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
1 memorial
Ford Madox Ford
Born Surrey as Ford Hermann Hueffer, of an English mother and German father, Francis Heuffer. Grew up in Pre-Raphaelite circles. On the death of their father in 1889 Ford and his brother went to li...
Person, Literature, France, Germany, USA
1 memorial
1 memorial
Sophia Viscountess de Stern
Born Frankfurt. Wife of David Viscount de Stern and mother to Sydney and Edward.
2 memorials
St Pauls German Evangelical Reformed Church
Built 1886-1887, destroyed by bombing in 1941. We have failed to find a picture of this church but AIM25 gives this: "The German Evangelical Reformed Church was established in London in 1697 by Pr...
1 memorial
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them