From Kindertransport to closure 73 years later

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

American investigative journalist, author, and university professor, Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, persuaded his dad to return to Essen, Germany, in 2012 with him. This enabled the ever-curious Jeff to get remarkable insight into his history and for his father to put to bed some horrible ghosts. 

Visiting South Africa recently, he shared his experience in a talk at the HOD Centre, organised by The Jewish Genealogical Society of South Africa and the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

Jeff’s father Edward Lowenstein and his uncle Ralph, were part of the Kindertransport, a British government-sponsored programme that, between 1938 and 1940, provided refuge to about 10 000 Jewish children from Central Europe in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom.

US-born Jeff described his fascination with his father’s past, discussed his journey towards family roots and the impact of the experience. He explained how he and his family have ultimately created something positive from a traumatic history.

“Growing up, my brother and I knew that my dad had left Germany,” said Kelly Lowenstein. “In the early 70s, we met the woman that he and my uncle stayed with after being saved by the Kindertransport. I didn’t completely understand the significance of who she was.

“The miniseries Holocaust that was shown in the US in 1978 was a big moment for public awareness and understanding of that history. We started watching it and my dad instantly shut it off.

“We asked him about it and he brushed it off, but we knew something was wrong, so that kind of disjunction was among the things that made me hungry to understand more about what happened.

“As a young adult, when I’d ask my dad about it, he’d say he didn’t remember and I don’t think he did – he was less than five when he left.”

In his quest to learn more, Jeff visited elderly relatives who had clearer memories of the time and he began studying the history. “I still had a desire to do more. So, in 2004, I got a grant from the German government to go and see ‘new Jewish life’.”

Before setting off, he investigated where his family had lived and made contact with a non-Jewish family who owned a print shop and had maintained contact with the Lowensteins.

“I went and met the family and saw a notebook they’d compiled with decades of correspondence between our two families. That experience was very powerful because it answered a lot of questions that I’d had. But I still thought it would be very meaningful to go back to Germany with my father.”

Through writing an article about his 2004 trip, Jeff connected with Gabriele Thimm, a teacher who worked in Essen and was committed to teaching her students about the Holocaust. She organised two ‘Ceremonies of Life’ in Essen – one at the old synagogue, now a Jewish cultural centre and the other at the school at which she taught. She invited Edward Lowenstein to attend and share his story with the community.

Although he was apprehensive and uncertain about what to expect, Edward agreed to go with his family, something that Jeff greatly appreciated and admired.

So, in 2012, almost exactly 73 years after he’d left Germany on the Kindertransport, Edward, his wife Lee, Jeff, his wife Dunreith, their son Aidan and Jeff’s brother Jon, returned to Essen.

“Gabriele, my wife and I planned out the week,” explained Jeff. “We all visited the apartments where my dad had lived, went to the Jewish cemetery, attended the Ceremonies of Life and enjoyed a surprise 78^th birthday party the community organised for my dad.”

While the trip was largely a positive experience, a few poignant moments stand out. The family visited the apartment where Edward had had an emergency appendectomy shortly before he left Germany.

“My grandfather, a German World War veteran had taken my father all over the town, but no-one would operate on a Jewish child,” explained Kelly Lowenstein. “But my great-grandfather who was a doctor, prevailed upon a non-Jewish colleague who did the surgery on the kitchen table.

“So, we visited that apartment and the current owners, who have now become our friends, served us sweets on that same kitchen table!”

Arguably the most difficult moment Edward Lowenstein experienced on the trip, was when he stood across the street from the apartment in which he and his family lived. “It seemed like a memory of his was triggered; he talked about having nightmares of people wearing green uniforms and marching,” said Kelly Lowenstein.

“We learned that right across the street was actually a Hitler youth camp and they would march there. My brother, an accomplished photographer, captured the moment where you can see the pain on my dad’s face as he remembered.”

The Ceremonies of Life were incredible experiences for the family, though, and it was at the one held at the Jewish Centre that Edward Lowenstein announced the initiation of an award that the family had conceptualised.

“The community wanted to give my dad an honorarium for speaking at the ceremony, but he didn’t want to take the money,” explained Kelly Lowenstein.

“So, we spoke as a family and decided to use the money to create an award for tolerance and justice to honour young people who do the right thing. Gabriele Thimm has been remarkable in how she’s overseen the award, which is now presented annually in Essen.

“It’s grown to a become a broad honouring of community members, while remaining grounded in acknowledging young people making a difference in tackling themes of history, diversity, justice and tolerance.”

Kelly Lowenstein spoke of how the award has taken his father’s understandably negative perception of Germany and turned it into a positive experience. 

“He’s been back twice since the 2012 trip, he’s very committed to keeping the project going and is very appreciative of what we’ve been able to do.”

While Thimm is now retiring from the project, the Lowensteins are committed to keeping it going. “Gabriele has spoken a lot about the rise of anti-Semitism and how troubling it is in the country and this rise makes the work and its message more important than ever.”

While Edward Lowenstein had been back to Germany before, he’d never set foot in Essen again until the 2012 trip.

“My dad said afterwards that he basically went on the 2012 trip because he thought I really wanted it to happen,” says Kelly Lowenstein.

“When he went, though, he was very gratified by how he was just appreciated, honoured and acknowledged. The community was so excited that he was there and he had a sense of healing – not just for him and our family, but for the community and what his return meant as he answered everyone’s questions and reached out with an open hand.”