Amsterdam/Westerbork – Suitcase of Léon Albertus Alexander Cohen

This suitcase belonged to Léon Albertus Alexander Cohen, the head of the internal service of the Jewish Council.

Léon Cohen was born on November 21, 1898 in Amsterdam and ended up in Durchgangslager Westerbork in 1943.
In the camp he became Ordedienst administrator of the penal barracks.
These barracks mainly housed Jews who had been in hiding.
The Jewish Ordedienst in Camp Westerbork was the auxiliary police and assisted, among other things, with the deportations of Jews to other concentration camps.
The Ordedienst was also deployed in Razzia’s outside the camp, such as in Amsterdam.
On April 12, 1945, Cohen and about 900 in camp Westerbork were liberated by the Allies.
After the war, Cohen became a traffic police commissioner and testified against the former camp commander of Westerbork, A.K. Gemmeker.
Léon Cohen eventually died on June 23, 1980 in Amsterdam.