91-Year-Old New York Rabbi & Holocaust Survivor Dies from the Coronavirus

91-year-old Holocaust survivor and New York rabbi has died of COVID-19. “Rabbi [Romi] Cohn lived an incredible life of service, helping 56 families escape Nazi tyranny,” Rep. Max Rose tweeted on Tuesday. “I hope you'll join me in praying for him [and] his family.”

The tweet also had a video of when Cohn “led the U.S. House of Representatives in opening prayer two months ago to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” as described by Fox News.

New York City Rabbi Avraham Hakohen "Romi" Cohn, who survived the Holocaust and saved dozens of families from the genocide, has died of complications from coronavirus, a family member said. He was 91. https://t.co/JPkjW6Q0mN

— CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2020

Cohn was 10 years old when the Nazis invaded his homeland. The Times of Israel reported that he joined a group of Jewish Partisans shortly thereafter and wrote about the experience in a memoir entitled, “The Youngest Partisan: A Young Boy Who Fought the Nazis.”

He immigrated to the U.S. and lived in New York after the holocaust and became a prominent rabbi.

“Rabbi Cohn’s career is merely a continuation of a lifetime of fighting for the Jewish faith. His early life was uprooted by the rise of the Nazi Party, their invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the outbreak of World War II,” Rose said.

Rose added that the majority of Cohn’s family perished in the Holocaust. Among his family with six siblings, only he, his father, and two sisters survived.

“Our freedoms are not free – we must fight for them or risk losing them,” said Rose after Cohn’s prayer on the House floor. “Rabbi Cohn is a model, an example for all of us to follow, and I thank him for his extraordinary life of service.”