In memoriam - Kurt Lowenstein. Collection

Kurt Lowenstein was born in 1885 in Bleckede, Germany, as the son of Jewish parents who owned a clothing shop. Kurt studied theology and philosophy in Halberstadt, and later on continued his studies in Berlin. In 1911, Kurt Lowenstein married Mara Kerwel. During the First World War, as a pacifist, he joined the Red Cross and nursed wounded soldiers. At the same time, he began to identify himself as a socialist. Kurt became a member of the Socialist Democratic Party of Germany and a convinced socialist politician. He held several posts and was one of the founders of the Karl-Marx School, the first non-religious school in Berlin. From 1922 to 1934, Kurt Lowenstein was the president of the Socialist Youth of Germany (Red Falcons). In 1933, the organisation was forbidden by the Nazi state apparatus and Kurt and his family went into exile. He died of a hart attack in Paris on 8 May 1939.