Charles Paul Kogel collection

Charles Paul Kogel (1910-2009) was born November 22, 1910 in Antwerp, Belgium to Chaim Kogel and Mariem Kornreiek Kogel. He had one sister, Lena, and two brothers, Isack and Saul. He was a tailor and lived in Antwerp, Belgium with his wife Leah and daughter when World War II started. He was taken to France in 1942 to perform forced labor. His wife and daughter were deported in September 1942 or 1943 vie Mechelen and perished. In January 1944 Kogel was deported to Auschwitz, but he and nine others managed to force the lock on their train car and jump from the train. French Partisan leader Jean Fontaine arranged shelter and false papers for them, and Kogel lived under the identity "Andre Ravaux." When Fontaine was caught and shot, Kogel returned to Belgium until he was told it was not safe for him to stay there, and he went back to France. After liberation he met his second wife, Sara Kahan, in Belgium. Sara was born March 7, 1913 in Czechoslovakia. The couple were married in 1948 and had a son named Henry in 1949. Sarah's niece, Regina Katz, lived in St. Louis, MO and sponsored their immigration. The family immigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis in 1952. Charles Kogel recorded an oral history testimony with the Shoah Foundation in 1995. The Charles Paul Kogel papers include biographical materials and photographs documenting Charles Kogel from Antwerp, Belgium; his prewar, wartime, and postwar experiences in Belgium; his wartime alias in France; and his immigration to the United States in 1952 with his second wife, Sara Kahan, and their son Henry. Biographical materials include military papers, a 1942 letter on behalf of the King of Belgium, false French papers in the name of "Andre Ravaux," Charles and Sara's wedding booklet, a certificate awarding Charles a war medal, a Belgian passport, an American naturalization certificate, a copy of Henry Kogel's birth certificate, a thank you note from Baudoin of Belgium, and a letter from the State Museum of Auschwitz. Photographs depict Charles Kogel, his mother, and other family members in Belgium.