Daniel Cohn-Bendit

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Daniel Cohn-Bendit

| image = Daniel Cohn-Bendit (45048897371) (cropped).jpg

| caption = Cohn-Bendit in 2018

| honorific-suffix = MEP

| birth_name = Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1945|04|04}}

| birth_place = Montauban, Occitania, France

| death_date =

| death_place =

| citizenship = Stateless (1945–1959)
German (since 1959)
French (since 2015)

| residence = Frankfurt, Germany

| office3 = Leader of Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament

| alongside3 = Rebecca Harms

| term_start3 = 20 July 2004

| term_end3 = 1 July 2014

| predecessor3 = Paul Lannoye

| successor3 = Philippe Lamberts

| office5 = Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
(France; 1999–2004; 2009–2014)

| term_start5 = 19 July 1994

| term_end5 = 1 July 2014

| predecessor5 = multi-member district

| successor5 = multi-member district

| party = Alliance 90/The Greens (1984–)
Europe Écologie–The Greens (2010–2012)

| religion =

| otherparty = Les Verts (1984–2010)

| constituency =

| majority =

| spouse =

| children = 1

| education = Paris-Sud University (no degree)
University of Paris X: Nanterre (no degree)

| website = {{URL|http://www.cohn-bendit.eu/de|Official website}}

| footnotes =

}}

Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit ({{IPA|fr|danjɛl maʁk kɔn bɛndit|lang}}; {{IPA|de|ˈdaːni̯eːl maʁk koːn ˈbɛndɪt, -ni̯ɛl|lang}}; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician. Born stateless to a German-Polish Ashkenazi Jewish family,{{cite book |last=Voigt |first=Sebastian |title=Der jüdische Mai '68: Pierre Goldman, Daniel Cohn-Bendit und André Glucksmann im Nachkriegsfrankreich |location=Göttingen |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-525-37036-0 |pages=142–146 |language=de}} Daniel Cohn-Bendit obtained German citizenship in 1959 and French citizenship in 2015.

Cohn-Bendit was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in FranceZEIT Online [http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2013-02/cohn-bendit-karriereende Cohn-Bendit zieht sich 2014 aus Politik zurück] and was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge (French for "Danny the Red", because of both his politics and the colour of his hair). He was co-president of the group European Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament. He co-chairs the Spinelli Group, a European Parliament inter-group aiming at relaunching the federalist project in Europe. He was a recipient of the European Parliament's European Initiative Prize in 2016.{{cite web |url=http://www.irce-oing.eu/2016/06/prix-de-l-initiative-europeenne.html |publisher=Institut de Recherche et de Communication sur l'Europe |title=Prix de l'Initiative Europeenne |trans-title=European Initiative Prize |date=22 June 2016 |access-date=7 June 2017}}

Cohn-Bendit's 1970s writings on sexuality between adults and children later proved controversial in 2001 and 2013.[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/theodor-heuss-preis-vosskuhle-sagt-festrede-fuer-cohn-bendit-ab-1.1624584 Voßkuhle sagt Festrede für Cohn-Bendit ab] Süddeutsche Zeitung 14 March 2013 The same can be said of his statements to Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) that same year,{{cite web|access-date=2024-10-30 |author=TSR |date=1975 |language=fr |title=Sexualité des enfants: autres temps, autres mœurs |url=https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/cetait-mieux-avant-/video/sexualite-des-enfants-autres-temps-autres-moeurs?urn=urn:rts:video:7210747 |website=www.rts.ch}}. and his statements on the French TV show Apostrophes in 1982.{{cite web|access-date=2021-09-18 |author=France 2 |date=2001-02-23 |language=fr |title=Cohn Bendit Fisher |url=https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/cab01010091/cohn-bendit-fisher |website=ina.fr}}.

Early life

Daniel Cohn-Bendit was born in Montauban, France on 4 April 1945,[https://books.google.com/books?id=rMKHCOW9aIYC&dq=Daniel+Cohn-Bendit+4+April+1945&pg=PT238 Profile of Daniel Cohn-Bendit] shortly after the Allied liberation of southern France.

His parents were German Jews who fled Nazi Germany in 1933. His father, {{interlanguage link|Erich Cohn-Bendit|de}}, was a Berlin-based lawyer, self-proclaimed atheist and committed Trotskyist who had worked as a defense attorney for the Rote Hilfe and represented Hans Litten. His mother, {{interlanguage link|Herta Cohn-Bendit|de}} (née David; 1908–1963), was born in Poznań and also worked as a lawyer. Several of their relatives who remained in Berlin were deported to Riga in 1942/43, where they either perished or were murdered.{{cite book |last=Stamer |first=Sabine |title=Cohn-Bendit. Die Biografie |year=2001 |page=34 |language=de}}

In Paris, his parents became part of a circle of Jewish intellectuals that included Walter Benjamin, Heinrich Blücher, and philosopher Hannah Arendt, whose works would later strongly influence Daniel.{{cite book |last=Romberg |first=Regine |title=Athen, Rom oder Philadelphia? Die politischen Städte im Denken Hannah Arendts |publisher=Königshausen & Neumann |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-8260-3361-2 |page=22 |language=de}} After Erich was interned twice in 1939/1940, the family, including Daniel's older brother Gabriel Cohn-Bendit (born 1936), moved to Montauban, near Toulouse.

