Violinist Regina Kohn Played Her Way Into America
By Chana Pollack May 8, 2014
Forward Association
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly photo feature in which we sift 116 years of Forward history to find snapshots of women’s lives.
In 1924, Regina Kohn became known as the musician who played her way into the country when she was asked to perform for immigration officers at Ellis Island where she was detained. Kohn came to America from Romania and the quota for Romanians had been filled. Undeterred by the pile-up of ironies inherent in the rejection — Kohn was actually Hungarian but from a part of Hungary now occupied by Romania, hence her Ellis Island classification as Romanian — Kohn was permitted to perform her choice of an extremely still and delicate piece by Schumann, called “Traumerei” (“Dreams”). If she played well, she would be granted entry. If not, deportation. The special Board of Inquiry must have fallen under her spell because they reportedly immediately granted her artist status and permission to immigrate. Her immediate plans were to open a studio to teach and live with her brother Ignatz on Second Avenue.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Life A comprehensive guide to the best Hanukkah songs of all time, from ‘I have a little dreidel’ to the latest Wicked parodies
-
Life What is Tu B’shvat? A guide to Judaism’s most underrated holiday
-
Life Chanel had a complicated relationship with Jews — until Karl Lagerfeld showed up
-
Life COVID-19 changed shiva traditions — will one of the most beloved ever return?
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.