Hillel Cohn

Jennifer Tilton interviews Hillel Cohn, a religious leader in the Inland Empire. Cohn began the interview explaining that he was born in Berlin, Germany in 1939. When he was a baby, his family had to escape persecution. Though originally planning to go to Palestine, the family settled in the United States where some restrictions were put onto them. As his father was a Rabbi, that was the same path that Cohn followed. Cohn, when settled in San Bernardino after seminary studies in Ohio, worked alongside Rabbi Norman Feldheym. Influenced by his own Rabbi father, Cohn was involved in the Civil Rights movement and community activism. Cohn’s spoke on his involvement within the African American community, being uncomfortable with a certain Yiddish term, and how the segregation in Ohio disturbed him greatly. He also explained living during the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, and working with Feldheym in his congregation. After speaking about being more comfortable with CORE and SNCC than the Urban League and issues his congregation had with his activism, Cohn talks about Sammy Davis, Jr and of knowing Ceaser Chavez. When speaking about Frances Grice, Valerie Pope, and the freedom schools, the interviewee talks about racism in the local government. Two of San Bernardino’s past mayors, Al Ballard and Bud Mauldin, had spoken insensitive comments about events at the time. Cohn also spoke on the contributions of interfaith interactions and the Interfaith Social Action Council that originated from the San Bernardino Council of Churches. The interview ends with Cohn speaking on the Human Relations Commission. Though it had ended some while before, Cohn expressed his wish to restart the Humans Relations Commission to help with the city’s humans’ relations.