Lotte Ettinghausen was born on February 19, 1920, in Höchst am Main (near Frankfurt). Her family was established since the beginning of the 19th century in Höchst. The Ettinghausens enjoyed a high standing, were active in the Jewish community, but also in the local economic and social life. Lottes father Berthold Lotte's father Berthold was head of the Jewish Community in Höchst, Executive in synagogue council in Wiesbaden and Marshall of the Hermann Cohen-Loge. Also, he was involved in the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent merchants and was a referee at the Corn Exchange in Frankfurt.

The Ettinghausens were wealthy. They worked in the grain and flour trade since the early 19th century. They had expanded their thriving businesses over generations, specialized on wheat flour wholesale with an on-site steam-roller mill. The family was respected and popular in Höchst because of their charity. At the beginning of the first world war, as the flour prices rose rapidly, Max Ettinghausen provided his entire meal storage with 20000 pounds at a discounted price, so that the poor had not to be hungry.

Lottes great-uncle was Max, like her father, head of the Jewish community and had been influentially involved in the inauguration of the Höchst Synagogue in 1905. It was destroyed in 1938 during the November pogrom.

Lotte fled with her family to England in 1939. She emigrated to the United States after the second world war. Lotte Ettinghausen arrived on January 1, 1947, in New York. A short time later, she married Joseph Klein. She lastly lived in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts. She died there on June 14, 2009.

On the square of the Höchst Synagogue, the Nazi-Leaders built a bunker in 1939, which is still there. Today, the square is named after the family Ettinghausen (Beck/Fakudze / Krohn, Jews in Höchst, p. 16 f.).

 :