Westerbork Art by a Survivor—Works of Werner Löwenhardt

Werner Löwenhardt was born in 1907 in Germany into a Jewish family. His early years were marked by the vibrant cultural and intellectual life of pre-war Germany, but this was soon overshadowed by the rise of the Nazi regime.

As the Nazis came to power, Jews in Germany faced increasing persecution. Werner Löwenhardt, like many Jews, found his life turned upside down.

During the Holocaust, Löwenhardt was arrested and deported to various concentration camps. His time in these camps was marked by unimaginable hardship and suffering. His survival in these brutal conditions is a testament to his resilience and strength.

Even amidst the horrors of the concentration camps, Löwenhardt found ways to engage in artistic expression. Art became a means of psychological survival, allowing him to maintain a sense of identity and humanity.

In 1935, he fled to his family in Enschede, the Netherlands. During those years, he found work as an advertising painter and took drawing lessons from the Enschede painter Gerard van Haeften. During the war, he was first called up and ended up in the Ede Labor Camp, and from October 1942 until the end of the war, he stayed in Westerbork.

Thanks to his talent in drawing, Werner managed to avoid transport to Auschwitz and Sobibor. Werner, together with his brother Heinz, who was six years older and in hiding in Almelo, were among the few survivors of his family.

Sources

https://www.kamparchieven.nl/nl/

In memoriam Werner Löwenhardt (1919-2006): verzamelaar en reclameman in hart en nieren

https://portal.ehri-project.eu/units/us-005578-irn521553-irn524847