Kohn, Pinchas

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KOHN, PINCHAS

KOHN, PINCHAS (1867–1942), Orthodox leader. A pupil of Azriel *Hildesheimer, Kohn served as district rabbi at Ansbach, Bavaria, from 1896 to 1916. During World War i he became an adviser on Jewish affairs to the military government established by Germany in occupied Poland. When working in Warsaw under Ludwig *Haas, Kohn was largely responsible for instituting the Polish Jewish community statutes which remained in force until 1939. His activities were violently opposed by Zionists in Poland and Germany. From 1919 to 1938 Kohn directed the office of the *Agudat Israel World Organization in Vienna, subsequently settling in Jerusalem. Apart from contributing regularly to the Orthodox press, Kohn was, from 1913 to 1920, coeditor with S. *Breuer of the Orthodox Juedische Monatshefte (דּוֹרֵשׁ טוֹב לְעַמּוֹ), and wrote two novels, Joël Gern; der Werdegang eines juedischen Mannes (1912; under the pseudonym Kopi), and Kosbi Salonaë (1932; under the pseudonym Sanon). He also published a volume of memoirs.

bibliography:

J. Rosenheim, Zikhronot (1955), 87, 216–20; A. Carlebach, Adass Yeshurun of Cologne (1964), 55ff.; idem, in: lbyb, 6 (1961), 60–121; H. Schwab, Chachme Ashkenaz (Eng., 1964), 86.