This is the story of two brave and strong women from Sandakan WW2
Jewish-born Mrs Cohen was born Singapore with Iraq ancestry & Agnes Newton Keith born in California.
‘Ma’ Cohen – a significant & exceptionally generous benefactor to Australian POWs at Sandakan, WW2 – local businesswoman who never turned any request away, helped Sandakan’s European civilians banished to Berhala Island, providing food, medicines & essentials
‘MA’ MOSELLE & MR MENAHEM COHEN – SANDAKAN, BRITISH NORTH BORNEO, WW2
Above: Menahem Cohen (was from Yemen) and Ma Cohen.
BAGDADDI JEWS
Following Britain’s founding of Singapore in 1819, a small number of traders from Baghdad (originally from Iraq) were attracted by commerce opportunities and relative religious freedom, began arriving in Singapore.
They initially spoke Arabic or Hindustani and wrote in Hebrew. Their style of dress was Arabic, they smoked the hookah (a tobacco pipe), and without formal accountancy training, wrote business accounts on their shirt cuffs.
Singapore’s Jewish community was a thriving, mostly Baghdadi Sephardic group, growing from a handful in the 1830s to about 1,000 by the late 1930s, built on trade establishing key institutions including the Maghain Aboth & Chesed El Synagogues.
A number of Singapore Jewish traders m2oved to Sandakan. Sandakan and North Borneo was made up of many cultures and nationalities, including Chinese.
Maghain Aboth Synagogue, Singapore. Built in 1878, it is the oldest and largest Jewish synagogue in Southeast Asia and the second largest in Asia itself, outside of Israel.
Above: we wish to acknowledge Jewish Welfare Board Singapore for the above photo.
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Sir Manasseh Meyer: Was a major businessman and philanthropist who funded both main synagogues and was knighted by King George V for his contributions to Singapore.
Chesed El Synagogue, Singapore which opened in 1905.
For more information about he Bagdadi Jewish population https://rememberbaghdad.com/history
By 1939, the Singapore population reached around 1,000, a significant increase from just 9 traders in 1830, with later arrivals including Ashkenazim Jews from Europe. Jews and Arabs, were major property owners in the city by the 1930s and were mostly involved in trade.
Whilst predominantly a Shephardic community, they welcomed European Jews. It was a diverse yet tight-knit group.
‘Baghdadi, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews were integral to the development of Sabah or North Borneo and were pioneers, planters, merchants, political refugees and prisoners of war.’
The Singaporean Bagdadhi Shephardic Jewish community were mostly traders and had often had businesses or business dealings in British North Borneo as well as Penang, Hong Kong, China etc. establishing vast merchant networks, notably through families like Sassoon and Kadoorie and linking the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and China in major enterprises like opium, banking, and real estate. They were instrumental in leveraging Singapore’s strategic port status.
They had become significant property owners prior to the Japanese occupation, many of the men were away on business trips as usual when war came, so women and children often left for India during this time.
Many of those left behind were imprisoned by the Japanese in Singapore (because Japan was allied with Germany). The Jewish community did receive better treatment than most civilian POWs and in fact a number were never imprisoned.
‘Ma’ Cohen was free to move about as she liked in Sandakan, British North Borneo. That was why she became the most generous person to give to the POWs and local civilians sent to Berhala Island.
Above: 1890 Mr Menahem & Mrs Moselle Cohen, Purveyors, Sandakan with mostly Jewish identities advertising. We thank and acknowledge Rosalie Corpuz – a relation to information about ‘Ma’ Cohen for the above and below photos.
Typical Sandakan wedding – with Mrs Cohen in attendance (circled) provided by Rosalie Corpuz.
We have found some family history about Moselle Cohen from extended family members including Eliora Frankel Mordecai.
Moselle was the daughter of Ezra Messiah (b. Bagdad) and his first wife Habiba (known as Nani) – other siblings were Simon and Moshiach. Ezra then married a second time to Khatun known as Kitty. Their four children were Sophie, Monty, Meda and Jospeh.
We believe Moselle married at Singapore to Menahem Cohen who was born Yemen, they had a family of three children in Singapore however, the couple seemed to spend much of their time at Sandakan, North Borneo. We believe their children were with them when young. Their eldest child and only son became a prominent surgeon in Singapore.
