Rudolf Cohn

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Rudolf Cohn, photo of a painting by Heinrich Wolff

Rudolf Cohn (born April 23, 1862 in Schneidemühl ; † April 11, 1938 ) was a German pharmacologist and professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at the Albertus University of Königsberg .

Life as a doctor and patron of the arts

Rudolf Cohn was the son of the cantor Hermann Cohn in Schneidemühl / East Prussia and his wife Henriette, b. Bleichrode. Born on April 23, 1862 in Schneidemühl, he attended the Kneiphöfische Gymnasium in Königsberg from 1870 to 1880 . Already in his youth he played the piano with virtuosity and at the same time appeared as a singer in semi-public concert evenings.

Cohns got involved, together with his wife Margarete, geb. Lazar (1877–1952), sister of the doctor Berthold Lazar, in the Jewish community of Königsberg. Due to his musical and painterly talent, he hosted music and art circles and took part in classical salon concerts as a practiced chamber musician (pianist and singer), e.g. B. with the trio of cellist RA Sebba and violinist Lisbeth Cohn, wife of the Königsberg ophthalmologist Willi Cohn. He was also known as a patron of the arts in Königsberg and was friends with Lovis Corinth and Heinrich Wolff . This explains why the painting by H. Wolff from his Königsberg professors portrait collection could be handed down as a photograph by his daughter Alice Lewin (Fig.)

After his license to teach was withdrawn in 1933, Cohn immediately recognized the danger for the future and emigrated to Palestine. He had to use his extensive collection, i. H. Leave behind his " antique furniture , first editions, his collection of paintings, antique art objects made of silver and crystal next to the large library" (Lewin). He took only the beloved wing with him to Palestine. His painting collection included numerous pictures by Heinrich Wolff and Rudi Hammer (1882–1957), which he sponsored as art patrons, as well as several originals by Lovis Corinth. The collection is likely to be lost, even if the oil painting “ Portrait of Charlotte Corinth in a brown blouse , 1910; Oil on canvas, Rudolf Cohn Collection ”was auctioned at the Lempert auction house. After his expulsion to Israel he devoted himself only to music. He died on April 11, 1938.

Working life

Cohn studied medicine with the pathologist Ernst Neumann and the pathologist Bernhard Naunyn and received his doctorate in 1885 with the thesis "On the meaning of negative thoracic pressure". He then became an assistant to Max Jaffé at the Pharmacological Institute in Königsberg. After successfully completing his habilitation in pharmacology on July 23, 1892, he became a private lecturer, and in 1898 an associate professor. His scientific work was mainly the physiological chemistry in the animal and human organism. Until 1931 he held lectures at the university on baths and drug prescription theory, but especially on the subjects of "The experimental basis of iron therapy", "About the chemistry of drugs", "About the social importance of hygiene", "About bath theory", "About human nutrition ”and“ About the importance of table salt and vegetarianism ”. He may have been denied a full professorship in the mid-1920s for religious reasons, so that he worked as an internist in his own practice at Tragheimer Kirchstr. 71 settled. In ancillary service, he worked as a medical examiner for the health insurance companies and in forensic medicine. Cohn has written a large number of scientific publications (Lewin) and an obituary for Max Jaffé.

In 1930 he is listed in the "German credit agency" initiated by the National Socialists. As a result, he was probably dismissed in 1933 on the basis of the law to restore the civil service on the grounds of "fully Jewish origin" (Tilitzki). He was deprived of any university career “in the first wave of layoffs”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Neumann-Redlin von Meding, E .: Rudolf Cohn, university lecturer and art patron. Königsberger Bürgerbrief 83 (2014), pp. 44–45
  2. ↑ a b Lewin, A .: In memoriam Prof. Dr. Rudolf Cohn. Scientist, doctor and artist at the same time. East Prussian medical family. Osterrundbrief (1971), pp. 12-13.
  3. ^ Tilitzki, Chr .: The Albertus University of Königsberg. Its history from the founding of the empire to the fall of the province of East Prussia. Vol. 1 1871–1918 Akademus Verlag Berlin 2012, p. 514.
  4. ↑ Scholz, H., Schroeder, P .: Doctors in East and West Prussia. Würzburg: Holzner-Verlag 1970, p. 231.
  5. ↑ Cohn, R .: The pharmacologist Max Jaffé . In: Münchner Medizinische Wochenschrift No. 2 (1912)
  6. ^ Circle of Friends and Patrons of the German Credit Agency (ed.): The Jewish Influence on the German High Schools. A family history certificate of the Jewish and Judged university and college professors. Booklet 4: The University of Königsberg, self-printed in 1930.
  7. ^ Neumann-Redlin von Meding, E .: The Königsberg "German credit agency 1930" of the National Socialists. Königsberger Bürgerbrief No. 83 (2014), pp. 40–43 with addendum to Königsberger Bürgerbrief No. 84 (2014), pp. 39–40.
  8. ^ Ebert, A .: Jewish professors at Prussian universities. Frankfurt: Mabuse-Verlag 2008, p. 509.
personal data
SURNAME Cohn, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pharmacologist and professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Schneidemühl
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1938