Paul and Johanna Löwy: personal papers

Paul Stephen Löwy (later Lowy) was born in Vienna in 1913 as the only child of Alfred and Johanna (née Müller) Löwy. His father died in 1915 due to complications with his war injury. Johanna Löwy was a dressmaker and continued the family clothing company after her husband's death. In April 1939 she went to Switzerland under the pretext of a business trip to flee anti-Jewish persecutions. She emigrated from there to England two months later. Johanna was supported by an English Jewish family in Leeds who she worked for as a domestic assistant before moving to London to work for various clothing firms. Paul graduated in law from the University of Vienna. As he was involved with the Socialist students' movement he was arrested and sent to Buchenwald in 1938. He was released in March 1939 and managed to flee to England in April 1939. He was interned on the Isle of Man in July 1940 and released on medical grounds three months later. Arriving in London he moved in with his mother and lived with her until she died in 1971. None of their extended family members had survived the Holocaust. Paul and his mother became British citizens in 1949. He retrained to be a certified accountant and opened his own accountancy company after the Second World War. Later on he started an import-export business in electronic valves and transistors. Paul got married in 1964 and died in London in 1978.

Donated May 2007

Donor: Jan Lowy