Kaatje Cohen was born in Garrelsweer (community of Loppersum) as the daughter of the Jewish butcher Filippus Salomon Cohen. She attended the teacher's training course in Appingedam, where she started to be called Kitty instead of Kaatje. After completing the teacher's training programme she found a temporary appointment in Ruinen, where she boarded with Esther Kahn, who had a textile goods shop on the Brink. Ruinen had a small Jewish community at the time.
In 1931 Kitty, then 22, obtained a permanent position at the state primary school in Pesse. That year she became friends with Henny Veenema, who taught school in Ruinen. They often went cycling or dancing together and frequently spoke about the threat of war from Germany. When Henny Veenema started seeing a young man, their contact became less frequent. Kitty moved to Hoogeveen, where she boarded with the young Jewish family Braaf.
One Saturday a month Kitty did not teach and went to visit her parents. Around that time Kitty fell in love with a draughtsman. Because of the lack of privacy in the Braaf household, she moved to the Seydel boarding house in Hoogeveen. After a few years Kitty discovered that the draughtsman was seeing other women besides herself, and she broke up with him.
At the end of 1940 Kitty was dismissed from her position at a non-Jewish school because she was Jewish. On 1 December 1941 she took a job at the Jewish school in Amersfoort. Later on she went into hiding as Ina Kleveringa, in Oosthuizen (province of North Holland). She was betrayed and transferred to Westerbork. From Westerbork she contacted Betsy de Boer, who had lived at the Seydel boarding house with her, and told her that she had nothing but the clothes on her back. Betsy de Boer brought some clothes to Westerbork, where she learned that Kitty had been deported to Auschwitz on 3 March 1944. Three days later, on 6 March 1944, Kitty Cohen was killed at age 35.
N. Dubbeldam: 'Kitty Cohen. Jong, levenslustig en geliefd', in: Aan(ge)dacht; Maandelijks opinieblad voor Westerveld, nr 9, May 1998
K. Ribbens, Zullen we nog terugkeren. De jodenvervolging in Amersfoort tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Amersfoort 2002) 160-161
For further reading see the following website.
This person is commemorated on a memorial in Garrelsweer. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.