Eric Kahn was born in July 1929 in Wiesbaden, Germany. His father was from an observant Jewish family and fought in the German Army during World War 1. His mother was from a Christian family and had been a department store model. The couple lived with her mother's parents up until the war years, and Kahn remembers celebrating Christmas in their home. Kahn's father and uncle were in business manufacturing and selling brushes. Kahn was a toddler when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and boycotted Jewish enterprises. His father lost his company, and became a traveling salesman. Kahn began his education in a German public school, and remembers no racial discrimination until 1935 when Nazi anti-Jewish laws were codified, essentially denying Jews citizenship in Germany. At six years old, he was moved to a Jewish school in a crowded barracks a substantial distance from his home. In October 1938, Kahn's father lost his job and after Kristallnacht [Annotator's Note: Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass; 9 and 10 November 1938] the Gestapo [Annotator's Note: Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] came to their home and arrested him. He was sent to the concentration camp at Dachau for a month then he was released with a "strong message to leave Germany." Kahn said it was clear to him at that point what the Germans meant to do, but noted that it was difficult, except for the wealthy, to find another place that would accept Jews.

Although Eric Kahn's family was not surprised when his father was arrested, they were concerned because they knew what the Nazis were capable of doing. His mother, who had converted to Judaism before Kahn was born, was told she should divorce her husband if she wanted to regain her rights as a German citizen, but she refused. Notwithstanding his father's service in the German army during World War 1, he was pressured to leave the country. Some of Kahn's classmates' families were finding new homes, but most were unable to relocate. His parents registered Kahn and his younger brother for the kindertransport program [Annotator's Note: an organized rescue effort to place endangered children in British foster homes], but on hearing a radio announcement the night before the war started in 1939 about the mobilization of British and French troops, they knew the opportunity to evacuate their children was lost. The family remained together, but once the war started, Kahn, his father and brother were required to wear the yellow Star of David, and their activities were strictly limited. Food rationing was enforced throughout the country, but more stringently on the Jewish population; because his mother was not considered Jewish, the ration cards she and her parents received helped them to survive.

As a result of the Wannsee Conference, deportation of Jews began in early in 1942 and Eric Kahn's school was closed. His mother's non-Jewish status improved Kahn's rating, but his paternal uncle, aunt and cousin, as well as many of his classmates were sent to Sobibor extermination camp and executed. Everyone in his community became aware of the Nazi objectives, and worried about what would happen next. Kahn's father was required to report to the Gestapo [Annotator's Note: Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] every Friday morning, never knowing the purpose. His family was made to relocate to progressively smaller quarters on three occasions, and no longer had the option to leave the country. Jewish children began to experience persecution and attack at the hands of non-Jewish children; Kahn said Jews had to accept the fate the Nazis had prepared for them. When faced with the inevitable, a number of people they knew committed suicide.

Until 1945, Eric Kahn's family stayed together in Wiesbaden, Germany, often taking refuge in cellars during air raids. He remembers only one occasion when his city was heavily bombed in early February 1945. The Gestapo [Annotator's Note: Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] building was destroyed, along with its records, thereby postponing Kahn's relocation to a camp. But soon the Jewish partners from mixed marriages and their children received orders to report to the train station and buy their own tickets to Frankfurt. Accompanied by Gestapo guards, the group was marched to cattle cars and arrived in Theresienstadt [Annotator's Note: Terezín ghetto and concentration and transit camp] on 12 February 1945. The Nazis had appropriated private homes from the Czech population of the town, and Kahn, who was 13 years old, was separated from his father and taken into a "youth home" with other children his own age. They lived on starvation rations, medical care was minimal, and the children spent most of their time in bunk beds stacked three or four high. Kahn, however, was put to work in an office running a duplicating machine and later prowling the streets on a garbage and weed detail. He remembered when the Red Cross visited the camp and that during the inspection period the food and conditions improved slightly. By that time, according to Kahn, a great number of the camp's inhabitants had already been moved to Auschwitz and their deaths.

Eric Kahn's mother stayed in Wiesbaden, Germany, and had no communication with her husband and sons. Terezin had no information from the outside world except for unreliable rumors, and the adults found it difficult to cope. The young people, Kahn said, were too inexperienced to project themselves into what might happen. The elders held some classes for them, and overall, hunger was their greatest concern. As the Nazis were driven further west, emaciated and diseased prisoners were brought into Theresienstadt [Annotator's Note: Terezín ghetto and concentration and transit camp] from Buchenwald and other camps. On the day their camp was liberated, Kahn was working on the edge of town and heard gunfire; when he went back into town he learned the Russian troops were approaching. Kahn said he was "very joyous," because he had never been sure of seeing the end of the war. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] and the Czech guards disappeared and Russian tanks occupied the center of town. Theresienstadt was liberated on the evening of 8 May 1945, coincidental with the last day of the war in Europe. Kahn said the arriving Russian troops threw pieces of bread from the trucks. A health epidemic prevented the prisoners from leaving immediately, however, and it was June before the Kahns were allowed to return to Wiesbaden.

On 13 June 1945, when Eric Kahn was allowed to leave Theresienstadt [Annotator's Note: Terezín ghetto, concentration and transit camp], he traveled with other prisoners from Wiesbaden [Annotator's Note: Wiesbaden, Germany, Kahn's hometown] by various methods, including an UNRRA [Annotator's Note: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration] jeep, for ten days to reach Frankfurt, then took a local train to his hometown. With his father and brother, he surprised his mother and her family, who were relieved to receive them. It was a happy moment for all of them to finally be together and free again. His parents decided it would be better for Kahn and his brother to leave Germany, and applied to immigrate to the United States. After about a year, the family got a visa, and Kahn said he felt like an American from the time he stepped off the boat in New York. Kahn was amazed, having come from a dark and destroyed Europe, to see the lights of 42nd Street. The family got help with settling in lower Manhattan from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society or HIAS. Very soon after his arrival, Kahn got a Social Security card and a job, and went to high school in the evenings. He studied English along with his other subjects, and graduated in June 1948. Then he attended night classes at City College of New York, studying mechanical engineering and graduated in 1954. Once the Kahns had been in America for five years they were eligible, and all became citizens.

Eric Kahn said that eventually his family learned the fates of their relatives. He credits his mother's Christian background for saving him and his father and brother from a similar end. Kahn was first asked to speak to the kids in Hebrew school at his local synagogue about his experiences during the Holocaust, then gradually the engagements extended to public schools and other venues. Kahn felt an obligation to speak for those who perished, and to keep their memory alive. He also wanted to educate people on the evils of the Holocaust, and encourage them to speak out about prejudice and injustice. Kahn said he was grateful for the opportunity to tell his story for The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana].