Roger Loewig
Striegau
1930 -
Berlin
1997
Roger Loewig was born on September 5, 1930, in Striegau, Silesia (present-day Strzegom, Poland). After the Second World War, Roger Loewig found himself in Lausitz, later moving to East Berlin, where he trained to become a teacher.
Loewig was a self-taught artist and worked intensively on his painting, drawing, and writing. With his artistic works, he was critical of state affairs in the German Democratic Republic (the former East Germany). Loewig's first exhibition, which he held in private rooms in August 1963, led to his arrest for reasons of state security and the confiscation of his work.
Owing to pressure from the Federal Republic of Germany (West) after about a year's detention while awaiting trial, Loewig was sentenced to only two years probation for "a grave case of agitation and propaganda endangering the state." Following his prison term, Roger Loewig worked as a freelance artist, though under very difficult conditions.
Only in 1972 was he able to resettle in West Berlin with the help of the West German government. After the reunification of Germany, Loewig's work was made available to a great portion of the public with the exhibition in the National Museum at Auschwitz, the former death camp. More solo exhibitions in Germany and abroad as well as many publications brought Loewig a wider reputation.
In October 1997, the Federal Republic of Germany bestowed the Cross of Merit First Class on Loewig for his life's work. As he was already seriously ill at the time of this award, Loewig died a few weeks later on November 4, 1997, in Berlin.
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