The Memoir of Julius Loewenthal, Part V: Leaving Germany

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This is the final chapter in the memoir of my cousin Julius Loewenthal. We saw in the prior chapter how his life began to fall apart after the Nazis took control of Germany and their persecution of the Jews began in 1933. Then the family suffered a great personal tragedy in October 1937 when Julius and Elsa’s daughter Ruth and her husband Leonhard Fulda were killed in a terrible car accident after traveling to Switzerland to find a sanitorium for Herbert Loewenthal, who was struggling with mental illness and was soon after confined to a sanitorium in Zurich.

In this last section of his memoir, Julius writes about the decision to leave Germany and their ultimate departure in December 1938.

Eventually the life of the German Jew became impossible. No longer could we travel. Our passports were taken away. Thus, we finally decided to sell the business. It was a very difficult decision. Our life blood and that of our ancestors was sentimentally involved in this enterprise, its buildings, its history.

If my departure from my desk after 45 years was difficult and slow, my departure from my homeland, however, was made brutally swift and final by the following events. During the night from the 9th to the 10th of November [1938], approximately 30 Nazi Storm Troopers broke into our home in Eschwege. They destroyed everything they could get their hands on. Furniture was broken. Upholstery was cut to shreds, china was broken, even paintings of internationally known artists were cut up. Even the marble window sills were broken in two.  My wife and our servant…had taken refuge in the upstairs bedroom as I was out of town on this night. They [the Nazis] broke into the bedroom, and my wife and [servant] took refuge on the outside balcony where they remained all night because had they been discovered, they would have been killed. It was a very cold and lonely frightful night.

I was reached by phone and came back to Eschwege to find my home in shambles and my wife frightened to the marrow of her bones. On the evening of my return, the Gestapo arrived at my home and told me that on order from higher authority, my life and that of my wife was not in danger. At that time I did not understand in full the meaning of this communication because it was not until later that I found out that nearly all the members of the Jewish congregation were arrested on that day, brutally mistreated, and shipped to the Concentration Camp at Buchenwald. Many, very many, never came back. I, however, had a guardian angel, as I was to find out later.

At night we drove to the Schlosshotel in Kassel where we were accepted and could stay, as in those days no Hotel accepted Jews anymore. We remained there two nights and obtained the necessary papers to emigrate from Germany….

It was the unbelievable energy and presence of mind of my dear wife that brought us through these hours, as it was she who arranged for the damaged silver and furniture to be repaired, arranged the travel papers, and supervised the packing of that which was possible to be taken with us. Thus, we were later able to sell a lot of these items in the USA in order to obtain some money and survive. …

During the second night of our stay in the Hotel in Kassel, the Hotel was checked by the Gestapo. We were not bothered this time, but preferred to move to Frankfurt where no Hotel accepted us. We took refuge in the empty Apartment of my niece Lotte Posen, my brother Siegfried’s daughter. Her husband had been arrested, and she had moved to her parents.

We had arrived on Friday afternoon, and our cousin Sitta Mainz sent us some fish and bread to eat; it was very nice of her. On Saturday morning my niece Lotte came to me and told me I could no longer stay in her Apartment as I resembled her father too much. My wife was at the English Consulate. What could I do? In spite of it being Shabbos, I took a taxi and drove to the English Consul in order to meet my wife. She became very upset when she saw me with my luggage, but she managed to take us to my cousin Selma Frankel, who took us with much love and cooperation and helped us in a very difficult situation. …

We returned once more to Eschwege for the final packing for just a few days and then back to Frankfurt where we stayed at the house of my aunt Hana Stern. [This must refer to Johanna Goldschmidt, wife of Abraham Stern, who was the brother of Julius’ mother Kiele Stern. Johanna was also, however, Kiele Stern’s first cousin, as Kiele’s mother Sarah Goldschmidt was the sister of Johanna’s father Selig Goldschmidt.] The house was occupied by her son-in-law who fled for his life in the middle of the night. [This must refer to Siegfried Oppenheimer, the husband of Alice Stern, as I wrote about here.] It was a terrible feeling as everyone around you took steps to save his naked life. Still living in the house upstairs lived the other son-in-law of my aunt, Albert Mainz [husband of Sitta Stern]. We had a last supper together, and the following morning we travelled to Stuttgart to ask at the American Consul for our visa. When we returned that same night, Albert Mainz and family also had fled. Our fright increased; we were very shaken and terrified. We decided to cross the Border that night. This move was long overdue.

We had just obtained the necessary railroad tickets and travel papers when 3 Gestapo Agents arrived and confiscated all my wife’s jewelry, even though we had received permission on a prior occasion to retain the same and take it with us. Now what? It was my last possession as I knew that none of the money I had left in the Bank would ever be transferred.

