Mathwar/Personlist/Loewenheim Leopold
Leopold Loewenheim
(* June 26th 1878 in Krefeld, † May 5th 1957 in Berlin)
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Life
When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he immediately announced legal actions against Germany's Jews. On 7th April 1933, Hitler introduced a law for the "Restoration of the civil service". This meant that all non-Aryans and Jewish civil servants were dismissed from their positions with the exception of those who either had fought in the Great War or had been in office since August 1914. The definition of non-Aryan included those with one grandparent of the Jewish religion and this was precisely the position that Löwenheim was in. However he should have escaped dismissal under the "Restoration of the civil service" law since he met both the other exemption clauses (either one of which should have allowed him to continue working) - he had fought in the Great War and he had been in office since August 1914. In line with what happened to others in a similar position, Löwenheim escaped immediate dismissal in 1933 but was forced to retire in 1934.
Löwenheim now somehow had to try to earn enough to support himself and his wife despite losing his job. He managed to get a post teaching eurythmy (harmony of bodily movement developed with the aid of music into an educational system) and geometry at the Anthroposophic School of Eurythmy in Berlin. The school had a philosophy based on the premise that the human intellect has the ability to contact spiritual worlds. Not only did Löwenheim have problems with Nazi discrimination, but he also almost lost his life in the British bombing raids on Berlin. On 23 August 1943 his home suffered a direct hit by a bomb. In fact bombing raids on Berlin had not been uncommon, with the first daylight raid in January 1943, but the hit on Löwenheim's home came before the major bombing assault on the capital began in November 1943. Löwenheim survived, but he lost his mathematical manuscripts, 1000 drawings, and his mathematical models. In fact he lost unpublished manuscripts on logic, geometry, music and the history of art.