Please read about Yahya Cohen 1921-2003
‘Yahya Cohen was senior surgeon at the Singapore General Hospital and a former president of the Singapore Medical Council. Born in Singapore on 1 April 1920, he was the son of Menahem Cohen, a Yemeni merchant and Mozelle née Ezra who was from Iraq. The eldest of their three children, he was the only son. When he was eight or nine years old, his father had to have an operation and he later wrote that visiting him in hospital inspired his commitment to surgery. In Singapore, he was educated at Raffles Girls’ School, St Andrew’s School and Raffles College before attending the King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1938 where John Kirkpatrick Monro was professor of surgery. His medical education was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. As Jews they were interned in Changi jail (as was John Monro) and Cohen’s parents died on a boat to Kuching which was bombed, possibly by the Americans. He recalled that he lost a lot of Chinese friends and classmates who were decapitated by the Japanese.’
‘Ma’ Cohen was known for her cooking and generosity. She owned a clothing store in Sandakan. The Japanese did not consider her British and therefore she was not arrested. She was free to roam and this she did, looking after her many friends who had lost their freedom in internment camps – providing them with foods, medicines and essentials. She became an important source of funds, in fact the largest source of funds for the POWs – providing them with means of survival, foods and medicines and radio parts. She bravely became part of the resistance movement against the Japanese and with the so called ‘underground radio network.’
A driver for the Sandakan Residency Governor Mr Habib Omar from Tanah Merah, Sandakan was identified as a member of the Kempei Tai (Japanese secret police) and responsible for the betrayal and death of Mr & Mrs Cohen, traders in Sandakan.
His actions were witnessed by Gani (Kg Sumiang), Abdullah Sali (Labukan) and Detective Osman (Libaran).
Agnes Newton Keith, author ‘Three Came Home’ included in her book her story of Mrs Cohen whom she said she had known a long time. ‘Ma’Cohen was a patient at Sandakan Hospital when she, Agnes and her young son George were also patients with malaria.
Agnes Keith described Mrs Cohen…
‘she was glorious in being and soul with an Oriental splendour of face, hair and hands. Her eyes were melting, her features were fine, her expressions dramatic, her tears quick and her emotions real. She loved bright colours especially the varying reds of hibiscus blooms and she wore gowns in these shades cut Mother Hubbard style, fitted to her bosoms and flowing from thence downwards. From her handsome head flowed chins and bosoms, from bosoms flowed draperies and from draperies showed bare feet and when she moved she flowed along the floor.
Her heart like her body was large, soft and lovable. No one ever asked for something and was refused: time, sympathy, money or help. They all came to her for help, Eurasions, Chinese, Malays, housekeepers, kept women, nurses, coolies, myself.
Her pocket-book was under her pillow and she had constant recourse to it. The first thing she did was to press ten dollars into my hands.
She was a force in Sandakan Asiatic life, she was the core of Eurasion society, business and commerce. No wedding or funeral or birth was complete without her.
Daily her Arab boys came from the shop to bring her delicious kosher cooking which shared with all of us. She and George sat crosslegged on the floor together eating, she rolled the rice into balls, native style and popped these into his mouth. George would eat until he was in pain, then she rubbed his stomach, massaged him and sang to him until he went to sleep. When he awakened they began eating again.
If George was naughty and I scalded him, I was the one rebuked. She would engulf him into the folds of her bosom, kiss him, tell him stories and mesmerise him into passivity.
She was having injections in the hospital for skin problems and was expecting to remain a week longer. One afternoon Mr Cohen arrived begging her to come back to the shop to save him from the Japanese soldiers. He was older than Mrs Cohen, a small man badly crippled by diabetes and systemic poisoning and Mrs Cohen stood like a mountain between him and the world.
Mr Cohen said the Japanese were demanding goods at half price from the store and when he refused to sell they stole the stuff and beat him up. Mrs cohen had her own system in dealing with the soldiers . She combined collaboration, coercion, bribery and betrayal. She hid all the store better goods, sold inconsequential gifts to them for what they would pay, donated worthless souvenirs, gave them coffee and let them confide in her. Meanwhile she gained friends amongst them to help her smuggle to the European prisoners.
She didn’t want to go back to the shop and leave hospital, principally, I believe because she hated to leave George. But Mr. Cohen was as helpless as George, so she folded up her Mother Hubbard dresses, her several chins and bosoms and went back to the shop. She left throwing kisses to George, calling advice to the nurses, waving at me and weeping. With her departure ribald and gaiety was gone. After she had gone I found 50 dollars under my pillow to be delivered by me to her friends on Berhala.’
She came several times after that to visit us against the orders and warnings of the Japanese military police bringing with her biscuits, sweets and clothes for George. I told her I was frightened for her. She said
‘You are my friends, I am sad to see you need things, I must help you. I am not worried for myself and I am not afraid of these Japanese. But the old man is sick and cannot take care of himself. Also he must have brown wheat for his diebetes and Kosher food. If I get put in gaol he will die.’
