Johanna Helene (Hannele) Levi was born in Saarlouis on September 2, 1935, the daughter of August and Sofie Levi. Her father very successfully ran a cattle and horse trading firm in the seventh generation with his brother. Johanna Levi grew up in a cherished and sheltered environment with her one year older brother Heinz. Her sister 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. Because the Saargebiet was declared a restricted area when war broke out, the Levi family had to leave their home. Johanna Levi, her parents and her siblings, 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 16 year old Johanna trained in the Jewish children’s home in Antonienstrasse, her parents lived in a single room at Tengstrasse 32. Her brother Heinz found a place in the Jewish apprentices’ hostel at Hohenzollernstrasse 4, and little Lore was taken in by the family of the lawyer Hans Bloch. She was placed with Johanna in the Jewish children’s home from August 1940 on.
From August 1941 on, Johanna Levi had to work as a forced labourer with around 300 other mostly young Jewish women in the Flachsröste (flax factory) Lohhof. The women lived in barracks in the camp and were under the supervision of the foremen. The "Arisierungsstelle" ("office of Aryanization") kept a sharp eye on their work performance. Johanna’s mother had already been in touch with relatives in the USA in 1937, but all efforts to emigrate there were in vain. On November 20, 1941, the Gestapo (secret state police) deported Johanna Levi with her parents and siblings to Kaunas together with just under 1,000 other Jews. Five days later the SS shot all the deportees.(Text: Eva Strauß; Lektorat: Fritsche; translation C. Hales)
