Not every Dutch Jewish person who died during the Second World War was a victim of the Holocaust. Some Jewish Dutchmen died as combatants while serving alongside Allied forces and fighting against Nazi Germany. Their deaths occurred on the battlefield, rather than as a result of Nazi persecution and extermination policies.
On 19 August 1944,the Dutch officer Eddy Kahn, who served with the British Royal Welch Fusiliers, was killed in action during the Battle of Caen. Eddy Kahn was born and raised in The Hague. His parents were Leon Kahn and Paula Willemine Kahn-Emmerich. In 1931, Eddy married Cecile L. Bramer, an American citizen. whom he married on 12 March 1931 in Pittsburgh. They moved to The Hague, where they settled and where their son Eugene was born in 1934.
The family lived on the Zeekant in Scheveningen. Eddy was director of Kühne & Zonen in The Hague, a fashion house whose clientele included the Queen. He was also a highly accomplished equestrian and was a member of the Dutch team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Eddy was the only Dutch rider to complete the extremely difficult cross-country course. He finished 13th individually.
Before the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Cecile and Eugene moved to Portugal. Because of his responsibilities, Eddy remained in the Netherlands. Cecile wanted to stay in Portugal and join the resistance movement that was forming there, but her father pointed out that this would be impossible with a five-year-old child in tow. Cecile and Eugene therefore flew to the United States aboard a Pan Am flying boat.
Eddy moved from The Hague to Amsterdam, where he was captured by the Germans. Cecile’s father had connections in political circles, so she went to Washington and contacted prominent politicians. The result was remarkable: Eddy was exchanged for a German prisoner held by the United States. In an extraordinary turn of events, Eddy flew from Amsterdam to Berlin, despite being Jewish, and from there continued to Lisbon and then to the United States. He spent some time there with his wife and son before travelling to Canada, where he joined and trained with the Dutch armed forces.
Eddy was subsequently sent to London to join the Dutch forces, in preparation for the anticipated liberation of the Netherlands. After the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, however, Eddy grew impatient. He wanted to see action and requested a transfer to the British Army. He joined the 6th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, which landed at Gold Beach in Normandy on 25 June.
He took part in Operation Dragoon as a temporary reserve first lieutenant with the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion, and was killed in action in France on 19 August 1944. Kahn is buried at the British war cemetery in Banneville-la-Campagne.
Sources
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/508936/about-eddy-kahn
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/c727d981-580c-4384-853d-745f2d2c60c0
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/thema/Operatie%20Dragoon
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Kahn
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