Agnes Keith never saw Mrs Cohen again. Sometime later she was accused of conspiracy in connection with the escape of some Australian POWs. She was imprisoned for a long time but finally released. She was later taken back into custody and Agnes Keith believed, Mrs Cohen was executed by the Japanese around Armistice Day.
There are several stories about the Cohen’s death. The most probable one is Ma Cohen was arrested and together with her husband and with other prisoners placed on a ship to sail to Kuching for a Japanese military trial. Their transport ship was hit by Allied torpedoes and sank with total loss of life.
Another theory: A driver for the Sandakan Residency Governor Mr Habib Omar from Tanah Merah, Sandakan was identified as a member of Kempei Tai (Japanese secret police) and responsible for the betrayal and death of Mr & Mrs Cohen, traders in Sandakan.
The driver’s actions were witnessed by Gani (Kg Sumiang), Abdullah Sali (Labukan) and Detective Osman (Libaran). This information is from North Borneo Historical Journal written by Avtar Singh.
Above: The Keith family home was totally destroyed in bombing raids. They had this house built with the same plans in 1946. Today it is a museum.
Above: Seated Agnes and her husband.
****** Please go to bottom of page to read further about Agnes Keith and Colonel Suga.
Unfortunately this large, diverse and very brave group of locals risked their lives for many months – but were given away to the Japanese Kempetei by a disgruntled local Chinese man & other locals who were spies for Japan.
In July 1943 the Japanese Kempeitai wasted no time rounding up those they considered to be the ringleaders – Dr. Taylor, Australian POWs – Captain Lionel Matthews, Rod Wells and Gordon Wyneton, Detective Lagan and Corporal Abin were taken for questioning to Kempeitai HQ in the town of Sandakan. This was just the beginning of brutal interrogations and horrific torture – Kempeitai style, including water-boarding. Please read further
2/4th’s Alf Stevens was also arrested and subjected to terrible torture. (He was sentenced to 4 years solitary confinement in Outram Road Prsison, Singapore)
Another 100 were rounded up suspected of being involved. For three months they were relentlessly beaten, questioned and tortured to reveal the names of co-conspirators. With military precision the Kempeitei had meticulously searched every inch of the POW camp and through personal belongings in an attempt to identify those involved in building the radio transmitter and for possible links to the underground. They also targeted and terrorised the wives and children of those civilians and locals who were arrested.
Ma Cohen’s name was included on the list the Japanese had access to. She was arrested and was the only woman amongst about 250 local men, as well as Australian POWs. The Japanese were unable to prove her guilt – and those arrested would not give her away. She was released after some six months. She was later fined $1,000 – which is quite a lot of money.
The Japanese were brutal with their interrogations and torture, in the most horrific conditions, particularly towards the Australian POWs with many placed in cages unable to stand, continual torture, no food or water.
Those kept captive by the Kempetai were forbidden to talk amongst themselves. Capt Matthews and most of the Australian POWs unknown to the Kempeitei used morse code to communicate with each other – enabling them to keep abreast of the amount of knowledge Kempeitei knew and how much each POW revealed.
In late October 1943 more than 200 prisoners were placed on a old ship to sail to Kuching, where they faced further interrogations, torture and finally a Japanese Military Court to face charges. Every word was spoken in Japanese and every document written in Japanese. The accused were never offered interpreters.
Please read the story of the ‘Underground Radio’
The Japanese would not have given up on ‘Ma’ Cohen so easily. She was again arrested and one story is she was sent with her husband on a boat to Kutching for trial. Her ship was hit and sunk by a torpedo from a US submarine. Another story was the Japanese killed her by placing her in a barrel and rolling it about. It is a tragic ending for a brave and generous lady.
The Cohens had three children, two daughters and the eldest was a son named Yahyah Cohen born 1920 who became a highly regarded surgeon in Singapore.
The following is a brief overview of the Bagdadhi Jewish population and their movement from Iraq & the Jewish population of Yemen. It is not a study of religion, rather the journey of the Cohen family’s ancestors.
YEMEN JEWISH POPULATION
Yemenite Jews aka Yemeni.
Yemen’s Jewish population in 1948 was 55,000.
After several waves of persecution, the majority of Yemenite Jews emigrated to Israel with ‘Operation Magic Carpet’ between June 1949 to September 1950. Most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel.
The Jewish population of Yemen was one of the longest-standing in the Arab world, plying its trade of silversmithing for hundreds of years. It was believed small populations remain in northern Yemen.
