We are very sad to report that Cornelius Loen, one of LAMOTH's beloved community members, passed away on December 25th.
Cornelius (formerly Kornel Lowenberg) was born in 1922 in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (today Serbia) to Lajos and Celestine Lowenberg. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic, but he was raised in a Jewish household. In 1943, Cornelius was sent to a slave labor camp, from which he escaped, and hid for the rest of the duration of the war. Upon liberation, he r
eunited with his parents but his brother Otto was killed fighting with the underground resistance. His mother provided Jews with shelter and assistance, and in 1968 Yad Vashem recognized her as Righteous Among the Nations.
After the war, Cornelius met his future wife Masha in a Displaced Persons camp near Linz, Austria. Masha Loen became one of the founders of Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, and both she and Cornelius have been an integral part of our community. May his memory be a blessing.
The funeral will be held tomorrow, December 30, at 3:00 pm at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90068.
Cornelius donated his collection of wartime periodicals to LAMOTH, which is on permanent display in Room 3 at the museum. This page from a German language newspaper shows the 1941 Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia.
