Hartwig Kahn was born on February 6, 1878 in Bischofsheim, the son of Karl Koppel Kahn and Bienchen Schott. He had two brothers and four sisters. The family's ancestors can be traced back to the 18th century.

His brother Max had fallen in war in France on October 6, 1914. His second brother Julius survived the deportations and died in Luxembourg in 1947. Three of his four sisters were murdered in concentration camps in Poland. Only his sister Dina was able to flee to the USA. She died in Chicago/Illinois in 1944.

Hartwig married Theresa Kahn on December 6, 1906 in Worfelden. The couple had two children: Friedrich, called Fritz, and Bina.

Hartwig Kahn was a merchant by trade. He ran a store for textiles and manufactured goods at Frankfurter Straße 50 next to the synagogue, which he had owned since 1907.

From April 1933, the store suffered under the "boycott of Jews" declared by the National Socialists. On the night of 9/10 November 1938, the organized mob destroyed the store with three counters, shelves, mirrors and sewing machines. Everything was thrown onto the street and completely destroyed. According to the municipality of Bischofsheim, the total damage amounted to "an estimated 2000.00 to 3000.00 Reichsmark". The store was then closed, the stock of goods sold and the property transferred to the German Reich on May 25, 1942. No compensation payments were made.

On March 20, 1942, Hartwig Kahn, like other Jewish people, had to report to Marienplatz in Bischofsheim and was deported to the Polish ghetto Piaski, near Lublin. In a memorandum on the "resettlement of Jews" dated July 2, 1942, the local head Georg Fischer recorded: Five Jewish families were "transported away by car and by the police. [...] Their apartments were sealed". As early as April 16, 1942, the Bischofsheim pharmacist Wilhelm Nierhoff expressed his interest in buying the property at Frankfurter Straße 50 to the Mainz tax office. On May 20, the Mainz-Kostheim SA man Georg Hübner submitted the same application.

Neighbors of the Kahn family later testified that Hartwig Kahn's parents had sent parcels to Piaski for their son. It cannot be precisely proven when and how Hartwig Kahn died. Like other Jews from Bischofsheim, he is considered "missing". The date of his death has been established as May 8, 1945, and Piaski is assumed to be the place of death. 

(Helmut Helm)