Trivia

Although frequently cast as Nazi officers on screen and (most ironically) played Josef Mengele on Broadway in "The Deputy", Lowens was himself a Holocaust survivor. Taken prisoner in Holland while en route to England, he was rescued from a concentration camp thanks to 'fortuitous paperwork' and went on to assume the identity of a Dutch teacher. As a member of the Dutch Resistance he is credited with aiding the escape to safety of 123 Jewish children and two downed U.S. airmen (for which he received a commendation from General Eisenhower ). Towards the end of the war, he worked as an interpreter with the British Eighth Corps,.

Moved to the U.S. in 1947 and completed acting studies at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York.