Oskar Justinus Cohn was born into a Jewish family in Breslau (modern-day Wrocław, Poland).

His father, Isaak Cohn, earned a doctorate at an advanced age and for some time held the post of Austro-Hungarian consul.

[3] Cohn made his debut in the dramatic world in 1861 with his play Der Vereins-Held, which was staged in Breslau.

Cohn then relocated to Berlin and turned his attention fully to literature, producing several dramatic works in quick succession.

[4] The writer's 1887 comedy Kyritz-Pyritz was adapted to film in 1930 by Carl Heinz Wolff, as Errant Husbands.