Walter Kohn, having lived a very volatile childhood during the period of Nazi invasions, was able to make
great achievements in his personal life and later great contributions to the world of Science, thus,
leading to his destiny in history. When the German Nazis invaded his home country of Austria,
the young Walter Kohn was only fifteen years old. His beloved family life was torn to pieces by the Nazis,
his father and mother abused, brutalized, and eventually killed at Auschwitz for their Jewish beliefs,
left the young Walter Kohn feeling even more alone in the world. Yet, in the face of despair and
torment at such a young age, Walter Kohn was incredibly fortunate to have been brought up under the
wings of a Canadian family who helped open new doors of opportunity for him
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In the 1960s, Walter Kohn’s obsession in the field of science, led him on a decades-long work that
would eventually lead him to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
I. Walter Kohn lived a very volatile childhood in his birthplace in Vienna, Austria A. He was born in March 9th 1923 in Vienna, Austria.
1. His parents were Soloman and Gittel Kohn who had a family business.
2. They would commission and sell art post cards.
B. In 1938 Austria was conquered by Nazi Germany.
1. His father was assaulted at the hands of Kristallnacht .
2. They were responsible for the destruction of the family home.
3. He was seized by the captors and taken to a police courtyard while walking home from school.
4. He was released because they considered him too young.
5. His parents were killed in Auschwitz camps.
C. He was able to escape with his older sister but not his parents.
1. He went to England.
2. He worked in a farm house for a while.
3. He was later sent to an internment camp on the Isle of Man by British Wartime authorities.
4. Later transformed to a camp in Quebec, Canada
II. His life in Canada and the U.S. took a radical change compared to his life in