Louis Löwy

Louis Löwy was born in Bielitz, Silesia [today: Bielsko-Biała, Poland], the son of Isak Löwy and his wife Laura, née Fechner. He was of the Jewish faith. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth.

Around 1892, he began working at Erste Österreichische Lagerhaus AG. He remained with the company for about 44 years and rose to the position of authorized signatory.

On April 10, 1926, Louis Löwy married Anna Hunger; the marriage remained childless. Louis Löwy does not appear to have been politically active.

At the end of 1936, Louis Löwy retired from professional life. Instead of a severance payment, he began receiving a company pension of 300 schillings per month starting January 1, 1937. In the event of his death, his wife was guaranteed half of this amount—that is, a monthly widow’s pension of 150 schillings. Because he still felt a strong connection to his former employer, Löwy collected his pension in person from the company every month.

On March 12, 1938, Louis Löwy witnessed the downfall of free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. With the occupation of Austria, German legislation was adopted, including the “Nuremberg Race Laws,” under which he was classified as a “full Jew.” When he went to collect his company pension again in May 1938, he was informed that he would receive no further payments. As his wife later noted, the reason given was “that he was a Jew.” He received no written notification; nor was he paid any severance pay. As a result, the couple lost a significant portion of their income. Until his death, Louis Löwy received only his supplementary employee pension of 74 Reichsmarks per month.

In addition to their economic disenfranchisement, they faced personal threats and abuse. As Anna Löwy later described, her husband was repeatedly harassed and summoned by the local NSDAP chapter. On one such occasion, he was beaten and returned home bleeding and in tears. In connection with the pressure on the couple to give up their apartment, he was also threatened with deportation to a camp. Their fear was so great that Louis and Anna Löwy did not dare to speak to others about it. On July 20, 1938, the NSDAP block warden appeared at Louis Löwy’s home. He tried to force him to sign a document committing him to “voluntarily” vacate the apartment within six weeks.

Under the pressure of this persecution, Louis Löwy took his own life by gas poisoning in his apartment on August 3, 1938, at the age of 66.

Anna Löwy lived to see the liberation of Austria and the restoration of the republic in April and May 1945, respectively. She later joined the newly founded Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP Association of the Politically Persecuted and Defenders of Austria.