T’was some sixty years ago, or thereabouts. I am eight, ten years, twelve perhaps. In the nightstand in my parents’ bedroom I find a mysterious document. It is a stack of carbon copies of typed sheets. ‘General Police, Gelderland Province. Political Branch’ is printed in the left upper corner. [Read more…] about The fatal exchange
Of four Juliuses
Julius Löwenhardt, Oberhemer 1887 – Mühlhausen (GDR) 1973
Julius Löwenhardt (יוליוס לבנהרט), Sterkrade 1902 – Haifa (Israel) 1947
Julius (Jules) Löwenhardt, Dortmund 1907 – Deventer (Netherlands) 1971
Julius Löwenhardt (Lev-Ary?), Duisburg 1908 – Frankfurt 1960s (?)
Considering the large number of family members, in itself it is not terribly surprising. But remarkable it is. During the first half of the 20th Century our family had four men named Julius. All were born in Germany, two of them lived in Israel for part of their lives. [Read more…] about Of four Juliuses
The Empire of the Chicken Jew
The Jewish section of the General Cemetery in Dortmund-Wambel, Germany. The lawns are immaculately kept. On a sunny day in July 2010 I find the grave of my great-grandmother Pauline 
Löwenhardt, buried here in 1933. I am roaming the gravesite and suddenly I stumble upon a simple gravestone that gives me a shock. [Read more…] about The Empire of the Chicken Jew
Bridegroom Money
SEARCHING FOR THE CHUPPAH OF MY GRANDPARENTS
Cattle-dealer Herman Weijl is a respected man. In the Oldenzaal kehillah, the Jewish community, he is one of the parnassim, members of the governing board. 1 It is 19 November 1914 and Herman’s only daughter is getting married. Herman is 59 years old, for 21 years he has been married to Jansje Poortje from Muntendam. Their daughter Louisa Mathilda was born in July 1894, her brother Louis in May 1897. Both children had been named after their grandmother Louise Meijers.
This Thursday, Louisa marries 28-year old cattle-dealer Arnold de Leeuw from Almelo. The mayor of Oldenzaal is in charge of the civil ceremony at city hall. His aristocratic name sounds very Catholic indeed: Nicolaus Xaverius Theodorus Maria Vos de Wael. But was the ceremony followed by a chuppah, a Jewish wedding? I have searched for an answer for a long time.
[Read more…] about Bridegroom Money
- Oldenzaal is a town in the Twente region of The Netherlands, near the German border[↩]
Blessing hands in Plettenberg
PLETTENBERG was still on my to-do list. One of the few family related towns I had never visited. It is the birthplace of my great-grandmother Pauline Lennhoff. From Plettenberg in Nordrhine-Westfalia she moved some thirty kilometres north and settled in Oberhemer with Levi Löwenhardt. Between 1873 and 1892 they had twelve children, nine boys and three girls. In May 1933 Pauline died and was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Dortmund-Wambel, 85 years old. When five years ago I visited her grave, it was obvious: nazi thugs had fired bullets at her tombstone. But she was spared the horrors of the Holocaust. [Read more…] about Blessing hands in Plettenberg
Purveyor to the King
Sometimes it’s sheer luck. Someone else has done the work for you, you didn’t even know. The story is waiting for you to find it. [Read more…] about Purveyor to the King