Arthur Löwenstamm
| Rabbi Dr Arthur Löwenstamm | |
|---|---|
| Position | Rabbi |
| Synagogue | Spandau Synagogue (1917–38) |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Arthur Löwenstamm |
| Born | 20 December 1882 Ratibor, Upper Silesia |
| Died | 22 April 1965 (aged 82) Manchester, England |
| Buried | Hoop Lane Jewish Cemetery in Golders Green, London |
| Nationality | German until 1939; British |
| Denomination | Reform Judaism |
| Parents | Natan Löwenstamm and Johanna Zweig |
| Spouse | Gertrud Modlinger |
| Children | Erika Reid and Gerda Weleminsky |
| Occupation | Theologian, writer and rabbi |
Rabbi Dr Arthur Löwenstamm (also spelt Loewenstamm) (20 December 1882 in Ratibor, Upper Silesia – 22 April 1965 in Manchester, England) was a Jewish theologian, writer and rabbi in Berlin and in London, where he came in 1939 as a refugee from Germany.
He was the last rabbi of the Jewish community of Spandau, Germany, which comprised 600 members in 1933.
Arthur Löwenstamm was born on 20 December 1882 in Ratibor, Upper Silesia, which is now Racibórz in southern Poland. His parents were Natan Löwenstamm (1856–1937), a shopkeeper, and his wife Johanna Zweig (1851–1936). He had a brother, Kurt, and a sister, Gertrud.
Löwenstamm trained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau (now Wrocław in western Poland). After passing his rabbinical examinations in 1910 he served as rabbi (from 1911 to 1917) with the Jewish community in Pless (now Pszczyna) in Upper Silesia. On 6 December 1916 he was appointed as Spandau Synagogue's first permanent rabbi. Löwenstamm took up his duties on 1 April 1917 and continued until the autumn of 1938. In this role he also gave religious instruction at Spandau's Kant-Gymnasium. He was a member of the Union of Liberal Rabbis in Germany. On 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht) the synagogue, on Lindenufer in Spandau's Old Town, was set on fire. Löwenstamm was tortured, imprisoned and deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from which he was eventually released. After his release from Sachsenhausen, he found refuge in the United Kingdom in February 1939 but was interned for several weeks as an "enemy alien".
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