Editing Peter Lorre (section)

== Early life ==
Lorre was born László Löwenstein ({{Langx|hu|Löwenstein László}}) on June 26, 1904, the first child of Alajos Löwenstein and his wife Elvira Freischberger, in the town of [[Ružomberok|Rózsahegy]] in [[Liptó County]], [[Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen|Kingdom of Hungary]] (German: ''Rosenberg''; Slovak: ''Ružomberok'', now in [[Slovakia]]). His parents, German-speaking Jews, had recently moved there{{efn|Friedemann Beyer states in his biography of Lorre that Lorre's family were outsiders in Rózsahegy as they had arrived there very recently. They were German-speaking Jews from a majority [[Slovak people|Slovak]] town. Cf. Friedemann Beyer: Peter Lorre. Seine Filme – sein Leben, München 1988, p. 8 ({{lang|de|"Sie waren Juden, und sie sprachen deutsch in einer Gegend, in der überwiegend Slowaken lebten."}})}} following his father's appointment as chief bookkeeper at a local textile mill. Alajos also served as a lieutenant in the Austrian Army Reserve, and was often away on military maneuvers.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=5}}{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=6}}

László's mother died when he was four years old, leaving Alajos with three very young sons. He soon married his wife's best friend Melanie Klein, with whom he had two more children. However, Lorre and his stepmother never got along, and this colored his childhood memories.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=5}} Anticipating that he might be conscripted following the outbreak of the [[Second Balkan War]], Alajos moved the family to Vienna. He served on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] during the winter of 1914–15, before being put in charge of a prison camp due to heart trouble.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=7}}{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=8}}