Following the war, they relocated to Paris and then to Cailly-sur-Eure in Normandy, where his parents ran a Jewish children's home. In 1949, the family returned to Paris when Herta took over the economic management of the Jewish École Maïmonide.{{cite web |last1=Wegner |first1=Jochen |last2=Amend |first2=Christoph |title=Alles gesagt?: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, wie sehen Sie heute die RAF? |work=Die Zeit |date=2024-03-05 |url=https://www.zeit.de/alles-gesagt-podcast/2024-03/daniel-cohn-bendit-raf-podcast |access-date=2024-07-13 |language=de}} His parents initially planned to emigrate to the United States and therefore did not apply for French citizenship for Daniel.{{cite news |title=Expelled leader of May 1968 uprising granted French citizenship |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20150525-france-may-1968-daniel-cohn-bendit-citizenship |work=France 24 |date=2015-05-25}}

In 1952, Erich established a law practice in Frankfurt, while Herta and Daniel remained in Paris. Although his father applied for French citizenship for Daniel in 1958, the application remained incomplete due to missing documentation, leaving him stateless for several years. That same year, Daniel and his mother also moved to Frankfurt.{{cite book |last=Kraushaar |first=Wolfgang |title=Fischer in Frankfurt: Karriere eines Außenseiters |publisher=Hamburger Edition |location=Hamburg |year=2001 |isbn=3-930908-69-7 |pages=80–83 |language=de}} The move was particularly difficult for the 13-year-old Daniel, who later recalled, "I cried every night... Even when one defends immigration, you have to know that it's horrible to be forced to leave. It chokes you."{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Gareth |title=European bastard: Daniel Cohn-Bendit |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/european-bastard-daniel-cohn-bendit/ |work=Politico |date=2002-09-18}}

In Germany, he attended the progressive Odenwaldschule in Ober-Hambach near Heppenheim, Hesse.{{cite book |last=Voigt |first=Sebastian |title=Der jüdische Mai '68: Pierre Goldman, Daniel Cohn-Bendit und André Glucksmann im Nachkriegsfrankreich |location=Göttingen |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-525-37036-0 |page=177 |language=de}}

Selected works

He is the co-author, with his brother Gabriel Cohn-Bendit, of Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative (Linksradikalismus: Gewaltkur gegen die Alterskrankheit des Kommunismus, 1968). This book combines an account of the events of May 1968 with a critique of Stalinism, the French Communist Party and the trade union establishment. The authors acknowledged their intellectual debt to the libertarian socialist group Socialisme ou Barbarie, especially Cornelius Castoriadis ("Pierre Chaulieu") and Claude Lefort.Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Gabriel Cohn-Bendit, Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative, trans. Arnold Pomerans (London: André Deutsch Ltd., 1968), p. 133.

Allegations of sex with minors

In 2001, it was revealed that Cohn-Bendit had authored a 1976 article in the cultural-political magazine das da, in which he graphically described engaging in sexual activities with children under his care at a Frankfurt kindergarten.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/28/kateconnolly.theobserver | title=Sixties hero revealed as kindergarten sex author | website=The Guardian | date=28 January 2001 }} In 2013, a recording was discovered wherein Cohn-Bendit described an "incredibly erotic game" with a minor. With regard to the das da article, Cohn-Bendit claimed the described activities were not based on true events and were an "obnoxious provocation".{{cite web | url=https://www.dw.com/en/pedophilia-accusations-haunt-green-politician/a-16791213 | title=Pedophilia accusations haunt Green politician | DW | 04.05.2013 | publisher=Deutsche Welle }}

Swiss Radio Television (RTS) has undermined Cohn-Bendit's defense by citing him in their 2015 show C'était mieux avant (It Was Better Before). The remarks made by Daniel Cohn-Bendit in the 1975 show Destins are described as more than ambiguous: "Example, Daniel Cohn-Bendit... in the TSR program Destins in 1975, he made more than ambiguous statements about his relationships with children: "By having experiences with kids, playing with them, having emotional and even sexual relationships, sexual in the emotional sense, caresses, etc., I learned a lot about myself"."{{cite web | url=https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/cetait-mieux-avant-/video/sexualite-des-enfants-autres-temps-autres-moeurs?urn=urn:rts:video:7210747 | title=Sexualité des enfants: autres temps, autres mœurs | website=Radio Télévision Suisse | date=30 October 2024}}.

In popular culture

A modified photo of Cohn-Bendit confronting a police officer in May 1968 was used as cover art for the British punk-rock band Crisis for their 1997 compilation album We Are All Jews and Germans.{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/release/418712-Crisis-We-Are-All-Jews-And-Germans | title=Crisis - We Are All Jews and Germans | website=Discogs | date=10 November 1997 }}{{better source|date=October 2024}}