Deportation Summons Disguised as a Notice of Eviction

Notice of eviction addressed to Max Loewenstein - an extremely rare document sending at least 60,000 people who received this to Riga, Travniki, Warsaw, Majdanek/Sobibor, and Auschwitz to be killed.

World War II began with Germany’s attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, after which point it became almost impossible for German Jews to emigrate and even that stopped completely in October 1941.  After that date, few Jews in German-occupied areas escaped with their lives. Max, Maria, and Karin remained in Berlin for the rest of the war – Maria’s courage saved the family from deportation and certain death on numerous occasions - miraculously, they all survived.

Loewensteins’ Jewish family and friends were taken to ghettoes and concentration camps where they were killed.

The Loewensteins’ home was classified as a “Jewish household” and as a result, the family suffered the effects of anti-Jewish German measures.

Maria’s status as an Aryan, as well as her bravery and wisdom, saved Max many times.  Most notably she and Karin joined the only successful demonstration of Germans opposing the Nazi’s attempts to take Jews to their deaths, during what later became known as the "Rosenstrasse Factory Event".  The deportation threat was always there, but when in March 1943, the British began their night time ”1,000 bomber” raids and the U.S. Eighth Air Force followed with massive daylight raids on Berlin, the Nazis were too busy to thoroughly follow-up with the deportations.

The Russians battled their way into the ruins of Berlin in the winter and spring of 1945. Finally, Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. The Loewensteins’ long nightmare of fear and separation was almost over.