The farmer Emil Beer lived with his family in Upper Bergisches Land, around 40 miles (60 km) east of Cologne. A devout Christian, he was a member of the Confessional Church during the Nazi period. The Nazi propaganda organ “Der Stürmer” denounced him as a “friend to Jews” in 1934, due to his help for the Löwensteins from Cologne; the family’s father was Jewish.
Beer’s daughter Edelgard and Rudolf Löwenstein, who was classed as a “Mischling” by the Nuremberg race laws, began a relationship. At the turn of 1941/42, the Beers hid the young man temporarily in their home; he was wanted by the police. He was arrested on his return to Cologne and deported to Theresienstadt on July 27, 1942. A certificate issued by Emil Beer stating that Rudolf Löwenstein was a “loyal Christian” was unable to prevent his deportation, and he was murdered in Auschwitz. After his deportation, his parents Fritz and Regine Löwenstein lived in hiding in Cologne at times. Emil Beer and his daughter brought them food in secret.
The families maintained their contact after the war. Emil Beer was posthumously honored in 1998 by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.