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Cantor Arthur Kohn's music book, which was rescued from the ruins of the Mannheim Synagogue in Germany
Arthur (Avraham) Kohn was born in 1908 in Wuerzburg, Germany. Arthur was married to Martha née Fieberman and they had three children, Josef, Shlomo and Hannah, who were born in the 1930s in Mannheim, during the period that Arthur was cantor of the orthodox Klaussynagogue in Mannheim. He wrote a music book of cantorial compositions in order to remember the tunes of the prayers.
The synagogue was burned down on Kristallnacht. Following Kristallnacht the family emigrated, moving first to Argentina and then to Israel in 1950.
After Kristallnacht, brothers Josef and Salomon Stein, members of the synagogue in Mannheim, went into the ruins of the synagogue and found Arthur Kohn's intact music book among the debris. They took the book as a keepsake and immigrated to Eretz Israel. Salomon lived in Kibbutz Shluchot and kept the book in his home for many years.
In 1988, Salomon discovered that members of the Kohn family were also living in Israel and gave them the music book that their father had written.
On behalf of the family, Dr. Yossi Kohn gave the book to Yad Vashem for posterity at a collection day at Beit Amigur in Haifa.