Milton Mendel Kohn (September 2, 1912 – August 12, 2001) was an American architect who was one of the leading private collectors of Holocaust memorabilia. He at one point had the world's largest collection of Holocaust memorabilia. His collection is now on display at the

Florida Holocaust Museum The Florida Holocaust Museum is a Holocaust museum located at 55 Fifth Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1992, it moved to its current location in 1998. Formerly known as the Holocaust Center, the museum officially changed to i ...

in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Background

Kohn was born in Chicago to Siegfried and Tillie Kohn, German-speaking Jewish emigrants from Czechoslovakia. He had studied architecture at the Armour Institute of Technology, which is now known at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was an architect who designed the Community Center building for the South Side Hebrew Congregation at the corner of 73rd and Chappel on the

south side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...

. He also worked at the American Ideal Cleaning Co., his family's cleaning business. In 1965, Kohn had developed a nervous tick and when his doctor told him to find a hobby to alleviate his stress, he began collecting stamps. However, Kohn's interest in Holocaust memorabilia grew when he saw that his uncle Adolph's name was on a partial list of victims cremated at

Theresienstadt concentration camp 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 ...

on July 5, 1943. Kohn's wife Janet died in 1988. They had two sons, Kerry and Lester, and a daughter, Judith.

Collection

Kohn's collection had hundreds of items, but largely letters. It included a

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

made into a banjo, a collection of tattooed human skin, and a bar of soap rendered from human fat. Kohn made the cases by hand including the inscriptions. His collection was shown locally in synagogues as well as internationally, and he gave many interviews about both his collection and the Holocaust. The collection was shown in China, South Africa, Israel and in 12 European countries as well as throughout the United States. Kohn’s collection is now part of the Florida Holocaust Museum, with some pieces shown in the museum and some part of their traveling exhibits. The Janet Kohn Gallery on the second floor is named after Kohn’s wife, Janet.url=https://issuu.com/thefloridaholocaustmuseum/docs/fhm_museum_guide/4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohn, Milton 1912 births 2001 deaths American numismatists People from Chicago American collectors Holocaust commemoration 20th-century American Jews American people of Czech-Jewish descent American people of German-Jewish descent