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Risen from the Ashes: Tales of a Musical Messenger

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In his lifetime, Hans Cohn, author of "Risen from the Ashes: Tales of a Musical Messenger," exemplifies the term "survivor." In his inspiring book, he relates his remarkable journey from Berlin to Shanghai to Australia, and finally to the U.S. Hans survived Shanghai, despite the internment in the ghetto, poverty, disease, and the death at a young age of his mother. In his family's restaurant he learned to be a skillful cook, a talent that would stand him in good stead in later years. Deeply committed to Judaism, and possessing a beautiful natural singing voice, he began to dream of one day becoming a cantor. As a stowaway, Hans made his way to Australia in 1946, surviving by working as a chef. Eventually, after turning himself in as an illegal immigrant, he had to leave for the U.S. He survived that transition, too, and also the U.S. army, into which he was drafted. While in the service, he met Eva, the woman who was to be the love of his life for 50 years. Though he was successful in the restaurant business, the longing to become a cantor never left him. Through perseverance, he was able to realize his dream at age 31. In congregations in South Bend, Indiana and in California, he endeared himself to his congregants and became a respected and much loved member of the community. But the necessity to survive materialized again when he was stricken with cancer and when he lost his adored Eva to the same disease. Now retired, and despite his many losses and disabilities, Hans continues to lead an active life, yes -- to survive, and to enjoy every minute of it. He has faced life with courage and integrity, always learning, always growing. Readers will be uplifted by their contact with this amazing and worthwhile individual, who is an example to all of us.

This is a vivid account of a life which begins in Berlin between World Wars I and II, and during Hitler's rise to power (Hans Cohn was born in May, 1926: "What a time to be born!"). The memoir describes a gifted young person's response to unexpected dangers and continuing challenges. In Berlin, we see and feel the events of Hitler's Germany from a child's point of view. In 1939, we escape with the thirteen year old boy and his parents (now all stateless persons) by train to Genoa, and finally by ship to Shanghai. Cohn describes his first, exciting encounter with Asia, and later with neighborhoods where "food was precious, but so was water," and where, only five months after getting the family, intact, out of Germany, his beloved mother would die from amoebic dysentery. From China, Cohn travelled to Australia, and finally, in 1947, to San Francisco and Los Angeles. And the journey continues. "Risen from the Ashes" is a remarkable story of survival, and much more.

Cohn was graced with a love of music and a celebrated voice (he would become a professional cantor), but from a young age he was also remarkably adaptable: at fourteen an "unanticipated culinary career" is launched when he works long hours (and then substitutes as cook) at his father's small restaurant in Shanghai; and after the war, at nineteen (still in Shanghai), he works for the Americans, selling radio parts for airplanes. Here, his enthusiasm earned him the supervising officer's remark: "Cohn," "you could sell rotten tomatoes.'" Cohn assures us that he never did sell rotten tomatoes, but that this "strange compliment" remained with him, and indeed became his "personal logo."

Humility, wit, and the sheer pleasure of survival resonate through these pages of a life experienced over more than seven decades and on numerous continents: the book is a page turner and an inspiration.