Though Kauffmann was born and died in what is now technically France, the area is known as Alsace, and has changed nationality back and forth many times between French and German. Kauffmann's work seems mostly in German, so he may have identified as more German than French, but on the other hand, many people from Alsace consider themselves neither, but in fact, "Alsatian".
Teacher at thr Rheinische Musikschule Cologne, until he was sacked by the Nazis in 1933 for being a „Neutöner“ (progressive). However, he continued to compose for the Cologne radio station under a pseudonym. Finally he found employment at the Strasburg Conservatory in 1940, but was killed in an air raid in 1944. His chamber opera Das Perlenhemd (1944) was praised by his teacher Philipp Jarnach (1892—1982) as "a musical treasure, ..a model for a new style of chamber opera".
