November 2026: The Lewin family
Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Carl Lewin, Charlotte Lewin, Hermann Lewin, Johanna Kramrich, Eva Grünberg
Heinrich Moritz Frank, Rosa Frank, Leonore Frank and Erwin Konrad Frank
Carl Lewin
Born: 1 May 1881
Died: 2 November 1946
Charlotte Lewin, née Hirsch
Born: 8 April 1891
Died: 23 September 1972
Hermann Lewin
Born: 30 July 1912
Died: 11 November 2002
Johanna Kramrich, née Lewin
Born: 27 April 1915
Died: 1989
Eva (Chava) Grünberg, née Lewin
Born: 22 July 1920
Died: 13 August 2008
Installation location:
1 Stefan-Heym-Platz
Stolperstein laying on:
5 November 2026
Life Path
When a Schocken Brothers department store opened in Stuttgart in 1928, Carl Lewin, the managing director in Freiberg, had hoped to be transferred there, as the Schocken brothers had previously relied on experienced managers. However, the Stuttgart store was taken over by Michael Weinmann, the managing director from Auer. Carl Lewin, who had been working for the group since July 1910, got his chance two years later. Simon Schocken chose him to take charge of the planned department store in Chemnitz.
What is known about Lewin’s career? He was born in Kolmar, in the former province of Posen, the son of the merchant couple Hermann Lewin (1843–1900) and Johanna Hirsch (1845–1916).
At the age of 13, Carl began an apprenticeship at a firm in Stolpen. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked for various trading firms in Germany. For several years, he even worked for a department store in Chemnitz, which was the reason for his subsequent appointment here. In his memoirs, he wrote:
“So, after working for about eleven months [in Landsberg an der Warthe], I joined H. & C. Tietz in Chemnitz in September 1904. Here, too, the sound training I’d received proved its worth, for it wasn’t long before I was appointed buyer for all the firm’s textile departments. I learnt a great deal here about other sectors, as I very often had to stand in for the sales staff in other departments and go on buying trips, since they changed very frequently.
The managing director – that is , Hermann Fürstenheim – was a very unfair boss, as he paid me and the other gentlemen very poorly. So, after two and a half years there, I looked for another position and, in February 1907, found one as managing director at the Ury Gebrüder department store in Leipzig’, which proved to be an absolutely brilliant decision for his future career.
On the recommendation of the Schocken brothers, Carl Lewin became managing director of the Hirsch department store in Geestemünde in 1910. Through the Schocken family’s introduction, he married Charlotte, the daughter of the department store owners, in October 1911. Emma Hirsch, his mother-in-law, was a sister of the Schocken brothers. This led to a close relationship with the Schocken family. He also acquired parts of the Schocken Group.
On 1 July 1935, Lewin celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Schocken company. A month later, however, he left the business. Even before that, the head of human resources, Ludwig Kratochvil (1893–1939) – a non-Jew and a National Socialist – had warned him against staying in Germany any longer. When the ‘boycott of Jews’ was imposed on 1 April 1933, he advised Lewin to go to Czechoslovakia for the time being to ensure that nothing would happen to him. He guaranteed the safety of the department store and its staff during the boycott. Indeed, the head of personnel kept his promise.
In September 1935, the family moved to Berlin. In 1936, they fled to England and, in 1937, on to Merano (South Tyrol). In September 1938, the family emigrated to Haifa, Palestine. In September 1946, Carl Lewin died there after a long illness involving his kidneys. His widow outlived him by 26 years. The couple were laid to rest in a cemetery in Haifa.
Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
It is a project against forgetting: stumbling stones have been laid in Chemnitz every year since 2007.
Embedded in the pavement, the memorial stones commemorate the tragic fates of fellow citizens who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths during the National Socialist regime.
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