Ernst LÖWY was a Jew who had been born on January 17, 1900 in Netluk, near Leitmeritz Bohemia (then in Austria-Hungary, now in the Czech Republic).
In October 1914, when he was 14 years old, he came to Salzburg and served an apprenticeship with his uncle Oswald LÖWY at 6 Mirabellplatz (his uncles Oswald and Rudolf LÖWY had been in Salzburg since the 1880s).
He lived at 6 Mirabellplatz from the time he arrived in Salzburg until 1926.
While there, he married Ida Pick – who had been born in Ottnang am Hausruck (Upper Austria) on February 8, 1901. Their son Herbert was born in Salzburg on August 27, 1926 and on November 11 the Löwys were registered at 5 Linzergasse, apt III.
The Löwy family lived there from 1926 until they fled to Prague to escape the Nazis in 1938. There they lived at Truhlarska 5.
When the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia they were unable to escape again. The 42 year old Ernst LÖWY was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on October 24, 1942, and his 41 year old wife Ida and their 16 year old son Herbert were deported there on December 22, 1942.
On September 6, 1943 all three were transferred to Auschwitz and killed there. Ernst LÖWY’s aunt Amalie LÖWY, who had also lived in Salzburg until 1938, was murdered in the Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp.
As for Ida LÖWYS Upper Austrian relatives, it is known that in March 1938 her father Bernhard PICK committed suicide in Thomasroith and her sister Ludmilla was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
The house at 5 Linzergasse was owned by the Jewish family FÜRST from 1892 to 1939. The family of Arthur FÜRST was able to flee to the US in March 1939.
Arthur’s sister Hedwig FÜRST BISENTZ, who was a co-owner of the house, was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in April 1943.
Another Jewish family lived in the house at 5 Linzer Gasse: from 1892 to 1904 Paula and Gustav Friedmann lived here with their two oldest children Camilla and Eduard – who were born in Salzburg.
Years later, the already widowed Paula Friedmann was murdered in Auschwitz along with her son Eduard and his wife Doris and their two children Greta and Hilda.
Paula Friedmann’s daughter Irma (who was born in Laufen, a few miles north of Salzburg) worked for a while as a maid for the family of Sarah and Daniel BONYHADI in Salzburg. Then she got married here and was able to survive the terror years in Salzburg.
She was an artist and her working name was Irma Rafaela Toledo. She died in Salzburg on January 7, 2002.
Sources
- Jewish Community Linz (Family Pick)
- Salzburg City and State archives (civil register)
- Theresienstadt Memorial Books
- Institut Terezinske iniciativy
- Shoah databases DÖW and Yad Vashem
Translation: Stan Nadel
Stumbling Stone
Laid 22.08.2007 at Salzburg, Linzer Gasse 5
Registration form of the Löwy family
Registration form (backside) of the Löwy family
Herbert LöwyPhoto: Institut Terezinske iniciativy)