Ferdinand Cohen-Blind

Ferdinand Cohen-Blind (March 25, 1844 – May 8, 1866) was a Jewish German student who attempted to assassinate Otto von Bismarck, the Minister President of Prussia. Cohen-Blind committed suicide shortly after his arrest.

Childhood and youth Cohen-Blind was born in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden to Jacob Abraham Cohen and his second wife Friederike, née Ettlinger.

Shortly after her son's birth, Friederike began a relationship with journalist and revolutionary Karl Blind, a former student of the University of Heidelberg who had been expelled for expressing radical democratic sentiments. She financially supported Blind's political activities and was arrested with him in the summer of 1847. They married after Jacob Cohen's death in 1848, at which time Ferdinand's last name was changed to Cohen-Blind. He left Carlsbad, arriving in Berlin and checking into the Hotel Royal Unter den Linden hotel on May 5. On the afternoon of May 7, he lay in wait for Bismarck, revolver in hand, in the Unter den Linden, a boulevard in central Berlin. The Chancellor had just reported to King Wilhelm and was now walking home. When Bismarck was close to the Russian Embassy, Cohen-Blind took aim and fired twice from behind; Bismarck spun around and grabbed his attacker, who was able to fire three more shots before soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guards rushed up and took him into custody. The newspaper Neue Aschaffenburger Zeitung reported that a soldier near Bismarck was shot in the crossfire. Bismarck continued on his way home. Later that night, he allowed the King's physician, Gustav von Lauer, to examine him. Lauer noted that the first three bullets had only grazed Bismarck's body and the last two had ricocheted off the ribs and had caused no major injuries.

Cohen-Blind's weapon, a 6-shot Lefaucheux Pepperbox-Revolver, is on display in the Bismarck-Museum in Friedrichsruh.