My father, the enemy
A dictionary defines the term thus: “Someone with whom one is at war”. Example: “During the war, the Germans were our enemy”. Keep that in mind. It was a pitiful bunch of Jews who had…
Tribute to my namesake
Some twenty years ago, I was faced with the task of coming up with a new email address, no small feat. Gmail had just been launched and seemed promising… but what should come before the…
From painter to accountant
Moses, Salli, and Jules Löwenhardt: father, son, grandson Moses was one of the three sons of my great-great-grandfather Salomon Löwenhardt (1792-1864), all born in Oberhemer in the German Sauerland region. I am a descendant of Levi,…
Survivers
Two families survive the Holocaust… intact In The Netherlands where 75% of Jews ‘perished’ in the Holocaust, it was an exception. The Stern family in Goor, and the Löwenhardt family in Hengelo, survived the Holocaust…
Loewenhardtdamm in Berlin
The Loewenhardtdamm in Berlin’s Tempelhof district is named after Erich Loewenhardt, one of the first German military aviators at the time of the First World War. Erich joined Jagdgeschwader I, led by the ‘Red Baron’…
In search of Great-Aunt Clara
Right from the start, it promises to be a journey full of contradictions. We leave on a warm Saturday morning, 14 June 2025, around ten o’clock, expecting to drive to Hamburg via Bremen in four…
Clara Löwenhardt, 1880 – 1964
Read about the background to this story: In search of great-aunt Clara Clara Löwenhardt was born on 4 August 1880 in Oberhemer, in the Sauerland region of Germany. She grew up in a large Jewish…
Pauline Loewenhardt, 1934 – 2024
Pauline Maria Loewenhardt passed away on 1 July 2024 at the advanced age of 90. In spite of being handicapped by polio, she has led a full life. On 18 January 1934, Pauline was the…
Death in a madhouse
A missing link in my family history: the time and place of death of my great-grandfather Levi. He fought two battles in the 1860s; he was decorated and fathered twelve children during the two decades…