Levinson (Lewinsohn) Jacob (?, Latvia) ― singer.

In the 1920s, Jacob Levinson moved to Berlin, where he studied vocals at the Higher School of Music with his fiancée Paulina. In 1928, they returned to Latvia, where they got married, and then moved back to Berlin to continue their careers. In 1932, under the pseudonym “Yasha Lensen,” Levinsohn signed a contract with the Breslau Opera to perform leading baritone roles in 19 operas. But shortly before the start of the season, the Opera administration demanded that Levinson's real name be included in the contract and then terminated the contract, determining his nationality. After Hitler came to power, Levinson turned to the Latvian consul in Berlin for help, yet the consul convinced him that Hitler would not remain in power for long. Levinson's family was not as significantly affected by anti-Semitic economic restrictions as German Jews. Levinson managed to retain his position as a representative of a Latvian company in Berlin. In 1934, his daughter Hessy was born. When she was six months old, her parents commissioned a portrait of her from a famous Berlin photographer. A few months later, this portrait appeared on the cover of the Nazi brochure “Sun in the House” (the photographer knew that Hesi was Jewish and sent her photo to a competition for the most beautiful Aryan children in order to refute and ridicule the Nazis' racist theory; the photo won the competition). Hessy's portrait was published on postcards. The girl was kept locked up so that she would not be recognized on the street and sanctions would not be imposed on her. In 1936, Levinson’s second daughter Naomi was born. In the same year, Levinson was arrested by the Gestapo for tax evasion, but was released at the request of his accountant, a member of the Nazi party. In 1937, the Levinson family moved to Latvia, and a year later to Paris. Levinson applied for American visas, but did not receive them until 1941, when the persecution of Jews began in Paris. The Levinson family moved to the province of Bordeaux, and then were transported to Nice by members of the French Resistance. At that point, the Levinsons received American visas with an expiry date, were refused an extension, and in early 1942 departed on the Portuguese ship Serpa Pinto from Lisbon to Havana. The Levinsons lived in Cuba for seven years and moved to New York, USA, in 1949.