Erfurt and Amberg. Both the new 88 rifle and German nitro-cellulose gunpowder turned out to be deficient and unreliable, leading to a large number of fatal accidents. This resulted in the "Jewish Carbine Affair" (Judenkarabiner Affäre). Hermann Alwart, an extreme nationalist, published an anti-Semitic pamphlet accusing Loewe of a Jewish conspiracy against the German Armed Forces. The pamphlet was suppressed with the help of Bismarck and the case was resolved in court where Alwart was convicted of slander. Ludwig Loewe's politics Even though antisemitism, xenophobia and anti-Catholicism were widespread throughout Prussia, Frederic the Great (1712-1786) had established a measure of tolerance based on the principle of the utility of the individual for the aims of the Prussian state ("Religions must be tolerated and regulation must be limited to ensure that no harm is inflicted on others." The King's marginal note on the "Immediate Report of the Clerical Department for Catholic Schools and Proselytizing"). Loewe's friends and acquaintances included the socialist leader Ferdinand Lasalle and the right wing politician and Bismarck's friend Walther Rathenau who, as Director for Raw Materials was responsible for organizing the war economy during WWI. Loewe was politically active as a member of the Berlin City Council. In 1877 he was elected to the Prussian House of Representatives for the Progressive Party. In 1878 he became a member of the Reichstag. Loewe's special interest was in education and DWM was instrumental in founding the Berlin Technical University. After Ludwig's death in 1886, his brother Isidor was the sole Director of the Company. His experience in banking and finance was central to the rapid expansion of the Company, diversifying into electrical engineering and motor transport. Post WWI: The Quandt Group The German defeat in WWI and the implementation of Allied restrictions on the production of military weapons left DWM with few alternatives. Small scale production of household goods. In 1922, DWM was re-named Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie Werke and all production in the Moabit factory was terminated and ownership of the company passed to the Quandt Group. When Ludwig Loewe & Cie. merged with the Gesellschaft für Elektrische Unternehmungen in 1929, its ownership of DWM was transferred to a group of investors working with Günther Quandt (the 'Quandt Gruppe' or 'Quandt Group'). In 1938 members of the Loewe family were expelled from the boards as part of a plan to minimize Jewish influence on German businesses, the so-called aryanization. The