Stumbling block for Karl Löffert

Karl Löffert was born on February 21, 1902 in the district of Büdingen and came to Offenbach with his family as a child. He successfully completed his apprenticeship as a locksmith in 1919 and had to change jobs several times in the following years due to the poor economic situation.

In 1924, he married Lisa Mitze, a flower arranger who, like him, was also active in the Naturefriends. They both enjoyed cultural activities, hiking and political discussions. Their sons Hans and Karl were born in 1929 and 1935.

Karl Löffert joined the German Communist Party (KPD) in 1925 and, after the party was banned in 1933, was its illegal leader in Offenbach for a time. The small KPD groups secretly produced and distributed leaflets.
Karl Löffert was arrested for the first time in the fall of 1933 and taken to the Gestapo prison in Offenbach, but was released again. His wife was also detained for a week in Ludwigstraße prison. Nevertheless, their resistance group continued to work with great caution.

In August 1935, Karl Löffert was arrested again and sent to the remand prison in Darmstadt, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was taken to Rockenberg and Butzbach.
In 1937, he was transferred to the Aschendorfer Moor concentration camp, where he spent three years working as a moor laborer. In 1941, he was sent to the prison in Zweibrücken, where his wife Lisa and his sons Hans and Karl were able to visit him once. He saw his second-born, six-year-old Karl, there for the first time.

He was due to be released in November 1941, but when his wife went to pick him up, she was informed that he had been taken back into "protective custody" immediately after his release.

He was taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and died in Buchenwald concentration camp on July 29, 1943, allegedly due to pneumonia.
His widow bought an urn with ashes from the camp administration, which was buried in the Old Cemetery in Offenbach.

Karl Löffert's Stumbling Stone was sponsored by the Offenbach Friends of Nature and his son Karl Löffert. The stumbling stone was laid on October 21, 2006.