STOLPERSTEINE GELSENKIRCHEN

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HERE LIVED

DAVID LÖWENSTEIN

BORN 1878
ESCAPED 1941
PORTUGAL
1941 USA

HERE LIVED

BERTA LÖWENSTEIN

NEE KATZENSTEIN
BORN 1877
ESCAPED 1941
PORTUGAL
1941 USA

HERE LIVED

KURT LÖWENSTEIN

BORN 1908
ESCAPED 1939
ENGLAND
1940 USA

HERE LIVED

DR. WERNER LEO LÖWENSTEIN

BORN 1909
ESCAPED 1937
USA

Fig. 1: The Löwenstein family, Gelsenkirchen. From left to right: Werner, Berta, David and Kurt Löwenstein

The retailer David Löwenstein, born in Brilon on 2nd of September, 1878 as the son of the salesman Levi Löwenstein and his wife Johanna, née Willon (1) was married to Berta Katzenstein, born in Abterode on 11th of October, 1877. When exactly the Löwensteins moved to Buer is unproved. The couple had two sons, both born in Buer, Westphalia which was still an independent town at that time: Kurt was born on 22nd of June, 1908 and Werner on 9th of October, 1909. Ancestors of the Löwensteins can be traced back to the 18th century.

Fig. 2: Extension building of the local highschool, the „Hindenburg-Gymnasium“ in Buer, Breddestrasse, around 1934. Kurt was registered in 1918, Werner followed in 1919. Today, this building houses the Leibniz Gymnasium.

Fig. 3: Excerpt of the „Abitur“ certificate (qualification for university matriculation) of Werner Löwenstein

Both, Werner and Kurt graduated from „Hindenburg-Gymnasium“, Buer, which today carries the name of „Max-Planck-Gymnasium“, Kurt passed his exams in 1927. In his Abitur certificate it is noted: 22nd of February, 1927 „Löwenstein intends to study law. Werner's highschool graduation certificate („Reifezeugnis“) shows the note: „Löwenstein will study medical science“.

Fig. 4: doctorial certificate of Werner Löwenstein, M.D. Theme of his doctorial dissertation: „The clinical picture and disease state of ulcus duodeni and ventriculi in infancy“

In 1934, the last year during which Jewish students were permitted to graduate from university in Nazi Germany, Werner Löwenstein got his Medicine graduation from the „Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität“ in Berlin. He was already warned not to attend the graduation ceremony. On top of this he was not permitted to receive his certificate. A professor, who obviously liked Werner, got the certificate from the podium during the ceremony and handed it to Werner personally some time after.

Following a decree launched in January 1934 it was interdicted to confer a doctorate on a „Nichtarier“(non-aryan) except for just a few individual cases . In the year of the proclamation of the „Nürnberger Rassegesetze“(Nuremberg race laws) the admission to a board certification examination and the approbation required the presention of a proof of Aryan ancestry. Thus Werner never got his approbation.

His doctor's degree was the only document that Werner took with him when he fled Nazi Germany, in the end his academical degree as a medical doctor was a symbolic ticket to the free world. During all his lifetime, education was of great value to Werner Löwenstein. „Education is something that nobody can take away from you.“he would say. He passed this sense of value to his three children and six grandchildren – all of them having acquired university degrees.

Until their expropriation, displacement and escape David and Berta ran a prosperous business in the heart of Buer in Essener Straße 12a (today Horster Straße 17); a store spezializing on ladies' and men's hats as well as ties. The family lived in the appartment above the shop.

Fig. 6: Postcard approx. 1910/15, Essener Strasse corner Maelostrasse

Fig.7: Retail store Katzenstein in Buer (in Essener Straße 12 a until Buer was incorporated into a bigger municipality; starting from 1934 the section between Vinckestraße and Goldbergstraße was called „Ludwig-Knickmannstraße, today: Horster Straße 17)

In the course of the so-called Aryanization („Arisierung“) - this is what the Nazis euphemizedly called the state-organized looting of jewish people, Otto Höfer, citizen of Buer, became the new „owner“ of the real property in Horster Straße 17. In an „announcement of a building project“ addressed to the employment agency of Gelsenkirchen it is said:

Concealing facts, the term „acquired“ is used in the announcement, as if there had been a normal, correct and fair business transaction. This is absolutely not true. It is by all means possible that the „current state“ that Otto Höfer describes are the aftermaths of the Pogrom Night in 1938, a contemporary witness reports: „On the 10th of November there were signs of devastations all over Buer. In „Hoch- strasse“ (Highstreet of Buer with many shops) in front of the Hirsch trouser store, garments and destroyed mannequins were spread on the pavement. In the case of the Rosenbaum furniture store at the corner of Westerholter Straße/de-la-Chevalleriestraße, pieces of furniture like kitchen cabinets, tables, chairs, sofas had been thrown onto the streets. The shop windows of the shop of Katzenstein and Löwenstein, at the corner of Horster Straße/Maelostraße had also been demolished. The facades of the houses had been smeared all over with anti-jewish hate propaganda. There was no sign of the proprietors/owners – all of them had been arrested that night and put in prison at the local police building. Some of them were sent to concentration camps at a later stage. [4]

Sicherheitsanordnung

Dortmund Nr. 30 15 1515.

Betr.: Maßnahmen gegen Juden

Aus gegebener Veranlassung weise ich darauf hin, daß von einer Sperrung jüdischer Bankkonten abzusehen ist. Ich ersuche jedoch, Geldinstitute bei denen Juden Kontos haben, anzuhalten, vor Abhebung größerer Beträge oder vor Auflösung umfangreicher Konten, jeweils die hiesige Entscheidung einzuholen.