At that terrible moment I made a dangerous decision, unheard of in those days and beyond imagination. I called the head of the Internal Revenue for the State of Hessen, the top authority in the State, and requested his intervention. … My guardian angel who had protected me in the past so visibly also protected me now, and the Gestapo Agents were ordered to return the jewelry, which they did with much reluctance. Of course, this individual knew me as the seat of his Bureau was in Kassel and knew very well who I was, as in the past we were the largest taxpayers in the county of Eschwege.

We took the train to Holland. At the Border, the town of Emmrich, the passport control came through. After they had inspected us, the customs inspectors came through. In this sleeping car only people who were emigrating into Holland were travelling. All had to open their luggage and all had to surrender their jewelry and watches. When the inspectors came to me, they read my name and passed on. I did not have to open my bags nor did I have to surrender anything. My wife and myself looked at each other. We could not believe it. Fright was still deep in our bones. In a few minutes we were in Holland and finally able to sleep again. Our guardian angel was indeed a guardian to us.

It was the 8th of December, a dark and rainy day, but a happy day. We were only allowed to take with us 10 Marks in Dutch currency. Thus, I who had left Millions behind was happy to find a room on the third floor of a Pension where we could rest as now we were in a free land, and we were able to eat meat again. We were saved, but unfortunately without our Grandchild Margot. She eventually was brought out by her Grandfather Fulda, who even then still liked it in Germany. At this writing she is still in Amsterdam. I hope and with God’s help I will see her again. …

Thus, our lives’ work, our homes, our fortunes, absolutely everything went to nothing. I cannot express in this writing the feelings in my heart of how they have influenced my views on life itself. However, let me say that this is a Jewish destiny, which has not swayed me one iota in my faith in the Lord of our forefathers.

Julius Loewenthal and his wife Elsa left Holland for England and then immigrated to New York City in May, 1939, where their daughter Hilda and son-in-law Max Stern lived. When Julius wrote this memoir in 1940, his son Garry Warner was enlisted in the British Army. Garry immigrated to New York City a year after the end of World War II.

Garry Warner-Loewenthal, born Karl Werner Loewenthal.
Courtesy of Joanne Warner-Loewenthal

Julius died of a heart attack in Manhattan on November 26, 1946, at the age of 72. I assume he knew before he died that his beloved granddaughter Margot had been murdered by the Nazis at Sobibor along with her other grandparents. Elsa died in 1961, also in New York City.

According to Garry’s notes after his translation of the memoir, the firm of L.S Brinkmann, the knitwear company owned by Levi Brinkmann and later by Julius and his brother-in-law/second cousin Moritz Werner, was re-established after the war by Moritz and Garry and resumed business in 1949. It was once again a very successful business for many years, closing down in 1974.

Garry also commented on the fate of his brother Herbert, who was a patient in a sanitorium in Zurich during the war. He was released in 1953 and cared for by a Swiss guardian. He worked and was well liked and respected in the community. He was “an extremely intelligent and cultured person, a man of many abilities, the least of which was to become a painter.” Herbert died of a heart attack in Zurich in 1962. Garry and his wife and five year old daughter were in Europe at that time and on their way to visit him when he died.

According to his daughter Joanne, Garry continued to work in the knitwear business until 1969. He then moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. He died March 1, 2005, when he was 87. I am so grateful to him for translating his father’s memoir and to Joanne for sharing it with me.

Garry Warner-Loewenthal
Courtesy of Joanne Warner-Loewenthal

These are stories that must be shared. We must never, ever forget what these people endured or their courage and resilience in carrying on after surviving Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

 

44 thoughts on “The Memoir of Julius Loewenthal, Part V: Leaving Germany”

  2. Thank you, Amy. A very moving and well told story of what your family endured. Multiply that by millions to understand the horror that we must Never go through again. We must do everything in our power right now to avoid this happening to us or to any other ethnic, racial or religious group. There is no place for hate in this world.

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  3. I wondered as I read this moving last part of Julius’ story what kept him from making the decision to leave sooner. From our perspective, we know how the story ended. He might have had an idea of what was to come but, did his guardian angel, who in the end helped him to escape, give him a false sense of security? Thank you, Joanne, for allowing Amy to share your grandfather’s memoirs.

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    • And I am not sure there was a real guardian angel in human form. I think many German Jews just didn’t believe that things would get as bad as they did. They loved their homeland just as we all love ours.

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    • I think it was what he stated”leaving his desk of 45 years”. Many German Jews could not believe what was happening or to the extent. No internet in those days so the systematic extermination going on in the camps where at all at that point of the war.

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      • And how could anyone believe that anything as horrific as the Holocaust would happen? It is still just inconceivable that people could be so cruel.

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    • I believe it was what my grandfather believed…after all he was a very spiritual man. But we will never know if it was in the human form…I still have a few pieces of the jewelry actually one is my center diamond of my wedding ring. So it is quite sentimental.

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      • Oh, wow, Joanne—yes, those are more than just jewelry. They are history and sentiment as well.

        I guess you and I read it similarly—that he believed God was looking out for him. I wonder what your father thought.

