Henry Cohen (military)

Henry Cohen (* 1922 in New York City ; † 1999 ) was the American director of the Föhrenwald camp , the second largest DP camp in the American zone of occupation after the end of World War II .

Before beginning his service in January 1946 , Cohen had fought in the infantry of the US Army in World War II and participated in the Ardennes Offensive and the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge . After the war, Cohen was taken over into the US military administration in occupied post-war Germany. At the age of 23 he was entrusted with the management of the Föhrenwald camp. He was supported by a UNRRA team . When he took up his duties, around 5,600 Holocaust survivors were housed in the exclusively Jewish camp .

In his work for the interests of the displaced persons, he said he encountered widespread anti-Semitism in the ranks of the US military personnel. In a speech given in 1996, he reported on an incident in Wolfratshausen in which drunk US soldiers attacked some Jewish residents of a civilian quarter. As a result, there were tumults in the Föhrenwald camp, which could have spread to Wolfratshausen without Cohen's intervention.

Upon his return to the United States , Cohen worked in various roles in the administration of his hometown New York.

Web links

• Henry Cohen 1996 about his experiences in the Föhrenwald camp