Koppel Pinson


Koppel Shub Pinson was a historian who specialized in the origins of German nationalism.

Early life

Born in Postawy, Russian Empire, on February 11, 1904, Pinson emigrated to the United States with his family in 1907.

Career

After receiving his doctorate in history from Columbia University in 1934, he was a professor at Queens College of the City University of New York City until his death. In 1955, he joined the American Committee for the Study of War Documents, a group of American historians that sought to have captured German records microfilmed before being returned to West Germany.

World War Two

Even before World War Two, Pinson was active in assisting refugee scholars during the 1930s. At the end of the Second World War, he joined the U.S. Army and actively participated in the efforts to help Jewish survivors of the Holocaust living in Displaced persons camps across Germany, organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In 1945, he was appointed Director of Education and Culture for Jewish Displaced Persons in Germany and Austria by the Joint Distribution Committee, working as of late 1945 at the Offenbach Archival Depot.

Works