Cahnman, Werner J. (Werner Jacob), 1902-1980

Werner Jacob Cahnmann (later Cahnman) was born in Munich on September 30, 1902 to Sigwart and Hedwig Cahnmann. He had five siblings: Hans, Eva (later Chawa), Fritz (later Fred), Augusta ("Gusti"), and "Lilo" (Lieselotte, later Rachel). Werner Cahnman studied at the universities of Munich and Berlin, taking courses in economics, history, political science, and sociology; his doctoral dissertation on the work of economist David Ricardo was published in 1927, and earned him a Dr. oeconomiae publicae . On the basis of this degree Werner Cahnman would later work as a sociologist in the United States.

It was during the interwar years that Werner Cahnman became increasingly involved in Jewish social and political affairs, and in 1930 he was asked to be the Syndikus of the Bavarian branch of the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith). In November-December 1938 he was incarcerated in the Dachau concentration camp. The following June Werner Cahnman left Germany, first immigrating to England to stay with his cousin Hedwig Ettinghausen, then continuing on to the United States, where he settled in Chicago.

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