Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel

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Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel (born on October 3, 1923 as Cécile Hensel in Erlangen , died on January 21, 2012 in Potsdam ) was a German historian . Her research interests were in the Mendelssohn family , of which she was descendant. She was the founder and long-time chairwoman of the Mendelssohn Society .

Life

Gravestone for Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel & Ernst G. Lowenthal in the Heerstraße cemetery

Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel was the youngest daughter of the philosopher Paul Hensel and a niece of Lili du Bois-Reymond (née Hensel). She was a great-granddaughter of the composer Fanny Hensel , who was a granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . In the tradition of the Mendelssohn Bartholdy family, who were baptized in 1816, and their great-grandfather Wilhelm Hensel , who came from a pastor's family, Lowenthal-Hensel was brought up Protestant . She attended the humanistic grammar school in Erlangen. Because of her Jewish descent, she was harassed there and finally had to leave school on November 9, 1938 . She managed to get a fake ID and to attend university courses as a guest student. It was only after the Second World War that she was able to study history , art history and English . In 1949 she was honored for her work "of the historical Wallenstein image in the German literature Changes" doctorate . After her studies she worked as a journalist and for public relations in Swiss companies.

In 1964, Hensel negotiated on behalf of the Mendelssohn family with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation , which had acquired the estate of Hugo von Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a great-grandson of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . The estate ultimately formed the basis for the Mendelssohn archive of the Berlin State Library . The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation hired Lowenthal-Hensel as a research assistant in the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage . So she moved to Berlin in 1965. She designed exhibitions for the archive and wrote numerous exhibition catalogs. Until 1980 she worked in the Secret State Archives, most recently as Senior Scientific Councilor. In 1967, Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel founded the Mendelssohn Society , which set itself the goal of researching the life and environment of the less famous members of the Mendelssohn family. The Mendelssohn Studies journal, founded in 1972, follows the tradition of the Mendelssohn family chronicle , which Lowenthal-Hensel's grandfather Sebastian Hensel started. Lowenthal-Hensel was chairwoman of the Mendelssohn Society from its inception until 1989.

In 1968 she married the historian Ernst G. Lowenthal (1904–1994), who fled to England in 1939 from Nazi persecution and returned to Germany in 1946. Around this time, she considered converting to Judaism, but decided against it. The couple had no children. However, Lowenthal-Hensel regarded the twin sons of her close friend Hendrik Kübler, whose godmother she was, as their own children. She bequeathed Hendrik Kübler numerous heirlooms from the Mendelssohn family, which he has made available for exhibitions ever since.

In 2000 she was the first to receive the Max Herrmann Prize for her services to the Mendelssohn Society and the Mendelssohn Archives.

Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel died in Potsdam in January 2012 at the age of 88. The funeral service took place on February 2, 2012 in the Friedenskirche in the park of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. She was buried next to her husband, who died in 1994, in the state's own cemetery in Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend (burial location: 18-E-36).

Fonts

  • Mendelssohn studies. 1972–2007 (series of publications, edited with Rudolf Elvers , Hans-Günter Klein and Christoph Schulte ).
  • Pomerania 1934/35 in the mirror of Gestapo situation reports and factual files (= publications from the archives of Prussian cultural property. Volumes 11-12). G. Grote, Cologne 1974 (with Robert Thévoz and Hans Branig ).
  • New research on Brandenburg-Prussian history . Volume 1 (= publications from the archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage. Volume 14). Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-412-05179-9 (published together with Friedrich Benninghoven ).
  • 50 years of the diocese of Berlin. People and Events 1930–1945. More-Verlag, Berlin 1980, ISBN 978-3-87554-192-2 .
  • Europe in portrait. Drawings by Wilhelm Hensel 1794–1861. Gebrüder Mann, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-7861-1994-4 (with Sigrid von Strachwitz).
Exhibition catalogs
  • Bismarck in the cartoon. 1968.
  • The unknown German state. The North German Confederation 1867–71. 1970.
  • Hardenberg and his time. On the 150th anniversary of the death of the Prussian State Chancellor on Nov. 26, 1972. 1972.
  • Crown Prince Trial and Katte Judgment. On the 275th birthday of Hans Hermann v. Kattes on February 28, 1979. 1979.
  • Prussian portraits of the 19th century. Drawings by Wilhelm Hensel. 1981.
  • Otto Braun. 1872-1955. 1984 (with Iselin Gundermann).
  • Moses Mendelssohn. Life - work - aspects of its aftermath. 1986 (with Hans-Günter Klein).
  • 19th Century Society Portraits. 1986 (with Wilhelm Hensel).
  • Wilhelm Hensel. 1794-1861. Portraitist and painter. Works and documents. 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f memorial speech ( memento of the original from March 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by the chairman of the Mendelssohn Society, André Schmitz , on February 2, 2012, accessed on July 2, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mendelssohn-gesellschaft.de
  2. ↑ a b c d Andreas Unger: Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel (born 1923). In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 30, 2012, accessed July 2, 2017 .
  3. ^ A b Philipp von Studnitz: Descendant of one of the most important Berlin families. In: BZ January 31, 2012, accessed on July 2, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Martin Mende: Lowenthal-Hensel, Cécile. In: Association for the history of Berlin . Retrieved July 2, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Evelyn ter Vehn: Art sensation: Lost Mendelssohn watercolor comes on loan to Leipzig. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . February 2, 2014, accessed July 2, 2017 .
  6. ^ Descendant of one of the most important Berlin families . In: BZ . January 31, 2012. Accessed November 17, 2019.
  7. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 491.
personal data
SURNAME Lowenthal-Hensel, Cecile
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hensel, Cécile (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH gain
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 2012
Place of death Potsdam