Frank Cohn

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Frank Cohn was born Franz Cohn on 2 August 1925 in Breslau, Germany, now Wrocław, Poland, into a Jewish family. His father owned a sporting-goods shop, but Nazi persecution gradually stripped the family of its security. After the Gestapo came looking for his father, Frank and his mother fled Europe, reuniting with him in New York on 30 October 1938, just ten days before Kristallnacht.

In September 1943, eighteen-year-old Frank was drafted into the US Army. He became an American citizen during basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was initially assigned to the 87th Infantry Division. Sent to Europe as an infantry replacement, he was subsequently selected for military intelligence because of his fluency in German.

Cohn served with Interrogator Prisoner of War Team No. 66, part of T-Force, 12th Army Group. During the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns, his duties included interrogating German prisoners and assessing captured personnel, installations and documents. In April 1945, he met Soviet troops at the Elbe River near Magdeburg. He later served at the Military Intelligence Center in Oberursel, guarding suspected war criminals and processing documents for future prosecutions.

While serving in Germany, Frank sought news of relatives who had remained behind. Eleven members of his extended family had been murdered in the Holocaust. After the war, he completed his education and returned to active duty as a Military Police officer. His subsequent career included service in Korea and Vietnam. He retired in 1978 as a colonel and Chief of Staff of the Military District of Washington, after thirty-five years of Army service.

In retirement, Cohn volunteered at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, sharing his experiences of persecution, escape and military service. Frank Cohn died on 4 July 2026 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, aged 100.