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Kurt and Hildegard Löwenstein - Losten Foundation
Welcome
The Kurt and Hildegard Löwenstein / Losten Foundation was founded in 2019. It promotes in memory of the German manager Kurt Losten, geb. Löwenstein (died 2011), and his wife Hildegard (died 2017) the cultural and historical heritage of Jewish Germans through education, science, research and international understanding.
Inquiries about funding opportunities can be made at any time. The Foundation supports projects that implement the statutes in a particularly effective and exemplary manner. There is no entitlement to funding from the foundation.
The Founders
Kurt Losten
A successful German company manager
Kurt Losten was born on July 27, 1918 as Kurt Hugo Löwenstein in Stuttgart.
Hildegard Losten
She inspired the creation of the foundation
Hildegard Losten was born on April 23, 1925 as Hildegard Krause in Berlin-Neukölln.
Our activities
Here are our funded projects:
Main focus of the Loewenstein-Losten-Foundation
is information about Jewish life in Germany, past and present, and Germany's special responsibility for its Jewish citizens. The foundation is cooperating with relevant institutions and experts in Germany and around the world.
The foundation has a special focus on the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Jewish Germans in the former German settlements in Central and Eastern Europe.
The foundation also supports selected initiatives of international understanding.
The foundation is a member of the Association of German Foundations
(www.stiftungen.org) and the European Foundation Centre
(www.efc.be).
In 2023 the foundation supports the Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden (Institute for the History of the German Jews) for the project "Jewish building between 1945-1989 in the Federal Republik of Germany and the German Democratic Republic"
of Alexandra Klei.
In 2023 the foundation supported the Trägerverein Ehemalige Synagoge Rexingen (Association Former Synagoge of Rexingen) for the
project "Untold Histories of the Upper Neckar Region" from Jo Berlien.
In 2023 the foundation supported the "Museum of the former Province of East Prussia" in Lueneburg for an exhibition about the jewish artist Mark Rothko.
In 2023 the foundation supported the Galka Emmy Scheyer Center to publish an biography of Galka Emmy Scheyer.
In 2023 the foundation covered part of the travel costs of former German citizen Frederick Simon
from Australia for a biographical research in Germany.
In 2023 the foundation supports the association Zeugen der Zeitzeugen for the publishing project: Das Erbe der Zeitzeugen. Bildung für die Nachwelt (The Heritage of the Eyewitnesses. Education for the coming generations).
In 2023 the foundation supports a project of Prof. Sigrid Jacobeit, Humboldt University Berlin, about the Jewish artist Lea Grundig.
From 2022 on, the foundation supports the University of Wroclaw in establishing academic studies of the Jewish cultural heritage in Silesia.
Since 2021 the foundation is supporting the association "Jüdisches Leben Kraichgau", i.e. Jewish life in Southwestern Germany (www.jlk-ev.de).
The foundation supported 2021 the realization of the short film "Kibitzer"
about a Jewish fate in Germany in the first half of the 19 century.
The foundation supported the Bücherei des Judentums in Buchen (www.buecherei-des-judentums.de) to publish the Jewish childrens book "Beni".
Via the Technical University of Dresden, the foundation supported 2021-2023 the work on a documentary about the Shoah in Wroclaw, Silesia.
The foundation supported the Scientific Foundation Hamburg to publish a biography of Leo Stern and Jacques Sonneborn.
The foundation supported the German Olympic Academy to publish a biography of the Jewish champion Rudi Ball.
After the military coup in Burma in early 2021, the foundation supports the Myanmar Foundation (www.myanmar-stiftung.de) and its school projects in Mandalay
as part of its international understanding and education activities.
Via the International Alumni Center in Berlin (www.iac-berlin.org) the foundation is supporting the project "Building the Ecosystem for Social Innovation in Africa".
The United World College in Freiburg, Germany (www-uwcrobertboschcollege.de) was supported by providing fellowships for students from Central-Eastern Europe.
The foundation supported the Jewish Activism Summer School (www.jassberlin.org) at Potsdam University in 2022 and 2023.
Since 2020 the foundation is supporting the
Association for German-Jewish Theater Performances
e.V. in Berlin (www.djthe.de).
In 2020, the foundation supported via the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin the realisation of a film about the German-Jewish writer Walter Kaufmann by Karin Kaper and Dirk Szuszies.
S2020-2022 the foundation supported the University for Jewish Studies in Heidelberg
(www.hfjs.eu), a place of lively academic discussion of all facets of Jewish religion, history, cultures and societies by providing fellowships for students from Central and Eastern Europe.
2019-2022 the Foundation supported the Ancient Synagogue of Freudental, Center of Culture and Education e.V
(www.pkc-freudental.de). This important historical site, beeing a place of meeting, remembering and learning, provides informations about Jewish life in Freudental and other regions in Germany.
The foundation supported in 2019 also the POLIN Museum in Warsaw
(polin.pl/en). This Museum for the History of Jewish life in Poland is after the border changes following World War II today covering also the history of Jewish life in the former German territories east of the Oder and Neisse River, i.e. Pomerania, Silesia, East and West Prussia. The foundations support is especially dedicated to the project "Virtual Shtetl"
(sztetl.org.pl/en). Virtual Shtetl is an internet platform for the documentation of local Jewish history across todays Poland. The website features archival and contemporary sources, including documents, maps, mementos, photographs and recordings. The project aims to establish a web-based community of local contributors who are passionate about Jewish heritage in todays Polish Territory.
Thanks to the information gathered on the website, young people, students, and other individuals as well as descendants of Jews of this territories around the world can discover and research hitherto unknown history. The website is available in several languages (Polish, English, Hebrew, German, Russian), supplementing traditional forms of education by allowing visitors to take part in creating a virtual research database.
Vita Kurt Lostena German-Jewish Stuttgart fate
"I experienced a hard youth, full of deprivation of all sorts, and a tough education.
At school in the Third Reich, I had human-minded teachers, in part "system critics", with good pedagogical skills.
That I was hired by the Bosch Company saved my life.
Later, I was happy to find an understanding woman.
I was always fond of sports and my work. No superintelligence, but a fair share of common sense. What I could not acquire in terms of knowledge and ability on the usual path of studying, I tried later to compensate by practice and diligence in self-study.
That I have been able to do that so far is beause of extreme luck that has always accompanied me throughout my life. This and the goodwill and help of a number of true friends in business and private life, both domestically and abroad, helped me to get over many difficult situations. "
Written in May 27, 1980 on the flight from Stuttgart to Stockholm.
