Levie Cohen was a son of the butcher Heijman Cohen and Mietje Kornalijnslijper. He was born on 7 June 1880 in Amsterdam. His father, who was born 12 August 1858 in Hoorn, passed away in Amsterdam on 21 November 1925 and his mother, born in Amsterdam on 3 June 1850, died there on 7 July 1936. Both were interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Muiderberg.
Levie was born into a family of in total eight children, of whom his 2-year younger brother died at the age of 11 years in December 1893. His other siblings were Eva (19-10-1876), Sara (8-8-1878), Heintje (9-4-1884), Barend (27-4-1886), Anna (25-4-1889) en Jesaia (25-11-1892), who were all killed during the Shoah.
Levie Cohen left Amsterdam for Antwerp in 1901 to work there as a diamond polisher. He lived in Antwerp, Borgerhout and Berchem at various addresses but he left for Amsterdam again to be married there on 19 July 1905 with Branca Bed, who was born there on 1 July 1880 as a daughter of Jonas Philip Bed and Eva Pijnappel. Also Branca was born into a large family of in total nine children. The Cohen-Bed couple had two children, both born in Amsterdam, namely Marie on 6 April 1906 and Jonas on 20 December 1908. They both survived the Holocaust.
On 28 May 1922 the Cohen family arrived again in the City of Antwerp but moved on 27 April 1935 to the Cruyslei 72 in the Municipality of Deurne. Levie’s spouse Branca Cohen-Bed passed away on 18 July 1942 in Antwerp and she was interred in the Antwerp Cemetery of Schoonselhof. After the war her grave was cleared and she has been reburried in the Jewish Cemetery of Putte.
After the passing of his wife, Levie Cohen has been deported from Mechelen to Auschwitz with convoy VIII (8) of 8 September 1942. This convoy however made a stop in Kozel, located about 80 km west from Auschwitz, were 281 boys and men between 15 and 50 years of age were forced to leave the train, to be deployed as forced labourers in the surrounding satellite camps of Auschwitz. Most likeley Levie Cohen, then at the age of 62 years, was not part of that group and has been transported onwards to Auschwitz where he must have been arrived on 10 September 1942. Since there is no official document and/or certificate of death found from him, his date of death and place of death has been established as on 31 December 1942 in Auschwitz.
Sources include the City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Heijman Cohen, birth certificaten o. 5228 of 8 June 1880 for Levie Cohen, wedding certificate no.548 of 19 July 1905 for Levie Cohen to Branca Bed, Peoples Registry Amsterdam 1921-1925 for the family of Jonas Philp Bed, archive card of Clara Witjas, spouse of Jonas Cohen, the Dossier of Foreigners no.102040- images 17-27 and the Memorial of the Deportation of the Belgian Jews, convoy 8 of 8 September 1942, page 24 en informatie van Mevr. Dirkje Bobbe.