Sigmund A. Cohn / Suzanne Lewy Cohn Collection

Sigmund Albert Cohn (June 6, 1898 - March 14, 1997), Professor of Law at the University of Georgia, was born in Breslau, Germany. He studied law and economics at the University of Breslau, where he was awarded the law degree 'magna cum laude' in 1921. After serving his legal apprenticeship he joined the Department of Justice in Berlin and was appointed as a lifetime judge in 1921. He married Suzanne Lewy (born November 23, 1902, Breslau, died August 1987, Athens, Georgia) in 1925. In 1933 he was ousted from his position, when Hitler's racial decrees removed Jewish public servants. Therefore the Cohn family emigrated to Genoa, Italy, where Sigmund Cohn earned a doctor of jurisprudence with high honors in 1934. Subsequently he affiliated with a law practice and became an assistant to the chair of economics at the University of Genoa. The Cohn family was forced to emigrate again, when Mussolini, having joined with the Axis, instituted Hitler's racial decrees in Italy. Knowing the obstacles to obtaining a visa to enter the United States, Sigmund Cohn initially obtained visas enabling his family to emigrate to Colombia, South America or Costa Rica. At the same time he applied to numerous American colleges and universities for a teaching position which, if secured, would enable immigration to the US outside of the strictures of American immigration laws. He succeeded in obtaining an assistant professorship in languages at the University of Georgia. 1939 Sigmund Cohn came to Athens, Georgia, with his wife Susan and his two daughters, Eva and Marianne. Sigmund Cohn taught Italian, German, and Spanish courses at the University of Georgia until 1944, when he became an assistant professor at the law school.

He became a full professor in 1947. He taught a variety of commercial law courses and initiated courses in international law. Along with Prof. Robert Leavell, Dr. Cohn played a central role in the recodification of Georgia's corporations law in the 1960s. He retired in 1964. In the early 1930s Sigmund Cohn co-authored two German books commenting on aspects of German law. He was the author of numerous book reviews and articles published in American law journals.