User:Crtew/Paul Nikolaus Cossmann

Paul Nikolaus Cossmann (6 April 1869 - 19 October 1942 at Theresienstadt concentration camp) was a German writer, journalist and editor of Süddeutsche Monatshefte and also contributing writer to the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (MNN), which was edited by Fritz Gerlich. He was twice arrested by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps. Cossmann died of typhus Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942.

Early life
The son of German cellist Bernhard Cossmann, Paul Nikolaus Cossmann was born in Baden-in-Baden, which was located in the Grand Duchy of Baden, a former German state. Baden-Baden is presently located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Cossmann was born Jewish and he later converted to Roman Catholicism.

Career
Paul Cossmann wrote books, including one on his childhood friend and German composer Hans Pfitzner in 1904.

Cossmann was the editor of Süddeutsche Monatshefte, which was a conservative and patriotic southern German cultural and political publication. Under his guidance, Cossmann steered the publication toward a nationalist orientation. At the end of World War I, he became one of the strong supporters in journalism of the revisionist interpretation known in Germany as "Dolchstosslegende", or the "stab in the back". Other journalists who supported this idea were Paul Baecker. Cossmann belonged to organizations, such as the historical association Gaea that advanced these views and were supported by wealthy industrialists.

Arrests
Cossmann was arrested in March 1933 along with journalists associated with the MNN, including former editor Fritz Gerlich (resigned February 1928), current editor-in-chief of the MNN and monarchy supporter [Fritz Buechner]], and domestic editor and monarchy supporter Erwein Freiherr von Aretin, who were all imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp. Pfitzner made inquiries about Cossmann and he was released, as was Aretin, in 1934. Gerlich, however, was killed at Dachau on June 1934. Later Cossmann was re-arrested in 1942 and sent to Theresienstadt, where he was infected with the Rickettsia bacteria and a cause of many deaths in the concentration camps.