Alexandru and Emilia Kohn

My wife Emilia Kohn and myself. The photo was taken in Arad in 1995.

My wife, Emilia, was born in Ionesti, in Valcea County, on 16th August 1941. She is Romanian, not Jewish. She studied at the Textile Faculty in Iasi, and she is now an engineer. I met her in the factory, as she had been placed in Arad after graduation. We got married on 12th August 1971. We have never celebrated any of the Christian holidays within the family, but we have always observed all of the Jewish traditions, even though my wife isn’t Jewish. As I was already 40 at the time of our marriage, I found it difficult to change my habits and wished to continue celebrating the Jewish holidays.

Our son, Emil Dan, was born on 28th December 1971 in Arad. He took part in Talmud lessons, and in 1994 he left for Israel. He now lives in Tel Aviv. He graduated from the Technion University, the Israel Institute of Technology, and subsequently took postgraduate courses in Haifa. He works as a software developer.

At present, though I am officially retired, I have a lot of occupations. I started to work again, and I am currently operating as the Romanian representative of a firm called Baltic Wood. I gather information regarding the purchase of wood for their factory in Poland. For this purpose I travel a lot all across the country as well as internationally, to places like Moldova and Serbia.

Chess is a passion for me. I am also somewhat involved in community life because I want Judaism to have continuity. I am strongly convinced that Bolshevists are part of a mafia organization that does no good for humanity. By its very definition it renders humanity rootless through atheism, and I would like to see the Jewish communities get rid of all communist habits. That’s why I have gotten involved.

Concerning religious life, I do believe in God. This is somewhat of a problem for me, since I believe in Spinoza’s God. I want to know whom I believe in. Some things appear to me to be outdated, but in my soul I have a strong faith in God.