By the end of July 1938, only two of the eight Baer siblings were left in Germany: Arthur and Eugen. Five (Klara, Selma, Jenny, Paula, and Meyer) were in the US, and Julius was in France. This post will tell more about what I’ve learned about Arthur Baer and a correction to what I once thought.
As I wrote earlier here, Arthur was eventually able to escape from Germany to England, but I was wrong when I wrote that he had been arrested after Kristallnacht. Hanno Muller’s entry for Arthur Baer in his book about the Jewish families in Butzbach1 states:
He was born in Griedel, married in Nieder-Weisel, and was a merchant (ready-made clothing business together with his brother Julius Bär in Butzbach at Wetzlarerstraße 31 and Römerstraße 27; F[ather]: Adolf Bär in [Butzbach]). He was a member of the Griedel gymnastics club (Turnverein Griedel) (WOLF, 1998 p. 14) and was a witness to the death of Berta Kaufma[nn] Speyer, who died in his apartment. During the night of September 16 to 17, his house was defaced with the word “Jude” (Jew) written in oil paint (WOLF, 1988 p. 49). Best men (wedding witnesses) were Leopold Krä[mer] from Nieder-Weisel and Julius Bär from Butzbach. The family relocated on June 27, 1938, to Bad N[auheim], thereafter to England, and later to the USA (WOLF, 1988 p. 55). The wife was born in Nieder[-Weisel], F[ather]: Adolf Krämer II. The son was born in the Johanniter Hospital in Nieder-Weisel.
I wrote to the archivist in Butzbach to see if they would scan those two pages (49 and 55) from the source Muller referred to, that is, Dieter Wolf’s book Zur Geschichte der Juden in Butzbach (On the History of the Jews in Butzbach), which was published in 1988. I was hoping that those pages would clarify exactly when Arthur Baer’s house was vandalized and when they left Bad Nauheim for England.
The archivist, Gerd Becker, graciously sent me the scans of those two pages. 2 On page 49, it lists events for 1935 and says as to September 16/17 the following:
16./17. September:
During this night, the house at Wetzlarerstraße 31 is defaced with the oil paint inscription “Jude” (Jew); the local group leader (Ortsgruppenleiter) of the NSDAP (Nazi Party) intends to point out the cessation of such “isolated actions” (Einzelaktionen) at the next members’ meeting. – Smearings of antisemitic content are also frequently applied to other Jewish houses and businesses at night.
Wetzlarerstraße 31 was the same address Muller cited as the location of the clothing business owned by Arthur Baer and his brother Julius. It is also the address given for Arthur on p. 55 of Wolf’s book, which confirms that Arthur and his family left Butzbach on June 27, 1938.3
This residence card from Butzbach further confirms that they left on June 27, 1938.
Stadtarchiv Butzbach, Butzbach, Germany. Bestände des Einwohnermeldeamts: Meldekarten der jüdischen Einwohner. Registration card for Arthur Bär (born 28 August 1905), recording residential changes and family details from 1929 to 1938. Digital Images 1 & 2.
But did they go directly to Bad Nauheim and when did they leave Bad Nauheim? Gerd Becker suggested I contact someone in Bad Nauheim for that information, and I wrote to the archivist there, but he never wrote back. Now I have written to another person and am hoping that I will get a response.
For now, I know that Arthur and his family were in Germany until at least June 27, 1938, when they left Butzbach. And it seems that they were in England by September 29, 1939, when the England and Wales Register was taken and compiled.
Arthur Baer 1939 England and Wales Register, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/625D, Enumeration District: AYBQ, Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register
The marked-out name underneath Arthur and Erna’s names must have been for their son Erich; names of those who were minors in 1939 were covered over for privacy reasons when these records were released.
As we will see, Arthur Baer and his family later went to the United States and joined the relatives who were already there.
- Hanno Muller, Familienbuch Butzbach Band V: Judenfamilien in Butzbach und seinen Stadtteilen (Family Book Butzbach Volume 5: Jewish Families in Butzbach and its Districts). Translation by Google AI. ↩
- Dieter Wolf, Vor 50 Jahren brannten die Synagogen: Aus sieben Jahrhunderten jüdischen Lebens in Butzbach und Umgebung (Butzbach: Stadtarchiv und Museum Butzbach, 1988), 49, entry for 16./17. September 1935. Translated by Google AI. ↩
- Dieter Wolf, Vor 50 Jahren brannten die Synagogen: Aus sieben Jahrhunderten jüdischen Lebens in Butzbach und Umgebung (Butzbach: Stadtarchiv und Museum Butzbach, 1988), 55, entry for 27 June 1938. ↩
