Person    | Female  Born 1/1/1823  Died 4/11/1890

Helene "Lenchen" Demuth (or Helena)

Categories: Friend / family

Countries: Germany

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.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Helene "Lenchen" Demuth (or Helena)

Commemorated ati

Karl Marx grave

Bronze head on granite plinth with gold leaf inscriptions.

Read More

Other Subjects

William Lindley

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...

Person, Engineering, Germany

1 memorial
Johann Peter Frank

Johann Peter Frank

Born Rotalben, Bavaria to a French father. Worked as a doctor in France and Germany. He wrote on preventative medicine and toured Europe promoting his ideas. Died in Vienna where, despite his re...

Person, Medicine, Austria, France, Germany

1 memorial
Leopold von Hoesch

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...

Person, Politics & Administration, Germany

1 memorial
Yosef Gutfreund

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

1 memorial
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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...

Person, Execution, Religion, Germany

4 memorials

Previously viewed

Coronation tree - Embankment Gardens

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...

1 subject commemorated
Sir Raymond Unwin

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 ...

Person, Architecture, Property, USA

2 memorials