Hans Kohn

Hans Kohn ( born September 15, 1891 in Prague, † March 16, 1971 in Philadelphia ) was a philosopher and historian.

Life

During the First World War he was interned since March 1915 as a prisoner of war five years in Russia. In the following years he lived in Paris and London. There he worked and wrote for Zionist organizations.

In 1925, he moved to Palestine from there in 1934 in the United States. There, he taught modern history at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. From 1948 to 1961 he taught at the City College of New York. He also taught at the New School for Social Research, Harvard Summer School. Through letters and meetings he formed a friendship with other Zionists and thinkers, including from the Prague circle Felix Weltsch, Max Brod, Hugo Bergman, but also with Martin Buber and Robert Weltsch.

He wrote many books, especially on nationalism, Pan-Slavism and the Jewish religion. He was an early employee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, where he died in 1971.

Works (selection)

• Nationalism. About the importance of nationalism in Judaism and in the presence (Vienna 1922)
• Meaning and destiny of the Revolution ( Vienna 1923)
• The political idea of Judaism (Munich 1924)
• Together with Robert Weltsch: Zionist policy ( Ostrava 1927)
• History of the national movement in the Orient (Berlin 1928)
• Martin Buber, his work and his time (Dresden 1930) (new edition, continued by Robert Weltsch: Dusseldorf 1961)
• Nationalism in the Soviet Union (Frankfurt / M. 1962)
• The Europeanization of the Orient (Berlin 1934)
• The idea of nationalism. Origins and History up to the French Revolution ( Frankfurt / M. 1962)
• Right and wrong ways. The Spirit of the German bourgeoisie ( Dusseldorf 1962)
• Citizens of many worlds. A life in the era of world revolution ( Frauenfeld, 1965)

Plus a host comes in English written works.