Today, the fate of any remaining Jews is unknown.
Menahem Cohen came from Yemen, probably to Singapore where he married Mozelle, before moving to Sandakan.
Yemen: Synagogue, al-Hajjarah, Haraz Mountains of Yemen.
Above: Yemenite Jews.
Jewish population leave behind their home countries of Iraq and Yemen
Iraqi Jews were airlifted to Israel in 1950 and 1951. Known as Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. More than 120,000 Jews left Iraq, leaving only a small number behind to continue the community’s 2,600-year-old presence, from the Babylonian exile around 586 BCE.
This had been one of the oldest and most significant Jewish communities thriving in Mesopotania until 1941 and the Farhud program, followed by mass migration in 1949 to 1952. Many Iraqi Jews did not want to leave Iraq, they saw Iraq as their home.
Below: Al-Uzair (Ezra) Mosque and Holy site in Al-Uzair town, south-Iraq.
Al-Uzair (Ezra) Mosque was originally a major Jewish Synagogue and pilgramage site dedicated to the biblical prophet Ezra who is buried there. Following the mass exodus of Iraqi Jews in the 1950s, the site was transformed into a Islamic landmark.
The Meir Taweig Synagogue in Bagdad is the last remaining Jewish Synagogue in this city.
Above: Sasson Synagogue, Mosul – damaged by recent war.
Below: Just Surviving – evidence of interior of Sasson Synagogue, Mosul.
Please read further about Iraq Jewish shrines
Yemini Jewish Population
In 1948 the Yemeni population was estimated to be about 50,000. There was a small population in northern Yemen – however today, their safety is unknown.
Following several waves of persecution the vast majority of Yemenite Jews emigrated to Israel with the Operation Magic Carpet between June 1949 and September 1950. Smaller communities chose to emigrate to US and elsewhere.
Please read further about ‘Operation Magic Carpet’
The Jewish population of Yemen is one of the longest-standing in the Arab world, having plied its trade of silversmithing for hundreds of years.
The Grand Synagogue of Aden also known as the Magen Avraham Synagogue or Shield of Avraham Synagogue, was located in Aden, Yemen.
The Great Synagogue of Aden (Al-Milama’l-kabira, Magen Avraham), built around 1858 in Yemen, was a prominent, large-scale structure known for its traditional architectural style. It served as a central community hub until 1944 and was demolished shortly after 1999.
It was a cornerstone of the Adeni Jewish community until their emigration.
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Adeni Jews
Adeni Jews lived in a distinct Jewish community in the British controlled Port of Aden, Yemen from 1839 – 1967. It was a flourishing, cosmopolitan and trade-oriented society under British rule. Due to their unique, Western-influenced, and prosperous culture, they distinguished themselves from mainland Yemenite Jews. Following the 1947 riots and later 1967, the community emigrated primarily to Israel and London.
For further reading about the murder, looting and burning of Aden in 1947
Aden’s Grand Synagogue was abandoned during the 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aden and destroyed in 1994, during the Yemeni civil war.
Below: There appears to be little or no surviving pictures/photos of the Grand Synagogue. These show the interior only.
INDIA’s JEWISH POPULATION
The history of Jews in India dates back to the ancient times. Judaism was the probably the first foreign religion to reach India. An extreme minority, they lived peacefully with the local population for centuries.
The first group of Jews arrived in the Cochin region of Kerala long before the birth of Christ and known as the Cochin Jews.
Next came the Bene Israel (literally meaning the Children of Israel) Jews, who were considered as descended of the lost tribes of Israel. They arrived more than three centuries ago and settled along the west cost of India.
At the end of the nineteenth century came the Baghdadi Jews, who, as the name suggests, are of Iraqi origin. They were a flourishing business community and settled in business centres like Calcutta and Bombay.
Above: Mercy Synagogue in Mumbai, India aka Shaar Harahamim and Juni Masjid. This is the oldest Synagogue in Mumbai and one of oldest in India. Originally built 1796, it was rennovated, rebuilt and moved to its present location in 1860. It can hold 300 persons.
Above & Below: Paradesi Synagogue, India showing entrance before and after restoration.
Below: Hebrew inscription tablet Kochangadi Synagogue, in the courtyard wall of the Paradesi Synagogue.
1968 the Paradesi Synagogue celebrated its 400th anniversary. The ceremony was attended by the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
There were three classes of Synagogue members:
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White Jews were full members. White Jews or Paradesi Jews were recent descendants of Shephardim from Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.
