Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (French: [danjɛl maʁk kɔn bɛndit], German: [ˈdaːni̯eːl ˈmaʁk koːn ˈbɛndɪt, -ni̯ɛl -]; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician.

Cohn-Bendit was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France[2] 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).

His father, Erich Cohn-Bendit [de], was a Berlin-based lawyer, self-proclaimed atheist[1] and committed Trotskyist who had worked as a defense attorney for the Rote Hilfe and represented Hans Litten.

[8] 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.

The authors acknowledged their intellectual debt to the libertarian socialist group Socialisme ou Barbarie, especially Cornelius Castoriadis ("Pierre Chaulieu") and Claude Lefort.

[15] 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.

[18] 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.