Ludwig Löwenthal was born in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on June 12, 1879, the youngest child of a Jewish family. His parents were the businessman Leopold Löwenthal and Babette Löwenthal, née Emrich. Ludwig grew up with three sisters and one brother. He attended middle school and fought in World War I as a corporal in a landsturm regiment.
The leather goods manufacturer Ludwig Löwenthal and his first wife Rositta Pick divorced in 1927. Ludwig married his second wife, Julie Raaber of Munich, on March 7, 1929. The couple initially lived at Rosenheimer Strasse 214.
Julie and Ludwig Löwenthal were partners in the firm J. Löwenthal & Co., which—located at Schwanthalerstrasse 91—manufactured novelties and marketed them wholesale.
The Nazi accession to power in 1933 brought about radical changes in the lives of Julie and Ludwig Löwenthal. In July 1933 they moved from Rosenheimer Strasse 214 to Goethestrasse 5. Whether this move took place voluntarily or under duress remains a mystery. They moved again in October 1936, now to the first floor of Schwanthalerstrasse 91. In July 1938, under the pressure of ongoing dispossessions of Jewish business owners, they concluded a contract for the sale of their company to Helene Kapser, an employee of many years. The chamber of industry and commerce approved the sale but forbade Kapser the cooperation with the former Jewish owners provided for by the agreement. Julie and Ludwig Löwenthal deregistered their business on August 2, 1938.
Ludwig Löwenthal later had to perform forced labor in a gardening operation.
On February 2, 1942 the Gestapo committed Ludwig and Julie Löwenthal to the internment camp at Clemens-August-Strasse 9. On March 13, 1943 they deported the couple from there to the Auschwitz extermination camp, where the SS presumably murdered them three days later, immediately on arrival of the train.(text Text Lena Djukic, Annika Bystrzycki, Thy-An Than, Mia Breit, Julia Urban, editor C. Fritsche, translation J. Rosenthal)
