David Cohen (31 December 1882,

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

– 3 September 1967,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) was a Dutch

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

papyrologist Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...

and one of the two chairs of the (, or , of Amsterdam) during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He was Professor of Ancient History at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

and a prominent

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

leader.

Education and career until 1940

Cohen was educated at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. He was a teacher in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and became a private lecturer at the University of Leiden. In 1924 he became a professor by special appointment at the same university. Two years later he was appointed full professor of Ancient History at the Municipal

. Cohen was one of the founders and editor of ''Hermeneus: Monthly Magazine for Ancient Culture'', the first edition of which appeared in 1928.

Second World War and after

In 1941 Cohen and Asscher were appointed by the German occupiers as chairs of the Jewish Council for Amsterdam. In September 1943, Cohen and

Abraham Asscher Abraham Asscher (19 September 1880 – 2 May 1950) was a Dutch Jewish businessman from Amsterdam, a politician, and a leader of his community who attained notoriety for his role during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). Earl ...

were themselves arrested and taken to the Westerbork transit camp. Later they were deported from there, Cohen to the

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

concentration camp. There he survived the war. After the war, the presidency of the Jewish Council was severely criticized. In 1947, the Jewish Honor Council forbade him to fulfill a position within the Jewish community; this decision was canceled in 1950. Cohen did, however, regain his professorship after the war at the University of Amsterdam, where he retired in 1953.

Family

Cohen was the father of the architect Herman Cohen (1914–2005), who helped build the state of Israel from 1939 to 1967. One of his grandchildren is the doctor and former PvdA politician

Rob Oudkerk Robert Herman (Rob) Oudkerk (born 20 March 1955 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch politician and general practitioner. Oudkerk was born in Amsterdam. He was the son of a Jewish butcher and a nurse. His grandfather was David Cohen, who was President of th ...

. He was a brother of the well-known writer .

Literature

* David Cohen, ''Roaming and Wandering. The Jewish Refugees in the Netherlands in the Years 1933–1940. With an Introduction About the Years 1900–1933.'' Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn NV, 1955. * , ''Rome, Athens, Jerusalem. Life and Work of Prof. Dr. David Cohen.'' Groningen: Historical Publisher, 2000, * Herman Cohen, ''Jew in Palestine. Memories 1939–1948.'' Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1995, * Erik Somers, ''President of the Jewish Council. The Memories of David Cohen (1941–1943). Introduced and annotated by Erik Somers.'' Zutphen: Walburg Press, 2010,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, David 1882 births 1967 deaths Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors Academic staff of Leiden University 20th-century Dutch historians People from Deventer Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Jewish Council of Amsterdam Papyrologists