Lore Rachel Levi was born in Saarlouis on April 5, 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. Little Lore grew up in a cherished and sheltered environment with her older siblings, Heinz and Johanna. However, her childhood was overshadowed by the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis. 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, Lore Levi and her family had to leave their home. Lore, 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. Four year old Lore was taken in by the family of the lawyer Hans Bloch, who lovingly cared for her. Her parents lived in the cramped surroundings of a single room at Tengstrasse 32, while Heinz Levi found a place in the Jewish apprentices’ hostel at Hohenzollernstrasse 4 and Johanna Levi began an apprenticeship in the Jewish children’s home in Antonienstrasse. From August 1940 on, Lore was also housed there. The staff in the home cherished and protected the children in their care with great dedication. In spite of this, the little girl must have suffered from being separated from her parents, especially when, from August 1941, her older sister Johanna had to work as a forced labourer in the Flachsröste (flax factory) Lohhof.
Lore’s mother Sofie 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 Lore Levi with her parents and siblings to Kaunas together with just under 1,000 other Jews. Five days later the SS shot them all, even six-year-old Lore. (Text: Eva Strauß; editor: C. Fritsche; translation: C. Hales)
