Katowice, Poland, then Germany, 1900 — Turtmann, Switzerland, 1954

 

Doctor, Lotte Zweig’s older brother

 

The older brother of Lotte Zweig, studied medicine in Germany and worked in Berlin. A few months after the Nazis came to power, he moved in England, soon followed by his wife, Hannah, who was also a doctor, and their daughter Eva. He revalidated his degree and, in 1934, opened a doctor’s surgery in Golders Green, receiving a large number of German refugees among his patients. He later specialized in radiology and radiotherapy and closed the surgery to devote himself full-time to the new work.

 

Although not the first-born, he became responsible for his sister the moment the family was reunited in London. He disapproved of her ostensible relationship with a married man, especially when they started sharing an apartment. Stefan did his best to conquer his brother-in-law, albeit in vain: in the vast correspondence which he and Lotte exchanged with Manfred and his wife between 1940 and 1942, the permanent and tireless interlocutor was always the sister-in-law, Hannah. Stefan always gave his brother-in-law plenty of attention, opened a joint bank account, treated him like a proxy and partner, things he never granted his own brother, Alfred. It was Hannah, not Manfred, who witnessed Lotte and Stefan’s civil marriage in Bath, England. This distance was maintained even after Zweig drew up his will naming Lotte his universal heiress, and Lotte did the same with his brother and sister-in-law. His gesture offering to the Brazilian people Zweig’s estate in Bath never came about, due to lack of interest on the part of the Brazilian government.

 

Hannah and Manfred weren’t able to enjoy their inheritance for very long: they died in a car accident in Switzerland in 1954.

 

Address listed: 49 Regency Lodge, NW3