Fred Kahn: A Dramatic Escape to a New Life

When Fred Kahn recalls his childhood, growing up in a Jewish household in Germany at the dawn of the Second World War, clear images spring to mind: neighborhood children riding on sleighs, trumpets blaring from nearby Wehen Castle. But no memory is more vivid than the eve of October 1, 1938, when he left the town of Wehen and the home of his aunt and uncle — the only parents he had ever known.Kahn grew up hiding in Belgium, and moved to America after the war. He graduated from Johns Hopkins' Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in 1963. After 30 years of civil service, Kahn says his childhood memories finally motivated him to educate others about the Holocaust. Last September, Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich appointed him to the new Task Force to Implement Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights, and Tolerance Education.Read more at...Johns Hopkins Magazine, April 2006.