Paul Cohen and his wife Minna Cohen moved from Gerthe to Dortmund in 1928, initially living in the house of the wife’s family at Heiligegartenstrasse 3.
In June 1939, the couple then relocated to Leopoldstrasse 4. Their son Ernst, born in 1908, had at this time already left his parents’ home.

The house at Leopoldstr. 4 was the couple’s last address in Germany, as they were deported on 30 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, where Paul Cohen died on 22 November 1942. On 15 May 1944, his wife Minna was deported once more – this time to Auschwitz. After the war, no further trace of her could be found, and she was declared dead. She was most probably murdered immediately after her arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau.