Cohn, Alfred

Alfred Cohn was born on June 10, 1880 in Stallupönen/East Prussia to Jewish parents. He married Elsbeth Aris, who was also Jewish, in Danzig in 1911. The couple ran a large department store in Wartenberg/East Prussia. During World War I, Alfred Cohn served as an officer; two of his brothers died in combat. Three children were born: Ruth Betty in 1912, Georg Joachim in 1914, and Georg Gideon in 1915. In 1936, the couple sold the department store due to increasing repression and moved to Berlin to Fregestr. 71. The three children were able to flee to Palestine or to England and the USA. Alfred Cohn was arrested for the first time on the occasion of the November pogroms and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp; he was released again on December 17, 1938. Alfred and Elisabeth Cohn had to move out of Fregestr. 71 and move into a so-called Judenhaus at Jenaerstr. 5 as subtenants. On May 27, 1942, Alfred Cohn was arrested as part of the special action "The Soviet Paradise" and taken back to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was shot on May 28, 1942, as one of 250 Berlin Jews. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren from Israel were present at the laying of the Stolpersteine.