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,.