us-005578-irn565251-irn86139
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Claude Loewenstein was born on February 12, 1928 in Luxembourg to Armand and Henriette(née Cahen) Loewenstein. He had an older sister, Fernande. The family owned a shoemaking supply business in Luxembourg. After the German invasion of Luxembourg in 1940, anti-Jewish measures began and the business was confiscated in late summer. In the fall, most of Luxembourg's Jews were sent to France and shuttled between the occupied and unoccupied zone. The family was eventually sent to Gurs, where Armand and Claude were separated by Henriette and Fernande. In December, Armand’s sister and brother-in-law, Celestine and Alfred Weil, arranged for their release, and the Loewensteins left the camp the following month. For the next twenty-two months they lived openly in the small town of Saint Antonin in Tarn-et-Garonne. In August 1942, they were rearrested and sent to Gurs and separated again. Claude and his father lived in the French section; Claude received a rudimentary Hebrew education and celebrated his bar mitzvah while in the camp. After several months, a non-Jewish aunt negotiated for the family’s release and they went to the small village, Saint Romain d’Urfe. Claude got a job with a farmer who employed other young Jewish men to pick and transport produce.In July 1944, a group of members of the Franc-Tireurs et Partisans raided the farm to search for gasoline; all 15 of the workers left to join the partisans. In one operation the partisans climbed a mountain over-looking a road and dropped home-made grenades on an open truck filled with German soldiers thereby disrupting the convoy. The partisans then opened machine gun fire on the Germans. Claude, now sixteen years old, also participated in the liberation of Lyons. After the war ended, Claude reunited with his family and then returned to Luxembourg in early 1945, where Armand reestablished his business. Claude joined the Luxembourg army and served in the occupation of Bitburg before going to technical college in England to…
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: Ms. Marion Loewenstein
has beginning date: 1914-01-01
has end date: 1946-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 1980
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn86139
is or was included in: us-005578-irn565251
record resource extent: folders 8
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Consists of documents related to the Loewenstein family, originally of Luxembourg. Includes ration books, identity paperwork, and inventories from pre-war Luxembourg, Gurs, wartime France, and post-war Luxembourg.
title: Loewenstein family papers