The printing press owner Ludwig Lichtwitz lived in Berlin with his non-Jewish wife Wally. Their “mixed marriage” was not classed as “privileged,” so he had to wear a yellow star. In 1939 Lichtwitz was forced to sell his printing press below market value.
Ludwig Lichtwitz performed forced labor for the Deutsche Reichsbahn railway company. He went underground in the winter of 1942/43. He and Cioma Schönhaus set up a forgery workshop in Berlin-Moabit. Werner Scharff camouflaged the shop front using electrical material. Lichtwitz went by the cover name of Langenbach. Via Schönhaus, he was in contact with the circle of helpers formed around Franz Kaufmann. When they were discovered, Lichtwitz was also arrested by the Gestapo in September 1943 and imprisoned on Große Hamburger Straße.
On November 23, 1943, he and his fellow prisoner Konrad Latte escaped. Lichtwitz went back to living “illegally,” but maintained contact to Latte and Scharff. Konrad Latte put him in touch with Ruth Andreas-Friedrich. As a member of the Uncle Emil resistance group, he again forged papers for other persecuted people.
Ludwig Lichtwitz survived and later set up a new printing press.
Identity card for the use of the Berlin S-Bahn forged and printed by Ludwig Lichtwitz, Berlin, around March 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Identity card for the use of the Berlin S-Bahn forged and printed by Ludwig Lichtwitz, Berlin, around March 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Ludwig Lichtwitz and his wife Wally, Berlin, December 30, 1957. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Former hiding place and forgery workshop of Ludwig Lichtwitz and Cioma Schönhaus at Waldstraße 54 (shop to the right of the entrance), Berlin-Moabit, 2008. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
