Sofie Marx was born on April 10, 1893 in Weinsheim in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, the third daughter in a large family. In early 1922 she married horse and cattle trader August Levi, who was born in 1884. 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. Because the Saargebiet was declared a restricted area when war broke out, the family had to leave their home. Sofie Levi, her husband and her 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 Sofie and August 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 on.
Sofie Levi contributed to the family’s meagre income by making felt flowers. Already in late 1937 she had been in touch with relatives who had emigrated to the USA in the 19th Century. She implored and pleaded with them to help with her family’s emigration. Her cousin stood as guarantor for her and some of her siblings, but the immigration number issued by the American Consulate was very high. The lawyer Bloch supported the family and looked into other possible countries to which they could emigrate. These efforts came to nothing because Sofie and August were practically penniless. The couple had to move to Lindwurmstrasse 19 in September 1940, where their son Heinz also lived. On November 20, 1941, the Gestapo (secret state police) deported Sofie and August 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)
