Brothers Lewandowski
Brothers Lewandowski (Bruno, Max and David), were merchants to the royal Bavarian court for lingerie, with branches in Berlin, Amsterdam and Munich. The address book of Munich in 1917 from the Munich historical library lists them as court merchants (Hoflieferant) of Her Majesty Queen Maria Therese of Bavaria, Princess Adalbert of Bavaria, Princess Ludwig Ferdinand and of Infanta Eulalia of Spain. The business did not have the same status of that for a royal merchant of the king, due to the nature of lingerie, being a female clothing item.
The business, later owned by Gerhard and Alfred Lewandowski (now buried in Munich), was taken over by the Nazis due to the Jewish background of the Lewandowskis. One small shop still remains to this day on Sendlingerstr. 62 in Munich, however it is not owned by any family member, nor does it produce the original Lewandowski lingerie. Currently, investigations are being made regarding a Josef Albers picture in the Guggenheim Museum,[1] which depicts a Mrs Lewandowski from Munich, 1930, and is believed to be the wife of one of the brothers. During the Hitler years, Max Lewandowski fled to Chile, Gerhard fled to and hid near Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, and Alfred, in spite of his Jewish family background, managed to pass as German and joined Rommel's troops.
Genealogy
The brothers current known direct descendants in Germany are Eduard Lewandowski, Gerda Cavallini (b. Lewandowski), Corrie Zylbersztajn (b. Lewandowski) and Louise Zierer (b. Lewandowski), all children of Gerhard Lewandowski.
References
- ↑ www.guggenheimcollection.org Archived January 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.