Norman Cohn was born on 12 January 1915 in Dulwich, London, England, UK. He was married to Marina Voikhanskaya and Vera Markovna Broido. He died on 31 July 2007 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.
He read ancient and modern languages, including medieval Latin, Greek, and Old French at Oxford University. He joined the army in 1939 when WWII began. After the war, he was stationed in Vienna as a military intelligence officer. There, he saw firsthand the effects of Nazism and Stalinism.