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  4. Just as in the novel The Seventh Cross there were people, the guardian angels in disguise, who had a heart for those being persecuted by the Nazi regime. In your very touching story about Julius Loewenstein, the person at the Internal Revenue was one of the guardian angels. Also the custom officer at the German border town of Emmerich was another. He was just content with checking if the papers were in order. Have a great weekend and thanks for sharing Julius’ story with us, Amy!

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  6. It’s quite shocking to read Julius’s story and to realise his 45 years service counted for nothing although his compassionate “guardian angel” intervened. Thank Joanne for sharing this true
    story with us.

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  7. Being able to tell his story is proof enough a guardian angel was by their side. I was so sad to read Margot did not make it along with her other grandparents. Yes – these are the stories that must be told and retold. Reading through each posting of the journal was so intense and personal. Is there any talk or interest in this becoming a published book? I will be printing your pages to send and share with my grandchildren. Thank you Joanne for sharing this with us

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  8. I thank-you for sharing. I am dismayed, by the seeming indifference of so many Jewish people to the rise of anti-semitism and their support of institutions and movements that appear to be anti-semitic as if Jews couldn’t be marginalized and worse again.

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    • There is definitely an increase in hatred of all minorities—Jews and other who face discrimination need to fight together against all kinds of prejudice and hatred.

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  10. Ugh, I couldn’t breathe until I heard Margot’s fate, and then I got chills and tears. Awful. He really captured the events that happened to them in a way that makes the reader feel them. Garry is a handsome man. I was glad to hear about him and how he translated the memoir.

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  11. What an incredible story. Very sad. While there’s no happiness to be found in watching your homeland torn apart by war, I was glad to see that Julius lived long enough to see the downfall of Hitler and the end of the war. But what a tremendous cost.

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    • My father told me that his grandfather, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the US as a young man, wept when the Allies bombed Germany. I asked whether he was upset about the destruction of his homeland. My father said, No—he wept for joy that finally Hitler was going to be defeated. I bet Julius felt the same way. Thanks, Michael, for all your input and for reading.

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  13. Pingback: Friday's Family History Finds | Empty Branches on the Family Tree

  14. Pingback: Helene Katzenstein Brinkmann Werner: Losing A Son in World War I | Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

  15. My daughter just found this blog, and now I have to digest some of it and write to you. I’m Robert Wenten, my parents were Wolfgang C. Wenten, born Weinstein, the son of Alice Teresa Schwabacher Weinstein and David Weinstein, and Ruth Pollinger Wenten. Wolfgang was born in Eschwege in 1913 and immigrated to the US in 1935, shortly after his 21st birthday, as his father David would not give his consent to go sooner. Just as you have also written so many times, David Weinstein was arrested and imprisoned at Buchenwald on November 9 and 10, 1938. Alice was left to quickly arrange passage from Germany and to get visas to enter the US, sponsored by her brother Gerhardt Schwabacher. She succeeded in all her endeavors and in March 1939 the Nazis brought him back to Eschwege and gave them 2 days to live. They did, sailing to England and then the US. Somehow she also managed to take with them enough possessions and even furnishings to require a shipping crate that she thought they might have to live in behind her brother’s house. David Weinstein died in 1941 I think, and Alice survived and eventually remarried.

    I had an older brother, David P. Wenten, who was born September 30, 1943 and died March 2, 2010. I’m married to Randye B. West and have two children, Samara W. Wenten and Alexander W. Wenten, and one grand-daughter, Scotia Ruth Moore.

    Thank you so much for writing this, as you have turned up people that I have not heard about in decades.

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    • Hello, Robert! I am so delighted to hear from you, and I am so glad you enjoyed the blog. I have emailed Samara, and I hope it’s okay if I email you also—tomorrow when I am more awake! Thanks again, Amy

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    • I am so glad to find you on your family blog, Robert.

      I am Garney from Germany, born in the town Eschwege where your father was born and lived. We joined the same Friedrich-Wilhelm-School. I work on my family history and to your familiy of Cappel and Caecilie Weinstein with thier eight children. One was David with his son, your father, Wolfgang C. Weinstein born Nov 9th 1913.
      I found a letter form 1974 when he dedicated a Wenten-Prize for a student in his former Friedrich Wilhelm School for the best Englisch exam. The prize should be given till 1990, but it was given at least till 2008. Because of the connections of our families Weinstein and Gerlach I want to continue your fathers Wenten/Weinstein-prize if you agree. My wife and me want to give the money. Now, I discuss with the headmaster (she) how to do.
      I feel bad about what David suffer in Buchenwald. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was there too in 1945. I have worked much to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I was seretary in the International Bonhoeffer Society.

      It would be a great pleasure to me get in touch with you. I wrote to your daughter Samara who did not answer. Amy B. Cohen helped me much to know some more about your father with his sons.
      I give you my mailadress.

      It is wonderful to find you.

      Many greetings from Kassel where we live now.
      Shalom.
      Garney (Gernot Gerlach from Eschwege/Hessia)

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