As part of the Suitcase Project, a ninth-grade class from St. Anne School in Strasbourg, led by their teacher Anne Cuvillier, has been exploring the theme of “hidden children.” Through the facilitation of Francine Mayran, an artist and psychiatrist, the students not only had the opportunity to hear from Fredj Cohen but also to visit him in his studio and gain insight into the life of the eyewitness, individual, and artist Fredj Cohen.

Fredj Cohen was born in May 1942 into a Jewish family of twelve children. He narrowly escaped the infamous “Vel d’Hiv” roundup, during which 13,152 people were arrested and later murdered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

Fredj Cohen knows very little about his Moroccan father and Algerian mother. At the age of two, he was taken in by a family in the Pyrenees as a hidden child, where he remained long after the war had ended.

By the time he was ten years old, Fredj dreamed of living with wolves in Canada. He preferred the simplicity of life in nature among animals, as human beings had deeply disappointed him. However, being too young, his plan came to nothing. At 14, with few other options, he trained as a carpenter. At 17, he set off to travel the world. Fredj Cohen completed his military service in Alsace and now lives and works as an artist in Strasbourg.

Francine Mayran emphasized to the students that life is about transforming negative experiences into something positive for one’s own growth. This, she explained, is what fosters resilience. Fredj Cohen embodied this idea, channelling his many experiences, projects, and pursuits into becoming an artist. His work processes his personal history, transforming it into an expression of a deeper state of being. For him, nature holds paramount importance. As he sees it, the Earth is our adopted environment, deserving of tribute and respect.

One student shared: “It is far more meaningful to experience people firsthand than merely to read about them. You gain a much deeper understanding.”