Claire Loewenfeld
Encyclopedia
Claire Loewenfeld, born Lewisohn in Berlin
, Germany
(27 September 1899 – 20 August 1974) was a nutritionist
and herbalist
who worked in England
during and after the Second World War promoting the importance of good nutrition, most notably rosehips from Britain's hedgerows as a source of vitamin C. She studied at Maximilian Bircher-Benner
's clinic in Zurich
, Switzerland, and worked as a dietician at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London, where she developed a fruit and vegetable diet for the treatment of coeliac disease
.
Loewenfeld was the founder of Chiltern Herb Farms in England, one of the earliest producers of high-quality dried herbs, and was one of the first members of the Soil Association
. She wrote a number of books about nutrition, including Britain's Wild Larder: Fungi (1956), Herb Gardening (1967) and Everything you should know about your food (1978).
, on the outskirts of Potsdam
. In 1925 the Loewenfelds and Pincuses moved out of Berlin to a rented property which they shared on the Küssel, a peninsula jutting out into Lake Templiner
in a rural district of Potsdam. Both husbands commuted to Berlin to work. By 1931 Claire and Günther had two children, Peter and Verena, likewise the Pincuses had two children. Both couples also had their relatives living with them from time to time and as more living space was needed they decided to jointly buy the property and enlarge it. Das Haus auf dem Küssel (The House on the Küssel) as it had become known was redesigned, to include both shared areas and private quarters, by a well-known Potsdam architect, Stephan Hirtzel. Another close friend of both families, Paul Tillich
, a German-American Protestant theologian wrote a dedication on the inauguration of their new home entitled, (in English), Space and Time in Dwelling. The Loewenfeld and Pincuses' house soon became a meeting place for Tillich and his circle of German intellectuals until Tillich, whose writings brought him into conflict with the Nazi movement, was subsequently forced into exile in the U.S.
During early 1936 the Loewenfelds travelled to Syria
and Palestine
where they witnessed at first-hand the initial stages of the Arab uprising against British mandate and Jewish immigration. They spent the summer of 1936 near Cortina
in the Italian
Dolomites
where they met Tillich who was on a European lecture tour. In Tillich's diary an account of their time in Palestine records:
From 1937 Claire and Lily's home in the Küssel provided a refuge for Jewish children, whose parents had been arrested or had been abandoned and were homeless. Claire's family continued to live in Germany until the latter part of 1938 when they left Potsdam due to the increasing likelihood of arrest. The Loewenfelds had made arrangements in advance for their belongings to be transported to England and for their children to be evacuated to an English boarding school, St Christopher School, Letchworth
, Hertfordshire
. Meanwhile Günther joined relatives in England and Claire travelled first to Switzerland before rejoining her husband in early 1939. The family settled in rural Buckinghamshire
in 1941.
During her time in Berlin in the 1920s Claire worked at an institute "providing slides and illustrations" for a university. In late 1938 Claire Loewenfeld studied at the Maximilian Bircher-Benner's clinic in Zurich, Switzerland obtaining a special diploma in nutrition. During the Second World War, she worked at the Great Ormond Street Hospital
for Sick Children in London, England as a dietician. While there she specialised in the treatment of coeliac disease and successfully developed a new diet to treat it, based on Bircher-Benner's recipes, involving raw vegetable and fruit juice; she was also involved in longitudinal comparative studies assessing various treatments for the condition.
During the war, Loewenfeld wrote to The Times and the British Medical Journal about the negative impact the shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables was having on the nation's health, and advocated the collection and distribution of rose hip
s from the hedgerows, as they provided "our highest home-grown source of Vitamin C
". As a result a leaflet she had prepared called Wild Rose Hips in War Time. Their Collection, Preparation and Use on how to exploit rose hips was immediately in huge demand. Over 18000 leaflets were sent by Claire to individuals as well as being widely distributed to schools and hospitals. In response, the government organised a nationwide initiative to collect roadside rose hips which, with the help of the Women's Institutes, were processed into syrup for babies and children. This was the first of several leaflets; there were an additional three under the title Wild Plants and Herbs, and three more grouped together under the heading Wild Fruits and Berries which were also distributed with the assistance of the newsagent WH Smith.
, Buckinghamshire, with her husband, who before the war had practiced as an attorney
and later had become a landscape architect
. Her experience of using dried herbs to treat sick children during the war had made her aware that the standard preparation techniques resulted in material of poor nutrional value. Experimentation led to methods for producing dried herbs of higher quality which coincided with an increasing demand in Britain for such culinary products. She also gave lectures and demonstrations, and wrote and collaborated on several books about healthy eating, herb gardening, and cooking with herbs and spices, some of which were also translated into German, Dutch and Spanish. She was a vegetarian and also promoted the benefits of Birchermüesli, or müesli as it is better known, which she learned the health benefits of while training at the Bircher-Benner Clinic. She translated into English
the book by Ruth Bircher which also contained the original recipe for the cereal food (Bircher 1961). She was one of the first members of the Soil Association, advocating freshly prepared food and campaigning against the processing of food and addition of chemicals. Claire was also a member of the women's volunteer organisation, Soroptimist International
.
