Alfred Cohn Collection

Collection

Identifier: AR 4085

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains legal documents, correspondence, certificates, and photographs of Dr. Alfred Cohn, 1890-1965.

Folder one is composed of birth and marriage certificates, university diplomas from Berlin and Göttingen, internship certificates, and grade books. Folder 2 contains various documents relating to Cohn's service as an army doctor on the Western Front in World War I. Folder 4 contains membership cards, certificates, recommendation letters and other documents relating to Cohn's professional career in Berlin.

Of particular interest are the photo-albums in folders 7 and 8 which contain more than 100 photographs of fellow soldiers and colleagues stationed in Belgium near the towns of Yrpes, Diksmuide, and Beerst, Belgium. There is also a photograph of Robert Koch on an expedition in New Guinea (1900), a portrait of Cohn with Dr. Louise Pearce of the Rockefeller Institute (1931) and an undated portrait of Dr. Ulrich Friedemann.

Dates

Creation: 1899-1965

Creator

Cohn, Alfred, 1890-1965 (Person)

Language of Materials

This collection is in German and English.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Alfred Cohn was born in Berlin in 1890. He studied medicine at the universities in Berlin and Göttingen though his studies were interrupted by World War I. During the war he was stationed in Belgium where he worked as an assistant surgeon as a member of Infantry Regiment No. 360. In 1916 he married Edith Buchholz of Hannover. Following the war he returned to Berlin and completed his medical studies, acquiring the title of Doctor in 1919. He specialized in venereal diseases and was affiliated with the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases. When in 1933 his license was revoked as a result of anti-Semitic legislation he immediately left Germany, living initially in London and in 1934 emigrating to the United States. Here he was successful in establishing himself anew and received his license to practice medicine in the United States already in 1934. He died in 1965.