| Born: | 12-21-1918 |
| Faculty: | Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: | Expelled student |
Herbert LÖWENKRON, born on December 21st, 1918 in Krems a. Donau/Lower Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Stein a. Donau/Lower Austria, citizenship 1938: Austria), son of Leon Leiser/Leopold Löwenkron (1890-1941, merchant, owner of the liqueur rum and fruit juice production: "Löwenkron und Weiss" in Krems) and Rosa Löwenkron, née Weiss (1898-1941), moved with the family to Vienna in 1933 and lived in Vienna's 16th district, Thaliastraße 79, was enrolled finally in the spring term of 1938 at the Medical School in the 2nd year of his studies.
In 1938, after the takeover of power of National-Socialism he was forced to quit his studies for racist reason and to leave the University of Vienna.
His parents' business and apartment were looted ("Aryanized"), the family has zo move to a sublet in Vienna's 18th district, Ottakringer Strasse 175/1 and they tried to flee Austria.
His father, however, was deported to the concentration camp Dachau (prisoner number 14727) shortly after the Anschluss in May 1938, and was transported from there to the concentration camp Buchenwald (prisoner number 8506) on September 23rd, 1938, from where he was released on May 6th, 1939, but was deported again from Vienna on October 27th and was released only end of March 1940. In April 1940 the parents were on the verge of being able to leave for the USA, but due to his father's poor health after his imprisonment in the camps, their visa, affidavits and ship tickets were forfeited. A few months later, on February 15th, 1941, his parents were deported from Vienna to Opole near Lublin, Poland - of the 2,003 Viennese Jews deported to Opole in 1941, only 28 survived, his parents were not among them, their date of death is unknown.
Herbert Löwenkron managed to leave Austria in time for to the USA. He was able to obtain a visa at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna on March 3rd, 1939 and traveled from LeHavre, France on March 16th, 1939 on the SS President Roosevelt to the U.S., arriving in New York, NY on March 25th, 1939 - his first port of call was his uncle Philip Stein at 2014 64th str, Brooklyn, NY.
Herbert Löwenkron was unable to continue his studies in the USA for the time being, living in the Bronx, NY, and working there as an unskilled sawmill worker - earning $10 a week, he was barely able to financially support his parents' emigration efforts.
He was mustered by the U.S. Army in New York on April 2nd, 1941, and on July 3rd, 1942 he enlisted. He married Vienna-born Rella Silbermann (1924-1990), who was able to emigrat to New York together with her parents, and they had two sons, Michael and Steven. Herbert Lowenstein became a U.S. citizen as a soldier in the U.S. Army as early as October 16th, 1942 in Columbia, SC, and his wife then became a citizen in December 1944 in New York, NY.
Herbert and Rella Lowenkron lived in New York until the end of 1982 and moed to Saint Petersburg, FL in 1983.
Herbert Lowenstern, nee Löwenstern, died on August 16th, 2012 in Texas/USA and buried at Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas, TX/USA.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937–1938; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 432; judeninkrems.at/lwielandsmann/; www.ancestry.de; www.ushmm.org; www.myheritage.at; collections.arolsen-archives.org; kind information from Edith Heller, Vienna 09/2022.
Herbert Posch
