Dr Ernst Gottfried Löwenthal (1904-1994) was a Jewish-German social worker, journalist, and functionary. Working for the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (C.V.) and the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden in the 1920s and 30s he had become friends with Alfred Wiener as well as Leo Baeck. Löwenthal emigrated to England in 1939 and was here among the founders of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR).
In the postwar years he returned to Germany and held leading positions in organisations related to Jewish restitution claims (Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Jewish Trust Corporation, Compensation Treuhand GmbH). Löwenthal, who published numerous writings, became a board member of the newly founded Leo Baeck Institute in 1955. He was first married to Ilse Wolff, The Wiener Library’s long-term librarian.
See Röder, W. and H. Strauss (ed.), International biographical dictionary of central European emigres 1933-1945, vol. 2/part 2 (L-Z), the arts, sciences, and literature , Munich, Saur, 1983, p. 753.
"@en ; rico:identifier "WL3000/9/1/926" ; rico:isOrWasIncludedInIllustrating the close association between Löwenthal and The Wiener Library the substantial and long-term correspondence documents the mutual assistance of both parties with their professional activities in the fields of journalism, restitution, and information gathering respectively.
This refers to the exchange of published and unpublished materials, processing of information requests on certain individuals, historical details, or archival material, the discussion of current affairs in West Germany, mutual advice on certain issues, and also the exchange of personal information (vacation, common friends, Löwenthal’s jobs for JTC or the Compensation Treuhand, etc.
Moreover, the involvement of Löwenthal in The Wiener Library’s eyewitness testimony project is reflected including a brief description of the planned approach: some regional confidents or trustees should guide or instruct a respective group of interviewers who would then compile and edit the reports.
Beside letters the correspondence contains a postcard, some press cuttings, numerous WL internal notes, a circular, questionnaire, and conference program from the Central Council of Jews in Germany (1954), and several not dated documents.
"@en ; rico:title "Correspondence with Löwenthal, Ernst Gottfried"@en .