Claire Loewenfeld died on 20 August 1974, and is buried at St Lawrence's Church, Cholesbury
, Buckinghamshire
, near where she lived, alongside her husband Gunther Loewenfeld's cousins, Margaret Lowenfeld
and Helena Wright née Lowenfeld.
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(27 September 1899 – 20 August 1974) was a nutritionist
Nutritionist
A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...
and herbalist
Herbalist
An herbalist is:#A person whose life is dedicated to the economic or medicinal uses of plants.#One skilled in the harvesting and collection of medicinal plants ....
who worked in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during and after the Second World War promoting the importance of good nutrition, most notably rosehips from Britain's hedgerows as a source of vitamin C. She studied at Maximilian Bircher-Benner
Maximilian Bircher-Benner
Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was a Swiss physician and a pioneer in nutritional research....
's clinic in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland, and worked as a dietician at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London, where she developed a fruit and vegetable diet for the treatment of coeliac disease
Coeliac disease
Coeliac disease , is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onward...
.
Loewenfeld was the founder of Chiltern Herb Farms in England, one of the earliest producers of high-quality dried herbs, and was one of the first members of the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
. She wrote a number of books about nutrition, including Britain's Wild Larder: Fungi (1956), Herb Gardening (1967) and Everything you should know about your food (1978).
Early life
Claire was born in Belin, Germany. Her parents were Arthur and Jeanette (née Jacobi) Lewisohn. She married Günther Emmanuel Loewenfeld (November 1895–January 1984) on 5 July 1921. They continued to live in Berlin in the period followng their marriage. Both Claire and Günther were from Jewish families, however, Günther was brought up in the Protestant faith. Between 1923 and 1925 they spent their weekends with friends Fritz and Lily Pincus in a rented house, in GlienickeGroß Glienicke
Groß Glienicke is a village located both in Berlin and Potsdam, the capital of the German state of Brandenburg. As of 2003, the Brandenburg—and main—side, was an autonomous municipality. The Berlin side is part of Kladow in the Spandau district.-Overview:...
, on the outskirts of Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
. In 1925 the Loewenfelds and Pincuses moved out of Berlin to a rented property which they shared on the Küssel, a peninsula jutting out into Lake Templiner
Templiner See
Templiner See is a lake in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It stretches to the south and west from the centre of the city of Potsdam.The lake is some long, with a maximum width of and a surface area is...
in a rural district of Potsdam. Both husbands commuted to Berlin to work. By 1931 Claire and Günther had two children, Peter and Verena, likewise the Pincuses had two children. Both couples also had their relatives living with them from time to time and as more living space was needed they decided to jointly buy the property and enlarge it. Das Haus auf dem Küssel (The House on the Küssel) as it had become known was redesigned, to include both shared areas and private quarters, by a well-known Potsdam architect, Stephan Hirtzel. Another close friend of both families, Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
, a German-American Protestant theologian wrote a dedication on the inauguration of their new home entitled, (in English), Space and Time in Dwelling. The Loewenfeld and Pincuses' house soon became a meeting place for Tillich and his circle of German intellectuals until Tillich, whose writings brought him into conflict with the Nazi movement, was subsequently forced into exile in the U.S.
During early 1936 the Loewenfelds travelled to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
where they witnessed at first-hand the initial stages of the Arab uprising against British mandate and Jewish immigration. They spent the summer of 1936 near Cortina
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo is a town and comune in the southern Alps located in Veneto, a region in Northern Italy. Located in the heart of the Dolomites in an alpine valley, it is a popular winter sport resort known for its ski-ranges, scenery, accommodations, shops and après-ski scene...
in the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...
where they met Tillich who was on a European lecture tour. In Tillich's diary an account of their time in Palestine records:
"While in Palestine, Claire and Guenther were in constant danger of their lives. Once, the only thing that saved them was their Arab guide saying they were German Nazis. Hitler is the big man with the Arabs. Mussolini gives them money to spite the British."