Stapo Dortmund

Urschr. der Sparkasse und der Briloner Volksbank zur Kenntnisnahme

Herrn David Israel Löwenstein
Gelsenkirchen-Buer
Horsterstr. 17

Sicherungsanordnung!

Sie haben angegeben, daß Sie beabsichtigen auszuwandern. Es besteht die Gefahr, daß hierbei unter Umgehung oder Verletzung bestehender Vorschriften Vermögenswerte der Devisenbewirtschaftung entzogen werden. Auf Grund des § 59 des Devisengesetzes vom 12.12.1938 ordne ich daher an:

Die Verfügung über folgende Vermögenswerte ist nur mit meiner Genehmigung zulässig:

1. Ihre Forderung gegen die Stadt Brilon

2. Ihre Forderung gegen Wilhelm K., Brilon

3. Ihre Forderung gegen Otto Höfer, Gelsenkirchen-Buer

4. der zu treuen Händen bei Rechtsanwalt Niewoehner hinterlegte Betrag von RM 20.000

Ich genehmige hiermit Zahlungen auf die Forderungen 1-3 bezw. die Zahlung des Betrages zu 4 mit der Maßgabe, daß die Beträge nur auf ein Konto bei der Zweckverbandssparkasse Gelsenkirchen-Buer überwiesen werden dürfen. Über dieses Konto darf nur mit meiner Genehmigung verfügt werden. Erträgnisse gesperrter Depots, Zinsen gesperrter Konten, Zinsen aus Forderungen sowie Miet- und Pachteinnahmen verbleiben zu ihrer freien Verfügung.

Soweit diese Beträge zur Bestreitung des Lebensunterhaltes nicht ausreichen, kann bei mir Freigabe eines monatlichen Betrages aus einem gesperrten Konto beantragt werden. Zur Bestreitung Ihres Lebensunterhaltes gebe ich von dem gesperrten Konto bei Zweckverbandssparkasse Gelsenkirchen-Buer RM 700,— pro Monat frei. Die vorläufige Sicherungsanordnung der Zollfahndungsstelle Dortmund vom 16. Febr. 1939 wird durch diese Anordnung aufgehoben.

Abschrift: Im Auftrage: gez. Heising

Herrn Bürgermeister der Stadt Brilon, zur gefl. Kenntnis

Miriam Zimmermann's speech on the occasion of the installation of the stones of remembrance (Stolpersteine) in Horster Straße 17 in Gelsenkirchen-Buer:

"I am happy to be here, in front of the building, that has been the home for my father a long time ago. First of all I want to thank the artist Gunter Demnig for his vision and creativity in commemoration of families like mine, not only in Germany but everywhere throughout Europe and South America. I also want to mention Andreas Jordan to whom I am extremely grateful for the documentation of the life story of the Löwenstein family, arranging for this installation and for all his answers to my e-mails.

My name is Miriam Löwenstein Zimmerman, I am the daughter of Werner Leo Löwenstein and the niece of Kurt Löwenstein. Mr. Demnigs vision comprises „ a human being, a stone, a name“. In this sense I want to introduce you to the family that has been living here, and whose names are engraved in the four stones of remembrance (memorial stones called Stolpersteine). From left to right: Werner, my father, Berta and David, his parents, and his elder brother Kurt.

Now I want to introduce all members of the Löwenstein family being here today by their names: Kurt' s sons Mark and Michael. Their blessed mother, Gustel Zwecher Löwenstein was also born in Buer, (plesase see the Stolpersteine for the Zwecher family very close just across the street). Also present are Linda Löwenstein, Mark's wife, and Michael's daughters Leah and Marsha Löwenstein, Kurt's and Gustel's granddaughters. I am here together with my husband, Richard Zimmerman and our two daughters Rebecca Goodman and Leah Sharp as well as with Leah's daughters Ziva and Maya. They are the great-granddaughters of my father, Werner Löwenstein, and great-great-granddaughters of David and Berta Löwenstein, whose last address was Horster Straße 17.

We all have come here to celebrate what we call a festival of life before and after National Socialism. At the time Horster Straße used to be a shopping street and number 17 was a 3 storey commercial building and it still is. I am happy and relieved that it does not accommodate any MacDonalds or Subway. The haberdashery owned by the family was in the ground floor. The family lived above the shop in the first floor. My grandmother and my grandfather made their living by dealing in mainly hats and ties. On the second floor was the attic, serving as a sort of storage room, and which granny used to put up her washing during the winterseason. In all those times David and Berta worked hard, hence why they could afford to finance Kurt's and Werner's studies – law in one case and medical study in the other. In those days, in the early thirties, a rigorous quota system made it nearly impossible for jews to study at German universities. Both Löwenstein sons must have had a very good school performance, so that they got the necessary admission to a professional education.

My father used to tell us about him as a pupil when his classmates elected him as the final speaker of his Abitur class. And he would add : „I was the only Jew in my class, so I was not elected by the Jewish vote.“ My father also described how people changed from one day to the other, after Hitler seized power. In a market town, like Buer at that time, everybody knew everybody. When meeting people in the street that he had been knowing all his life, they would cross the street in order to avoid him.Thanks to the support of a remote relative in the States, Ida Schott, my father could leave Germany in 1937.

He settled in the market town of Terre Haute in the Federal State of Indiana, where my sister Ruth, my brother Paul and I were born and brought up. When my father, my sister and I came to visit Buer in the early eighties, I was startled how similar Buer and Terre Haute are. In both cities lives a species of kind and friendly people who seem to have some more time than the always busy people in big cities.

In the meantime, many members of the Löwenstein family have regained their German citizenship. My daughter Leah and her family are living in Munich nowadays and brings our family back to Germany."

(By Miriam Zimmerman, Ed.D.)

Projektgruppe STOLPERSTEINE Gelsenkirchen. Juni 2018

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