Words that Burn Within Me brings together the life story of Hilda Stern Cohen (1927-1997) and the remarkable German poetry she wrote over four years of imprisonment in the Lodz Ghetto, where she was a member of the literary circle around writer and painter Izrael Lejzerowicz. After a year in a displaced person's camp in Austria, Hilda emigrated to the United States in July 1946 and married Werner V. Cohen, abandoning the German language, but saving her extraordinary poems and prose in notebooks discovered by her husband in 1997. This book is the result of years of research and interviews by Gail Rosen, MicroHorror contributor and mother of Nathan Rosen.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1342194 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From Booklist
Cohen’s book records the poetry and prose that she wrote during the four years she was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Lodz ghetto in Poland and in Auschwitz concentration camp. In 1945 she was sent on one of the heinous death marches, which took her to the women’s camp in Ravensbruck, where she was liberated by Soviet troops. In 1997, after Cohen’s death, her husband found her seven notebooks. The Research Center for Holocaust Literature at the University of Giessen published the German originals in 2003. This book was translated into English by Elborg Forster. Cohen’s husband says that the situations described and the insights conveyed in the poems, along with the prose pieces, reflect her need to preserve “one’s moral values in a world of utter brutality and degradation.” She writes, “The girls were hanged. We had to stand all day and watch the hangings.” The book poignantly documents the years of Cohen’s appalling imprisonment. --George Cohen

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Customer Reviews

Dr. Werner Cohen spoke at our congregation
I was friendly with Hilda and Werner Cohen in Connecticut in the late 1970s. I reestablished contact with Dr. Cohen recently and invited him to speak in 2 locations in Albany, Georgia on his wife's book. He was a fantastic speaker. Hilda's writings are beautiful and the story is so poignant. Her husband was able to fully bring out her unique personality.

I used to have Saturday afternoon lunch at their house after synagogue. Even though we spoke extensively about Jewish issues, I never asked about her experiences in the Holocaust. It just seemed inappropriate to raise such a sad subject. I saw the number tattooed on her arm and I assumed that she had been in Auschwitz for most of the war. It was only when I read the book that I discovered that she had been in the Lodz Ghetto for almost 4 years.

This is an invaluable historical document. It's also a wonderful way to teach about the Holocaust through the eyes of one young woman. While the subject is of course extremely tragic, Hilda had a tremendous love of life and unbelievable fortitude that, as her husband stressed in his talks, gave her that determination that helped her survive the war.

The book is wonderful. I would recommend it to everyone. The photos add a tremendous amount, since you can see photos of Hilda and her family as well as some of the sites of the Holocaust and it gives you a better appreciation of what was lost.

A poignant collection of Holocaust memories and poetry
I recommend Hilda Stern Cohen's book to anyone interested in learning about what it was like to live through the Holocaust in Germany first-hand, and also to any lover of poetry.