From 1937 Claire and Lily's home in the Küssel provided a refuge for Jewish children, whose parents had been arrested or had been abandoned and were homeless. Claire's family continued to live in Germany until the latter part of 1938 when they left Potsdam due to the increasing likelihood of arrest. The Loewenfelds had made arrangements in advance for their belongings to be transported to England and for their children to be evacuated to an English boarding school, St Christopher School, Letchworth
St Christopher School, Letchworth
St Christopher School is a boarding and day co-educational independent school located in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. Established in 1915 shortly after Ebenezer Howard founded Letchworth Garden City, the school is a long-time proponent of progressive education...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. Meanwhile Günther joined relatives in England and Claire travelled first to Switzerland before rejoining her husband in early 1939. The family settled in rural Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
in 1941.
Career
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is a children's hospital located in London, United Kingdom...
for Sick Children in London, England as a dietician. While there she specialised in the treatment of coeliac disease and successfully developed a new diet to treat it, based on Bircher-Benner's recipes, involving raw vegetable and fruit juice; she was also involved in longitudinal comparative studies assessing various treatments for the condition.
During the war, Loewenfeld wrote to The Times and the British Medical Journal about the negative impact the shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables was having on the nation's health, and advocated the collection and distribution of rose hip
Rose hip
The rose hip, or rose haw, is the fruit of the rose plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form in spring, and ripen in late summer through autumn.-Usage:...
s from the hedgerows, as they provided "our highest home-grown source of Vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
". As a result a leaflet she had prepared called Wild Rose Hips in War Time. Their Collection, Preparation and Use on how to exploit rose hips was immediately in huge demand. Over 18000 leaflets were sent by Claire to individuals as well as being widely distributed to schools and hospitals. In response, the government organised a nationwide initiative to collect roadside rose hips which, with the help of the Women's Institutes, were processed into syrup for babies and children. This was the first of several leaflets; there were an additional three under the title Wild Plants and Herbs, and three more grouped together under the heading Wild Fruits and Berries which were also distributed with the assistance of the newsagent WH Smith.
Later life
After the war, Claire set up Chiltern Herb Farm in Buckland CommonBuckland Common
Buckland Common is a hamlet in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, east of Wendover and the same distance south of Tring in Hertfordshire with which it shares a boundary...
, Buckinghamshire, with her husband, who before the war had practiced as an attorney
Attorney at law
An attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor and lawyer...
and later had become a landscape architect
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
. Her experience of using dried herbs to treat sick children during the war had made her aware that the standard preparation techniques resulted in material of poor nutrional value. Experimentation led to methods for producing dried herbs of higher quality which coincided with an increasing demand in Britain for such culinary products. She also gave lectures and demonstrations, and wrote and collaborated on several books about healthy eating, herb gardening, and cooking with herbs and spices, some of which were also translated into German, Dutch and Spanish. She was a vegetarian and also promoted the benefits of Birchermüesli, or müesli as it is better known, which she learned the health benefits of while training at the Bircher-Benner Clinic. She translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
the book by Ruth Bircher which also contained the original recipe for the cereal food (Bircher 1961). She was one of the first members of the Soil Association, advocating freshly prepared food and campaigning against the processing of food and addition of chemicals. Claire was also a member of the women's volunteer organisation, Soroptimist International
Soroptimist
Founded in 1921, Soroptimist International is a world-wide volunteer service organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world...
.
Claire Loewenfeld died on 20 August 1974, and is buried at St Lawrence's Church, Cholesbury
Cholesbury
Cholesbury is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, on the border with Hertfordshire. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, about east of Wendover, north of Chesham and from Berkhamsted....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, near where she lived, alongside her husband Gunther Loewenfeld's cousins, Margaret Lowenfeld
Margaret Lowenfeld
Margaret Frances Jane Lowenfeld was a British-born pioneer of child psychology and psychotherapy, a medical researcher in paediatric medicine, and an author of several publications and academic papers on the analysis of child development and play...
and Helena Wright née Lowenfeld.
Works
- Britain's Wild Larder – Nuts. Faber and Faber, 1957. ASIN B000Q9DOS0
- Britain's Wild Larder – Fungi. Faber and Faber, 1957. ASIN B0000CJC09
- Herb Gardening. Faber and Faber, 1970. ISBN 0-571-09475-9
- Everything You Should Know About Your Food. Faber and Faber, 1978. ISBN 0-571-11256-0
- with Beck, Philippa. The complete book of herbs and spices. David & Charles, 1974. ISBN 0-7153-7656-X
- ______________. Herbs for Health and Cookery. Macmillan, 1978. ISBN 0-330-25336-0
- with Bosanquet, Patience and Beck, Philippa. Britain's Wild Larder. David & Charles, 1970. ISBN 0-7153-7971-2
- (trans.) Bircher, Ruth. Eating Your Way to Health: the Bircher-Benner approach to nutrition. Faber and Faber, 1961. ISBN 0-571-06984-3
External links
- Claire Loewenfeld at Google Books