August Levi was born on June 24, 1884, in Saarwellingen in present-day Saarland as the sixth of nine children. Following his father’s death, from 1903 on he successfully with his brother ran the family horse and cattle trading business in the seventh generation. In early 1922 he married Sofie Marx, who was born in 1893. Their son Heinz was born the same year, followed by their daughter Johanna Helene (Hannele) a year later. In 1925 the family moved to Saarlouis, where Lore Rachel was born in 1935.
The return of the Saargebiet (Territory of the Saar Basin) to the German Reich in 1935 marked the beginning of the economic decline of this Jewish family. From September 1935 on, they were forced to sell their house and properties for far below the proper value. In the “Kristallnacht” pogroms of 1938, the police arrested August Levi, initially holding him in the Saarbruecken gaol before sending him to Dachau concentration camp. He was not set free until December 19, 1938.
Because the Saargebiet was declared a restricted area when war broke out, the family had to leave their home. August Levi, his wife and his children, each with just one small suitcase, arrived in Munich where they had to rely on the support of the Jewish community. The parents were separated from their children. While August and Sofie Levi lived in one room at Tengstrasse 32, Heinz Levi found a place in the Jewish apprentices’ hostel at Hohenzollernstrasse 4. His sister Johanna was given a place in the Jewish children’s home in Antonienstrasse. Lore, four years old at the time, was taken in by the family of the lawyer Hans Bloch. She, too, was placed in the Jewish children’s home from August 1940 onwards.
As a Jew, it was difficult for August Levi to find a job. At first he worked as a messenger for the Jewish community, but this was only for 30 hours a month. He later worked in a sauerkraut factory. All attempts to emigrate to the USA failed. In September 1940, August and Sofie Levi had to move to Lindwurmstrasse 19m where their son Heinz also lived. On November 20, 1941, the Gestapo (secret state police) deported August and Sofie Levi and their children Heinz, Johanna and Lore to Kaunas together with just under 1,000 other Jews. The SS murdered them there on November 25, 1941. (Text: Eva Strauß; editor: C. Fritsche; translation: C. Hales)
