen, a general practitioner in Aduard.

A sign on the bridge reads:
"Elie Aron Cohen Bridge (1909 - 1993) Physician and Holocaust Survivor".

After MULO and HBS, he went to study medicine with a scholarship from the Jewish Benefit of the Israelites, and in 1935 he obtained his doctor's degree. He took over a general practice in Aduard and married Aaltje van der Woude. The family tried to flee as early as early 1940 but failed. The German Anti-Jewish measures led the family to move to Groningen and accept a job as an orthotist at the Academic Hospital.

A new escape plan was betrayed and Elie ended up in the Durchgangslager Amersfoort. On December 7, 1942, he was transferred to Camp Westerbork and became a member of the medical staff there, serving as a transport doctor. Because he sabotaged things, the entire family was deported to Auschwitz on September 16, 1943. He was again placed on the medical staff but his family members were killed immediately. On Jan. 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, but Elie had been transported via Mauthausen to Melk when the camp was evacuated. On May 6, 1945, this camp was liberated by the U.S. Third Army.

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