Frank Cohn

Franz "Frank" Cohn (August 2, 1925 – July 4, 2026) was a German-born American United States Army colonel, intelligence officer, and Holocaust survivor. Born in Weimar-era Germany, Cohn fled Nazi persecution with his family as a teenager in 1938. After emigrating to the United States, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, served in military intelligence during the Battle of the Bulge, and went on to serve a 35-year military career that spanned the Korean and Vietnam Wars, retiring in 1978 as the chief of staff of the United States Army Military District of Washington.

Early life Frank Cohn was born Franz Cohn on August 2, 1925, to Jewish parents, his father Martin Cohn and his mother, Ruth Cohn, in Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). His family owned a sporting goods business in Breslau. Cohn's uncle Max Berdass died in June 1930 from injuries sustained in January 1927 from a beating by Nazis in Chemnitz when they identified him as Jewish. Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1933, the family faced antisemitic harassment, including boycotts of their business and discrimination at school. On April 1, 1933, the Nazi leadership carried out a nationwide economic boycott targeting Jewish-owned businesses, including Cohn's family's sporting goods store.

When Cohn entered third grade in a German public school in 1934, one of his teachers wore a Sturmabteilung (SA) uniform with a swastika armband and the Nazi Party pin. Cohn was forced to listen to his classmates singing Hitler Youth songs and he was instructed to remain seated at his desk, as Jews were forbidden to participate. The brutality of the Nazi regime became a reality for Cohn's family when Michaelis, a family friend, died under suspicious circumstances following a Gestapo arrest. In 1938, soon after Cohn's Bar Mitzvah in August, Cohn's father Martin traveled to the United States on a visitor's visa to secure immigration affidavits from relatives. While he was out of Germany, the Gestapo visited the family residence looking for him. Ruth Cohn subsequently obtained a visitor's visa for herself and paid to have Cohn's name added to the document. The two traveled to New York City, where they reunited with Martin on October 30, 1938, prior to the November pogroms known as Kristallnacht. His family was permitted to remain in the United States under an executive order issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt, which halted the return of refugees following Kristallnacht. Cohn attended junior high school and Stuyvesant High School in New York City. After he finished high school, he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps to learn about the U.S. Army at the City College of New York.

Military service

World War II Cohn was drafted into the United States Army in September 1943 at 18 years old. Due to him still holding a German passport, he was initially classified as an "enemy alien" and was held at Fort Dix, New Jersey, for three months while the FBI investigated his background. He was sworn in as a U.S. citizen during his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He reported for the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), which, after basic training, sent recruits to colleges to earn degrees in fields like medicine, engineering, and foreign languages. But before Cohn could complete his training, the Army canceled the program.

In September 1944, Cohn deployed to the European Theater of Operations aboard the RMS Queen Mary as an infantry replacement, initially assigned to the 87th Infantry Division and landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, via a Liberty ship. His fluency in the German language and culture was recognized, and the Army transferred him to military intelligence and sent him to Le Vésinet, near Paris, for instruction in identifying German military organization and administrative structures. He served as part of Interrogator Prisoner of War Team 66 within T-Force, an intelligence unit attached to the 12th Army Group. During the Battle of the Bulge, his duties included interrogating captured German soldiers and identifying German infiltrators operating behind American lines in U.S. uniforms. He also participated in the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns, conducting prisoner-of-war interrogations and assessing captured facilities for intelligence materials. In April 1945, Cohn was among the American troops who met the advancing Soviet Red Army at the Elbe River near Magdeburg, Germany. Cohn handed out American cigarettes and got vodka in return from the Soviets.

Post-military service and legacy Following his retirement from active duty, Cohn lived in The Fairfax Retirement Community, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He volunteered and spoke on behalf of several organizations, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, and the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. He also participated in events at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he spoke about his experiences as a refugee and service member. The Russians later honored Cohn's service and invited him to Moscow, all expenses paid, for the 60th, 65th and 70th anniversaries marking the end of World War II in Europe.

Awards and honors Cohn received several military decorations and foreign honors over his 35-year service career, including:

Legion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster) Vietnam Service Medal (with 4 campaign stars) Legion of Honor (Chevalier) – France Grand Service Cross (Großes Verdienstkreuz) – Germany Order of the Marechaussee – U.S. Army Military Police Corps U.S. Army Military Police Hall of Fame (inducted 2004)