Löwenherz, Joseph

Joseph Löwenherz was born in 1884 as the son of a noted Jewish family in Galicia. During his years of study at the university of Lemberg (then Galicia; now L'viv, Ukraine) he belonged to the Zionist student fraternity and was later active in Zionist organizations in Galicia. He was a delegate to the 10th through the 15th Zionist Congresses. After the First World War he worked as a lawyer in Vienna. From 1924 to 1937 he served as the vice president of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (Jewish community) in Vienna. In 1937 Joseph Löwenherz was elected director general and first secretary of the Kultusgemeinde . In this position, he had to interact with both to the Zentralstelle für Jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) and the Gestapo Hauptamt (Gestapo Headquarters) in Vienna.

With official German authorization, Joseph Löwenherz visited Lisbon (apparently in 1940 or 1941) to meet with representatives of the World Jewish Congress, including Dr. Parlas, secretary to Chaim Weizmann, and financial affairs director Tropper. Joseph Löwenherz tried to negotiate an agreement for mass emigration of Jews from German-controlled Europe.

In May 1945, Joseph Löwenherz was arrested by the Red Army on charges of collaboration with the National Socialist Party and deported to Czechoslovakia where he was kept for 3 months. Joseph Löwenherz presented himself to an honor court in London in 1946, which cleared him of all charges of collaboration. He immigrated with his wife Sofie (née Schoenfeld) to the United States via Switzerland and Great Britain in 1945. He died in 1960.

Joseph Löwenherz's son Siegmund changed his last name to Levarie, the literal Hebrew translation of Löwenherz. He became a music teacher and historian.

From the guide to the Joseph Loewenherz Collection, 1938-1960, (Leo Baeck Institute)