Manfred Lovin papers

Manfred Lovin (née Löwin) was born on March 9th, 1892 in Berlin, the son of Leopold and Clothilde Löwin. The Löwin family was relatively prosperous, making a comfortable living in the textile industry. Religiously, the Jewish family was liberal. Manfred received the benefits of a classical education at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gymnasium, and later went on to business school. At the outbreak of World War I, Manfred served as a non-commissioned officer in a cavalry regiment of the German Army. After the war, Lovin founded a successful radio components manufacturing company, and came into contact with a number of individuals who would later help him escape Germany, most notably Albert Speer and Hjalmar Schacht. Ironically, the three men belonged to the same fraternal organization (Bruderschaft). In 1923, he married Erna Kowalsky, a pianist and singer. The couple had two children, Ursula and Gerda, of whom both perished in the Holocaust. In 1937 Lovin was arrested for “race pollution” and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment at Brandenburg prison. Lovin served the last six months of his sentence at the Sachenhausen Concentration Camp. In April 1939, Lovin secured a divorce. Three months later, with Hjalmar Schacht’s intercession, Lovin received permission to leave Germany and immigrate to the United States. The privilege was not extended to any of Lovin’s family. Manfred Lovin arrived in New York in May 1939. With the aid of the Koenigsberger family of Washington, DC, Lovin devoted much of his time and energies from 1939, to the end of the war attempting to get his family out of Germany. He was unsuccessful. In 1942, Lovin moved to Washington, DC and worked at Hecht’s department store. On the 30th of July 1943, he married Jenice Jaffa. On December 29th, 1958 Manfred Lovin retired from Hecht’s department store. He died in 1991, age 99. Manfred Lovin’s family name was spelled Löwin, Löewin, Lövin, Lowin, Loewin, and Lovin at various times in his life.