Brothers Lewandowski (Hermann, Adolf, Max, and David), sons of Jakob Lewandowski with the headquarter in Berlin produced in 1871 fabrics with own production facilities and more than 56 shops. The company used early any marketing possibilities. Besides advertising in newspapers, and on advertising pillar, the company produced 1910 one of the first advertising film in Germany. The German director Julius Pinschewer produced this movie called "Die Korsett-Anprobe". In 1885 the first shops in Munich opened and the company became soon merchants to the royal Bavarian court for

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

, with branches in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The address book of Munich in 1917 from the Munich historical library lists them as court merchants (''Hoflieferant'') of Her Majesty Queen Maria Therese of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Princess Adalbert of Bavaria, Princess Ludwig Ferdinand and of

Infanta Eulalia of Spain Infanta Eulalia, Duchess of Galliera (''María Eulalia Francisca de Asís Margarita Roberta Isabel Francisca de Paula Cristina María de la Piedad de Borbón y Borbón''; 12 February 1864 – 8 March 1958), was the youngest and last surviving chil ...

. The business did not have the same status of that for a royal merchant of the king, due to lingerie being a feminine item. The business, later owned by Gerhard and Alfred Lewandowski, was taken over by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

due to the Jewish background of the Lewandowskis. One small shop still remained on Sendlingerstr. 62 in Munich. However it was not owned by any family member but by a former employee of the family and did not offer the original Lewandowski lingerie. The shop was closed in 2015 During the

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

years, Max Lewandowski fled to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, Gerhard fled to and hid near

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and Alfred, in spite of his

Jewish family Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

background, managed to pass as German and joined

Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of N ...

's troops. Currently, investigations are being made regarding a

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

picture in the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: * The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ne ...

,{{Cite web, url=http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/movement_work_md_Bauhaus_1_4.html, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108194001/http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/movement_work_md_Bauhaus_1_4.html, url-status=dead, title=www.guggenheimcollection.org, archivedate=January 8, 2008 which depicts a Mrs Lewandowski from Munich, 1930, and is believed to be the wife of one of the brothers.

References

Economy of Bavaria