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Dresher Holocaust Survivor
Unites with Family
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
T he recent meeting of Franklin
Lewinson and his second
cousin Klaus Manzel has been
about 80 years in the making.

Lewinson, an 87-year-old Holocaust
survivor living in Dresher, and Manzel,
an 80-year-old native Berliner, united
on Oct. 13 at Lewinson’s home. The
two shared the story of the Lewinson
family’s survival during the Shoah and
Manzel’s plan to have a Stolperstein
— a brass plate honoring victims of
Nazi extermination — installed at the
address of Lewinson’s family home in
honor of Lewinson’s father Hans, who
was murdered in Auschwitz.

Until a few years ago, neither knew of
the other’s existence.

“I was shocked,” Lewinson said.

“Because I didn’t even realize there was
anybody still alive.”
Born in 1935 in Berlin, Lewinson,
originally named Wolfgang, and his
younger sister Renate spent most of
their early childhood in Blumenstraße,
the neighborhood where most Jews
were relegated under Nazi rule. The
family relocated from their Tempelhof
home, where they were evicted,
to Charlottenburg, and then to
Blumenstraße in the same year. They
were required by law to mark their
doors with a Magen David.

Lewinson’s mother converted to
Judaism in 1930 after marrying Hans,
having grown up Christian. Her
Christian maiden name, Ruckheim,
and paperwork helped her find a job at
a time when employment for Jews was
scarce. While most Jews were assigned
limited evening hours to shop — when
Betsy (left) and Franklin Lewinson
with Klaus Manzel and Julia Flood at
Lewinson’s Dresher home on Oct. 13
 Courtesy of Betsy Lewinson
TOMANDLINDA PLATT
most of the food was already gone —
Lewinson’s mother was able to buy
groceries during regular hours.

Her Christian paperwork was what
saved her and her children’s lives, but
Hans Lewinson was not as lucky. In 1943,
after multiple arrests and imprisonments
at Nazi labor camps, he was deported
to Auschwitz on a train car carrying
more than 1,000 prisoners. He was killed
shortly after he arrived at the death camp.

The Lewinson children spent the
years of 1940-1945 inside at their
mother’s behest. She received no sup-
port from her Christian family, who
all but abandoned her and joined the
Nazi Party.

“I can remember leaving the house
two times,” Lewinson said.

On a rare outing, Lewinson’s mother
removed the yellow Magen David from
her children’s clothing. They hid peri-
odically at convents and farms, but
only for brief windows of time.

Fortune continued to be on Lewinson’s
side. The family came to the U.S. in
November 1946 on a troopship. His
mother’s status as a single woman with
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8 OCTOBER 27, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
5/25/22 9:53 AM