Housekeeper for Jenny and Karl Marx. Born Germany. Her date of birth is also sometimes given as 31 December. She was much more than a housekeeper. As a girl she was adopted into Jenny's family and when Jenny married Karl, Helena came too, and remained in the household until first Jenny and then Karl died: a housekeeper, a colleague in political work and a friend to them both. However, in 1851 she produced a baby with no apparent father. The child, Frederick Lewis Demuth, was adopted (as was common under these circumstances) and lived in London. Engels accepted paternity but probably just to protect Marx's reputation. In 1883, when Marx died, Demuth became Engel's housekeeper and also assisted him in his work as Marx's literary executor. Buried in the Marx family grave, apparently at the wish of Jenny,who had died 9 years earlier.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Helene "Lenchen" Demuth (or Helena)
Commemorated ati
Other Subjects
William Lindley
Civil engineer. Born at 1 Surrey Square, Old Kent Road. In his youth, he worked with Marc Isambard Brunel and Francis Giles. In Germany he became involved in the development of railways. With his s...
Leopold von Hoesch
German ambassador from 1932 to 1936. Well-liked by British politicians but his relationship with Hitler was not good. Hitler was probably close to recalling him but he died in office, aged 55. Unli...
Yosef Gutfreund
Wrestling coach. Born Yosef (or Yossef) Gutfreund in Romania. He was part of the Israeli team at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. He was awakened by Palestinian terrorists infiltrating the Olympic...
Person, Sport / Games, Tragedy, Germany, Israel/Palestine, Romania
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Lutheran pastor and theologian. 1933 - 35 he was a pastor at two German speaking London churches: German Evangelical Church - Sydenham and the German Reformed Church of St Paul's - Whitechapel. Bo...
Previously viewed
Coronation tree - Embankment Gardens
WC2, Victoria Embankment Gardens
There is a third plaque (far right) but it's about some gardening prize which we didn't find sufficiently interesting. During the early p...
Sir Raymond Unwin
Born Whiston, near Rotherham. Architect & town planner. With his partner Barry Parker he designed Letchworth Garden City in 1903 and Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1907. Died in Connecticut, where ...
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them