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.

After arriving in the United States, Werner Cahnman took part in the American Seminar for Foreign Scholars, sponsored by the American Friends in Wolfsboro, New Hampshire. Werner Cahnman then spent 1940-1943 at the University of Chicago as a visiting doctoral student, where he became acquainted with sociologists such as Robert E. Park and Louis Wirth as well as with Gisella Levi, whom he married in 1943. He also became a part of the editorial board of the journal The Reconstructionist, to which he often contributed articles. Much of his time during these years was also spent assisting his family members in emigrating from Germany; although his siblings found various ways to leave the country, his parents and aunt Clementine Kraemer did not. Sigwart Cahnmann died in 1941 in Munich, while his aunt was deported to Theresienstadt and his mother died in Poland.

Werner Cahnman spent the next several years as a visiting professor or lecturer at various universities, including Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, Atlanta University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Yeshiva University, and the New School for Social Research. Finally he joined Rutgers University through the efforts of Joseph Maier, where Werner Cahnman taught from 1961 until becoming professor emeritus eight years later. From 1969-1970 he taught as a visiting professor at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Munich under the Fulbright program. Werner Cahnman died in New York in 1980.

• 1973: Ferdinand Tönnies: A New Evaluation. Essays and Documents (editor)
• 1989: German Jewry : Its History and Sociology :Selected Essays
• 2004: Jews and Gentiles : a Historical Sociology of their Relations
• 1929: Der ökonomische Pessimismus und das Ricardosche System
• 1964: Sociology and History: Theory and Research (editor)
• 1965: Vö̈lker und rassen im Urteil der Jugend. Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung Münchener Schulen

Gisella Levi was born in Torino (Turin), Italy in 1910. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics from the University of Torino in 1934. After her immigration to the United States, she held a variety of positions at health and research institutions, such as the Sloan Kettering Institute. She died in 2003.

From the guide to the Werner and Gisella Cahnman Collection, 1717-2004, bulk 1940-1965, (Leo Baeck Institute)