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 and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. 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 (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, 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; 12 February 1864 – 8 March 1958), was the youngest and last surviving child of Queen Isabella II of ...

. 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 ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

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

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

years, Max Lewandowski fled to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, 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. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and Alfred, in spite of his

Jewish family Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

background, managed to pass as German and joined

Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

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

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...

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: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

,{{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