obits
Holocaust Survivor Kurt Schoen Dies at 94
K BY JARRAD SAFFREN
urt Leo Schoen was a Holocaust
survivor who didn’t call him-
self a Holocaust survivor.

He fl ed Nazi Germany in 1939 at age 11
before ever setting foot in a concentration
camp. But while Schoen avoided the worst
years of Nazi Germany, he could never
escape the experience of living under it.

Like many Holocaust survivors,
Schoen used his appreciation for life as
motivation to focus on the important
things and achieve success. He built
a family with three children. He also
became a patented food fl avor chemist at
David Michael and Co. in Philadelphia,
according to family members.

Th rough it all, he focused intensely
and daily on his kids. Aft er being sepa-
rated from his sister and father during
their respective passages to the United
States, Schoen made sure to arrive
home in time for dinner every night as
an adult. His advice to his children was
34 always to appreciate their opportuni-
ties in life.

Schoen died on Feb. 24. He was 94.

Th e Philadelphian is survived by
his children Marcia Cherry, Michael
Schoen and Karen Schoen; four grand-
children; his sister-in-law Alice Schoen
and nieces, nephews and their families.

“He had a good, long life,” said
Marcia Cherry of Dresher. “He truly
did a lot, despite the rough beginning.”
“He did everything he wanted to do,”
Karen Schoen said.

Schoen was born on Dec. 14, 1927, and
grew up in Kassel, Germany, accord-
ing to Schoen’s 2002 oral history inter-
view with the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C. His father owned a shoe wholesale
and retail business. His family lived in
a mixed neighborhood, including non-
Jews, and attended a local synagogue.

“Everything was fi ne until 1933,” said
Schoen in the oral history interview.

Th at was the year when Hitler was
MARCH 10, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Kurt Schoen with his wife Berta Cooper Schoen
appointed chancellor of Germany and
later made himself the rule of law.

Shortly thereaft er, Schoen’s father was
forced out of his store by a boycott;
Schoen was no longer allowed to asso-
ciate with non-Jews; and the young boy
oft en had things thrown at him, both
objects and profanities, by other kids.

Schoen’s sister got to the United
States fi rst, in the late 1930s, with help
from a group of Jewish women in the
U.S., according to the oral history.

Th en his father received an affi davit,
or a pledge of fi nancial support, from
family members in New York City. By
1939, Schoen was able to escape with
the rest of his family.

In the U.S., according to the notice,
he learned English, served in the Army
and earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from City College of New York
and the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,
respectively. He “proudly married
Berta Cooper Schoen” and moved to
Philadelphia to launch his career.

Cooper Schoen, an American from
Connecticut who died in 2016, bal-
anced out her direct and oft en brutally
honest husband, according to Cherry.

“If he thought you were doing some-
thing wrong, he had no problem telling
you,” she said.

Later in life, Schoen didn’t talk much
about his childhood. But at times, it
would come up.

When Cherry was in college, she
hosted a friend at the Schoen house.

Th e friend’s father was German, and
aft er he came to pick his daughter
up, Schoen told Cherry that the man
Courtesy of Karen Schoen
reminded him of the kids who used to
throw rocks at him.

Another time, Cherry’s piano teacher
gave her a song to play. But Schoen
couldn’t listen to it. It reminded him of
Germany. “It haunted him a little,” Cherry said.

But the experience also molded
Schoen into a man who pushed his
kids to work hard.

Th ey went to Hebrew school three
times a week plus Shabbat services.

Th ey had to get jobs in their teens. And
“it was assumed we would go to col-
lege,” Cherry said.

But more than anything, the kids
remember their father being there. At
5:15, he walked in from work, accord-
ing to his daughter. By 5:30, the family
was eating dinner.

Michael Schoen also remembers
driving to New York and Connecticut
to see extended family. Th ese weren’t
holiday trips, either. Th ey were just on
random weekends.

“It wasn’t typical for my friends.

Th ey’d see their families a few times a
year,” Schoen said. “For him, it really
was a priority.”
Schoen’s family also had a way of bring-
ing out his lighter side. His daughter said
he could be very funny. Michael Schoen
said he talked to his father every day; they
had the same dry sense of humor.

And aft er Cherry had her own two
children, grandpa was always available
to run them around.

“He did very well for himself. He has
an estate,” Cherry said. “But honestly,
family was always fi rst.” JE