Metadata: Estate of Marcus Cohn
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- NL Marcus Cohn
- Title:
- Estate of Marcus Cohn
- Title (official language):
- Nachlass Marcus Cohn
- Creator/accumulator:
- Cohn, Marcus
- Date(s):
- 1886/1952
- Language:
- German
- French
- English
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 2.85 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains documents on Marcus Cohn's professional activities as a lawyer and notary, on his other offices and engagements in Jewish organisations and associations, and on his help for Jewish refugees during the National Socialist era. Only a few private documents are extant. The collection also contains documents on Marcus Cohn's father, Arthur Cohn (1862-1926), who was the first full-time rabbi of the Jewish Community of Basel (IGB) beginning in 1985. These documents include occasional correspondences and documents around the posthumously published anthology “Von Israels Lehre und Leben. Reden und Aufsätze”.
- Archival history:
- The estate was transferred to the AfZ in 2014 by Dr. Simon Erlanger. In 2015, the sons of Marcus Cohn, Arthur (with his wife Noemi) and Gabriel Cohn donated the collection. The collection provides a fragmentary insight into the activities of Marcus Cohn from 1920-1950. After his death, large parts of the estate were destroyed by the family, in particular documents on Marcus Cohn's commitment to refugees. Some documents, especially correspondence with Rabbi Abraham Isaak Kook, were donated to the Rav Kook Jeshiva in Jerusalem. In addition, Marcus Cohn destroyed some of his documents in 1950 before leaving for Israel. It is unclear, how many documents were destroyed.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Marcus Cohn was born in Basel on 17 July 1890 and died on 16 November 1953. He was the son of Rabbi Dr. Arthur and Betty Cohn of Posen (now in Poland). He studied law in Basel and Germany and then opened his own law firm in Basel. In 1920, he submitted his dissertation entitled “Stellvertretungen im jüdischen Recht”. Three years later, he married Rose Galewski of Berlin. The couple had five children: Esther, David, Arthur, Bruno and Gabriel. As a lawyer, Cohn lent his support to Jewish refugees from all over Europe during the Second World War. The office in his home on Austrasse 16 in Basel became a contact point for refugees, but also for students and other people seeking help.
In addition to his work as a lawyer and notary, Cohn was involved in numerous committees of the Jewish communities in Basel and Switzerland. In 1927, he was elected for the first time as a candidate of the Jüdische Volkspartei (Jewish people's party) to the board of the Jewish Community of Basel (until 1933). In 1936, he was reelected to the board of directors (until 1950). In the Jewish Community of Basel (IGB), he was president of the building commission and representative of the community in the central committee; he was also active in the management of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) (cultural and religious affairs departments). Cohn was president of the Swiss Zionist Association (SZV) for over ten years, where he served as representative of the Mizrahi Party.
From 1937, he was head of the Palestine Office in Basel, where he played a key role in setting up the office. Cohn also represented Switzerland at the 16th Zionist Congress in Zurich in 1929 and at the 17th Zionist Congress in Basel in 1931. In 1933, Cohn, together with Chief Rabbi Marcus Ehrenpreis (Stockholm) and Jules Dreyfus-Brodsky (ITUC), was a private plaintiff in the Basel trial against the disseminators of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. In addition to other engagements, many of which continued his father's work, Cohn founded the Jewish Teachers' Seminar Basel in 1943, which trained teachers until 1947. In 1950, Cohn was called to Jerusalem to help build Israel's legal system. Due to health problems, he was granted leave of absence and returned to Switzerland in 1952. Marcus Cohn died in Ascona (canton Tessin/Ticino).
- Access points: locations:
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019
