Cohn, Fritz

Fritz Cohn was born in Berlin on December 1, 1896. He graduated from high school in 1914 and was then drafted and served as a soldier in World War I until 1918. From 1920 he completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller and then opened a bookshop at Seydelstrasse 21. In 1936 he was expropriated and the bookstore "Aryanized." Until March 1938, he worked in the theater of the Jewish Cultural Association. However, he continued to sell books illegally in order to support his family. His illegal activity was discovered and he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. His wife Gertrud was able to "ransom" him again at the beginning of 1939, but she had to divorce him and he had to leave Germany within four weeks. He emigrated to Shanghai as a broken man and died there on September 1, 1944.