Aaron Cohn

writer, Atlanta juvenile court judge

Aaron Cohn is the son of Jewish immigrants who fled the Russian pogroms in 1906. He came of age in a Jewish neighborhood in Columbus, GA. As a major in the 3rd Cavalry, the spearhead of XX Corps, he fought his way from Normandy across France and broke through German defenses at Metz, as the Nazi army retreated. He liberated a concentration camp in Austria. After the war Cohn worked as a lawyer, coached children, and stood for religious tolerance and civil rights. Cohn is America's longest serving juvenile court judge.