Löwenstein, Helga Maria zu (1910–2004)
Löwenstein, Helga Maria zu (1910–2004)
Norwegian-born political activist, lecturer, and founder. Name variations: Princess Helga Maria of Loewenstein or Lowenstein; Princess Löwenstein. Born Helga Maria Schuylenburg in Loftus, Norway, Aug 27, 1910; died Nov 23, 2004, in Berlin; dau. of Dutch parents; m. anti-Nazi activist Prince Hubertus zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (whose full name was Hubertus Maximilian Friedrich Leopold Ludwig Prinz zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg), in 1929 (died Nov 28, 1984); children: Elisabeth Maria (b. 1939); Konstanza Maria (b. 1942); Margareta Maria (b. 1948).
When a group of stormtroopers broke into their Berlin apartment (1933), took the next train to Austria where, with husband, continued her anti-Nazi activities; with husband, founded the German Academy of Arts and Sciences in Exile; visited US to alert American public to Nazi threat and raise funds for the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom (1936); spent war years in US, participating in German exile politics; returned to Germany (1946); over next decades, traveled with husband to nations around the world as representatives of the new democracy that had arisen in the Federal Republic of Germany; after husband died, continued work of fostering European reconciliation.
See also Women in World History.