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Black Jews or Malabari Jews were allowed to worship but were not admitted to full membership. These Cochin Jews were the original Jewish settlers of Cochin.
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Meshuchrarim – a group of freed slaves and their descendants brought by the Shephardim. They had no communal right and no synagogue of their own and sat on the floor or on steps outside. In the first half of the 20th century, Abaraham Barak Salem, a meshuchrarm, successfully campaigned against this discrimination.
Above: Keneseth Eliyahoo Bagdadhi Synagogue, Founded 1884 Mumbai.
Below: Interior of Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue which is has water damage from decades of monsoons & neglect. It requires restoration. The roof, ceilings and walls are damaged, some areas of the floors are sinking and parts of the Victorian stain glass window require replacement.
Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue is one of two Baghdadi Jewish synagogues in Mumbai. Funded by the Sassoons, a prominent Jewish family of entrepreneurs and philanthropists, it was built in the classical revival style with a double height prayer hall. According to experts, it has some of the finest stained glass in all of Mumbai.
Above: detail and beauty of Synagogue windows and walls.
In Bombay Jews flourished under the leadership of David Sassoon, a prominent Baghdadi Jew, who settled in Bomaby in 1832. The Baghdadi Jews, while retaining their Iraqi Jewish culture, also went on to establish themselves as wealthy businessmen and philanthropists in Mumbai. Soon their business flourished and the Bagdadi Jews of Mumbai started settling in the posh Byculla area of south Mumbai.
Please read further about David Sassoon
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please read further about the Sassoon family
Please read how the Bagdadhi Jews suffered in Indonesia
AGNES NEWTON KEITH & COLONEL SUGA
While at Berhala Island Agnes saw Colonel Suga. He called her to his office, Agnes always took her young son George with her. Suga informed her he had read her book ‘Land Below the Wind’ translated into Japanese, adding that he liked it. He informed her he attended University of Washington in the US, and asked Agnes why Americans were prejudiced against the Japanese. She always avoided answering this question which came up again several times in future meetings at Kuching.
ALL POWS ON BERHALA MOVE TO KUCHING.
Suga wanted her to write a book for him, which he would censor. Agnes responded she did not have time with the jobs she had to tend to daily. (All POWs worked, including the women – usually in the fields) Most importantly she did not have anything to write with.
Agnes saw Colonel Suga at Kuching, where he again asked her to write for him. Suga was based at the Japanese HQ at Kuching.
Finally she was called into Colonel Suga’s office where he produced an American copy of her book, which had her name inside and had been taken from her house by Mr. Maeda. Suga asked her to give the book to him by writing his name inside the cover. Suga pulled her husband Harry’s fountain pen out of his top pocket and handed it to her! (He had obviously acquired the pen and book from Mr Maeda).
Suga’a orderly then produced pineapple, biscuits and very sweet coffee for her and George. Then Suga broke the news – “You are going to write the ‘Life and Thoughts of an Internee” for me in your spare time. This is an order. After a little more time when Agnes said she had not the time with her camp duties, no equipment and said he ‘could not order her what to say!’
All right! He said. And walked out.
He gave her pen, ink, pencil and paper and ordered the office to release a confiscated typewriter for her use and ordered her to go.
Agnes was sleepless worrying about how she would cope, she was dealing with the camp Commandant Suga, the man who was in charge of the all POWs on Borneo/Sarawak. The women’s Camp was already short of able-bodied women to work and she knew she could not do both, work and writing.
The next day she was informed by her camp master she was to be released from community camp work by Suga’s order. The Japanese office was to pay $3 a month into the community fund as her salary. She was to continue doing part time work in the camp as a substitute for women who became ill.
Agnes Keith, her son George and her husband Harry Keith survived Kuching. The numbers of of death had been enormous due to malnutrition. There was such a shortage of food, the women would cut grass to give to their children with the minimal food provided.
At the time of liberation on September 11, 1945, the camp held 2,024 survivors, including 1,392 POWs and 632 civilian internees.
It is believed Between January 1945 and the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, over 500 POWs died, often at a rate of two or three per day due to dysentery and starvation.
The camp had a fluctuating population reaching up to 3,000 prisoners (including civilians). Reports indicate that of the approximately 2,000 British POWs held there, over 1,300 died, or roughly two-thirds of that population.
Below: Lintang Barracks, Kuching 1941-45. (We wish to acknowledge this map was copied from ‘Kuching in Pictures 1841-1946’ – having been unable to find another map anywhere!)
Above: Agnes with Australian Officers following Surrender.
Above: Aerial photo of Lintang Barracks, Kuching.
Above: George Keith
