Rahela Koen and the women that took care of her

Rahela Koen and the women that took care of her

This is my cousin Rahela - Elica - Koen pictured with two women who took care of her and the family house. The photo was taken in Belgrade. Elica was the daughter of my paternal grandmother's sister Lenka Koen (nee Kalef) and Josip Koen. Aunt Elica always came over and we adored her. She was very beautiful and she was much older than we were. The whole family was killed during the war. Lenka's husband was taken away with my granduncle Jakov Kalef and killed among the first of the adult Jews killed in Belgrade. Elica was transported from Belgrade with her new born baby. Since she knew she was going to die she threw her baby, Avram, out the train window, with the hope that someone would rescue the baby. I learned this story from my mother and she heard it from a survivor whose name my mother never told me.
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