Karl loewenstein biography

German lawyer and political scientist (1891–1973)

Not to be confused with Karl Loewenstein (banker).

Karl Loewenstein (November 9, 1891 in Munich – July 10, 1973 in Heidelberg) was a German lawyer and political scientist, regarded as one of the prominent figures of Constitutional law in the twentieth century.

His research and investigations into the typology of the different constitutions have had some impact on the Western constitutional thought. Loewenstein is credited with establishing the theoretical foundations of militant democracy to battle anti-democratic mass movements.

He worked as lecturer in his native city of Munich when Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party took power in 1933. Loewenstein went to the United States, becoming chair of political science at Amherst College and published extensively. He received American citizenship and after World War II worked for the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMG) in West Germany.

Life and career

Karl Loewenstein was born in 1891 into a Jewish family that had assimilated in Munich's German-Jewish bourgeoisie. The young Loewenstein studied at universities in Munich, Heidelberg, Paris, and Berlin. He settled in Munich and in 1918 was called to the bar in Bavaria. Loewenstein received his doctorate in law from the University of Munich in 1919. In the 1920s, Loewenstein continued his studies and built up a law practice in international commercial law. In 1931 Loewenstein completed his postgraduate studied on comparative government and began working as a part-time lecturer in law at Munich University.

Exile in the United States

After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933 Loewenstein immigrated to the United States and worked for two years at Yale University as a lecturer in politics. In 1936 Loewenstein became chair of political science and jurisprudence at Amherst College. Soon after, the work-obsessed Loewenstein received American citizenship, was called to th

German naval officer and businessman (1887–1976)

Not to be confused with Karl Loewenstein.

Karl Loewenstein (2 May 1887 – 9 August 1975/1976) was a German banker and naval officer. He was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during World War II. In the ghetto, he served as the head of the Jewish police. After World War II, Loewenstein was rearrested and imprisoned without charge for a period of time by authorities of the reconstituted Czechoslovakia, purportedly due to mistaken identity.

Though a controversial figure owing to his role in the ghetto hierarchy, historian H. G. Adler – another Theresienstadt internee – later credited Loewenstein's discipline and management as bringing "boons to the camp" and stated that his eventual removal from his post led to "misfortune" for the ghetto's inmates.

Early life and education

Karl Loewenstein was born on 2 May 1887 in Siegen, Germany, to Jewish parents. According to Loewenstein, he studied economics, eventually earning a Ph.D. in the subject. During World War I he served as an officer in the Imperial German Navy. In 1919, following his discharge, Loewenstein left Judaism and was accepted into the Lutheran Church. In the interwar period, Loewenstein worked as a banker, eventually becoming a director of the Berlin-based Busse and Co.

Politics

Loewenstein began his political life as a member of the conservative-nationalist Fatherland Party before joining the German People's Party after World War I. During the ascendancy of the Nazi Party, he expressed concerns about increasing animosity towards Germany's Jewish veterans and, in the 1930s, helped establish a parish of the Confessing Church, organized in opposition to Nazi plans to unify all of Germany's Protestant churches into a single, national church.