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Letter From Ella Lewenz To Her Son, Wolfgang
(Father Of Filmmmaker Lisa Lewenz)
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Liancourt, October 28, 1935.
My dear son Wolfgang,
...When Annegret and I came back to Kladow from Hamburg, where we had seen not one swastika, there at home was the usual white rag stretched across the street: "Jews not welcome in Kladow." My dear Wolfgang. If, luckily, Kladow remains ours, then we can be content. But I fear expropriation is the next step, at the same time as dismissal of Jewish doctors and other professionals.
In the meantime Gerda wants to become a Jewish nurse. Yes, Wolfgang, since you've been away much here at home has gotten worse again. Good that Papa is no longer living. Dorothea just transferred to a Jewish school. In other words, a ghetto, because her new Nazi principal explained that "It is degrading for an Aryan girl to still be with a Jewish girl." Then came the decree: we are no longer German citizens. No longer have political rights. No longer may we have Aryan domestic servants, which luckily doesn't affect us...
My dear boy, it's becoming difficult for me, when you remain over there. But I see no change in Germany, and for that reason no future for you here. Therefore create one for yourself there in America, if it's possible.
Well, that's everything that's new and the letter must be off, so just a quick kiss from Mutti. |
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Letter From Hellmut Lewenz To His Younger Sister Dorothea
On The Occasion Of Here Eighteenth Birthday
Hellmut Lewenz was Ella's fifth born. He was the first to be sent away from Germany as protection. He died of yellow fever, in Peru, on July 27, 1937 - eight months after this letter was written.
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Mollendo, Peru, November 18, 1936.
Dear Dorothea,
My birthday wish for you from my heart is that you may preserve your Jewishness through all storms.
May you never, even if you have to suffer a lot from it, deny your Jewishness, or act as if you weren't a Jew. Because in the end you will be the one who suffers.
But people will always respect you if you don't deny your origins. Better an honest enemy than a false friend. Think beyond Germany today. Remember Jewish history and what the Jews have gone through.
Remember that there have been only a few cowards who have been ashamed of their Jewishness. Be a Jew, remain a Jew. |
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Wolfgang Lewenz's Reections About Jewish Identtity
Audio-Tape Recorded For His Children, 1969.
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Now, you may ask, why are you an Episcopalian now? My parents were Jewish, and they celebrated Christmas. They adhered to their Jewishness, which to them didn't mean a thing. Now, I said to myself, 'now this does not make sense.' You see, I was still studying at University of Technology in Berlin when Hitler was in power. And during the last year I had a yellow card, which meant that I was a Jew. And all of this, of course, showed me that there was something which I did not accept any more. Well, I finally decided that I'd do something about it. I would not continue to belong to the camp of the Jews, you see.
Umm... Annegret, as you well know, became a Quaker. Gerda, I believe, a Unitarian. And of course Dorothy, who stayed a Jew. Your mother and I were married in the church.
Why did I do it? I did not want to have my children suffer. I felt that my children should be free of some of these things.
Now, I'm asking myself, did it really make sense that I did reconstruct my life in order...to assist my children to have a different life? And I would honestly have to say "NO", because each person has to build their own life. And I'm really hopeful that you will learn from my mistakes, and will be able to do better. |
