Hans Kohn

Hans Kohn (Hebrew: הַנְס כֹּהן, or קוהן‎, September 15, 1891 – March 16, 1971) was a Jewish American philosopher and historian. Born in Prague during the Habsburg Empire, he was captured as a prisoner of war during World War I and held in Russia for five years. In the following years he lived in Paris and London working for Zionist organizations and writing.

He moved to Palestine in 1925, but visited the United States frequently, eventually immigrating in 1934 to teach modern history at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. From 1948 to 1961 he taught at City College of New York. He also taught at the New School for Social Research, Harvard Summer School.

He wrote numerous books and publications, primarily on the topics of nationalism, Pan-Slavism, German thought, and Judaism, and was an early contributor to the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, where he died. His autobiography, published in 1964,^[1] includes reflections on the times he lived through as well as the facts of his personal life.

Kohn was a prominent leader of Brit Shalom, which promoted a bi-national state in Palestine.^[2]

Historical works

• Western Civilization in the Near East, 1936
• The Idea of Nationalism: A Study in Its Origins and Background, 1944
• The Twentieth Century: A Midway Account of the Western World, 1950
• Pan-Slavism: Its History and Ideology, 1953
• Nationalism: Its Meaning & History, 1955
• Nationalism and Liberty: The Swiss Example, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1956
• American Nationalism: An Interpretative Essay, Macmillan, New York, 1957
• Heinrich Heine: The Man and the Myth, Leo Baeck Institute, New York, 1959
• The Habsburg Empire, 1804–1918, 1961
• Living in a World Revolution: My Encounters with History, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1964
• Absolutism and Democracy 1814-1852, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, New Jersey, 1965
• The Mind of Germany, Harper Torchbooks, 1965
• Prelude to Nation-States: The French and German Experiences, 1789-1815 D. Van Nostrand, 1967.

External links

• Guide to the Hans Kohn Collection (Leo Baeck Institute Center for Jewish History) (about Immanuel Kohn^[3] and Vera Kohn)
  • http://www.cjh.org/collections/findingaids.php?action=searchPartners&partner=3 (biography)
• http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/buber.htm (biography)

References