Johanna Meyer-Lövinson Collection

Johanna Lövinson was born in Berlin on January 13, 1874, the youngest child of the businessman Siegfried Lövinson and his wife Rosalie nee Hirschberg. She had six siblings that lived to adulthood: Martin, Emil, Henriette, Hermann, Feodora, and Oskar.

When she was 17, Johanna Lövinson entered a teachers' seminary. At 19 she moved to Italy to work as a governess. Upon her return to Berlin she began taking dramatic lessons, and studied with the actor Max Pohl. Johanna Lövinson then began taking voice and breathing lessons and studied German literature, and found positions in finishing schools teaching students correct diction and literature. Occasionally she taught German to foreigners, directed amateur theater productions, and formed reading circles to discuss literature. In 1896, Johanna Lövinson gave her first public performance, a charity event for needy children. She became involved in performing in similar events for various organizations, something she would continue to do for more than thirty years.

In 1901 Johanna Lövinson married the businessman Eugen Meyer, twelve years her elder. Their first child, Hildegard, was born the next year, but died soon after birth from influenza. Their son Paul was born in 1904; daughter Leonore arrived in 1911. Not long after the birth of Paul, Eugen Meyer's business failed, and Johanna Meyer once more began to teach at finishing schools and gave lessons in voice projection, as well as offering lectures on Jewish topics. In addition, she gave readings of children's stories, sometimes in costume, in rented halls. This led to doing readings of literature for more organizations and events. Some readings were also occasionally accompanied by musical performance. Through her literary readings she became connected with well-known writers of the time such as Georg Hermann, Ernst Toller, and Stefan Zweig. This work proved to be her niche, and she became a successful and prolific reciting artist (Rezitatorin), sometimes traveling to other cities to perform. She brought the authors of works with her on occasion to her reading circles, and gave book reviews.

In fall 1923 the first radio station was opened in Berlin, and in 1924 Johanna Meyer found a position at the station reading children's stories and literature, as well as giving lectures on women's issues. Through the radio her fame as a speaker spread, and she was often requested at cultural events in various cities. Once the Nazis came to power in 1933 she lost her position at the radio station, but continued to do dramatic readings and lectures for the Jüdischer Kulturbund.

By 1938, both of Johanna Meyer's children had immigrated to the United States and were living in Chicago. They applied for a visa for her and she left Germany. She settled in an apartment her children provided for her in Chicago, joining her daughter Leonore a year later in Reading, Pennsylvania, where Leonore worked in a kindergarten. There Johanna Meyer began studying English and taking Americanization classes. In 1943 she and her daughter moved to Philadelphia.

In 1945 World War II ended, and Johanna Mayer learned that most of her remaining family in Europe, with whom she had lost contact, had not survived the war, including two of her brothers and their family members. Only one niece and one nephew were left.

In 1946 Johanna Meyer began to work as a model for students at several art schools in Philadelphia. This position usually required her to dress in costume, and to project her personality, a skill she already had from her years as a literary reader. She also began to teach German at the Junto school, which she would continue to do until 1956, at the age of 82.

Johanna Meyer persisted in participating in various endeavors in her later years as well. She was featured in a short educational film on mental health produced by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare in 1950, where she played the mother of a patient. Most notably, she also continued to do some work for German-language radio stations in the United States. While living in Chicago and Philadelphia she participated in radio programs sponsored by the International Institute to assist new immigrants in becoming familiar with American customs. In 1949 she participated in a commemoration of Goethe's 200th birthday for the newly created radio station WFLN of Philadelphia.

By the spring of 1956 Johanna Meyer had resigned from her work as an art model. Shortly thereafter she was taken to the hospital and had to give up teaching. Johanna Meyer died on April 29, 1957.

Source:

Meyer, Leonore. Velvet and Steel: the Life of Johanna Meyer. Upper Darby, Pennsylvania: Precision Offset Printing, Inc., 1989.