Category Archives: Leaving Germany

Arthur Baer’s Family in America: From Refugees to A Renowned Scholar

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In the last post we saw that four of the Baer siblings were in Baltimore by 1940: Paula, Fred, Klara, and Eugen.

After the war they were joined in Baltimore by their brother Arthur, his wife Erna Kraemer, and their son Eric(h), who had all spent that war years in England. We know that Arthur and his family had left Germany for England by September 29, 1939, because they are included on the England and Wales Register that was enumerated on that date.

In researching their son Eric Baer, who became a well-known scientist (more on that below), I found this quite comprehensive biography online at Grokipedia, an AI generated competitor to Wikipedia. The biography focuses primarily on Eric’s career, but includes this statement about his early life in England:

The Baers emigrated from Germany to England on August 28, 1939, just days before Britain’s declaration of war sealed further entry. In London, they endured the hardships of the Blitz, the sustained German bombing campaign from 1940 to 1941 that killed over 40,000 civilians and tested the resolve of recent refugees.

The source cited for this was just a family genealogy report, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy.  Wikipedia had this additional information about Eric’s early life:

Baer’s formal education began in the early spring of 1941 after the family’s move to England when he was approaching nine years of age.  He entered elementary school and was placed in classes with six-year-old children.  He quickly skipped grades and was accepted into the prestigious Church of England Dunstable Grammar School in the autumn in 1942.

Ship manifests1 establish that Eric and his parents Arthur and Erna left England on December 19, 1947, two and a half years after the war ended when Eric was fifteen, and arrived in the US on December 24, 1947. They were traveling with Arthur’s cousin, Julius Baer and his wife. Arthur listed his occupation as a tool maker.

Arthur Baer and family, 1947 ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Queen Mary, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

By 1950 the family had settled in Baltimore where Arthur was working as a jobber in his own business, presumably acting as a middleman between manufacturers and importers and retail businesses selling their goods.2

Eric graduated from Baltimore City College in 1949 when he was only seventeen,  and then he received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in engineering in 1957. He worked for  E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in Wilmington, Delaware, until 1962 when he joined the faculty of what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and he still is listed as a faculty member in the Case Western engineering department on their website. Eric has had a long and distinguished career in polymer science with an impressive resume of publications and a long list of patents.3

Eric Baer, Ph. D., By Salomedit – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98534378

On the personal side Eric married Ana Golender in 1956. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on January 11, 1934, to Miguel Golender and Fania Kritman. Eric and Ana had two children together.4

Eric’s father Arthur Baer died on November 11, 1978, at age 73.5 Arthur’s wife Erna outlived him by almost thirty years; she was 101 when she died on April 4, 2008.6 Eric Baer was widowed twice; his first wife Ana Golender died on December 11, 1995, when she was 61.7 He remarried in 1999, and his second wife,  Phyllis Anne Hiltner, was a colleague at Case Western in the polymer science field. Sadly, she died on September 6, 2010, at the age of 69.8 Eric has survived both his parents and his first two wives. On July 3, 2016, he married Jane Glaubinger.9

Isn’t this a remarkable story? A young boy is forced to leave his home in Germany with his parents when he was only seven years old. They escape to England, where he starts his formal schooling at age nine and is placed with a class of six year olds. But he soon catches up with students his age. Then at 15 he is uprooted again to come to the US, where he continues his education and ends up getting a Ph.D. from one of the best universities in the US by the time he is 25. And then he becomes a renowned scholar in his field, winning many accolades and obtaining many patents, while a professor at another top university. And it appears that even now in his nineties he continues to be a faculty member there.

This is just one small example of what Germany lost by its persecution of Jews. Not just the war and its reputation with the world, but people like Eric Baer, brilliant scientists who could have contributed to their society. Fortunately for Eric and for his students and colleagues and fellow scientists, he escaped to America, and we here in the US have been the beneficiaries of his work.

Today is Veterans Day. Although I despise the fact that countries go to war and that young men and women get killed or injured in those wars, I appreciate and mourn the sacrifices made by those soldiers. It is particularly awful when those wars are pointless and resolve nothing, as so many are and have been. But I am very grateful to all those soldiers from all the Allied countries who fought against and defeated Nazi Germany. I can’t imagine what would have happened if Hitler had won that war.

  1. Arthur Baer and family, The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; BT27 Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Outwards Passenger Lists; Reference Number: Series BT27-164282, Month: Dec, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960. See also image above. ↩
  2. Arthur Baer and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 4572; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 4-827, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. See biographies here and here. Also, the biography on his faculty page at Case Western University can be found here. ↩
  4. See Note 3, supra. See also Ana Goldender, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 11 Jan 1934, Birth Place Buenos Aires, Argentina, Death Date 11 Dec 1995,
    Father Miquel Golender, Mother Fania Kritman, SSN 216328431, Death Certificate Number Ssa721, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. ↩
  5. Arthur Baer death notice, The Baltimore Sun, November 12, 1978, p. 143; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818591/arthur-baer: accessed 1 Nov 2026), memorial page for Arthur Baer (28 Aug 1905–11 Nov 1978), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818591, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  6. Erna Baer, Social Security Number, 213-74-7589, Birth Date 22 Aug 1906, Issue year 1973, Issue State Maryland, Last Residence 21208, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, Death Date 4 Apr 2008, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; Erna Kramer Baer death notice, The Baltimore Sun, April 7, 2008, p. B4; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818591/arthur-baer: accessed 1 Nov 2026), memorial page for Arthur Baer (28 Aug 1905–11 Nov 1978), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818591, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  7. Ana Baer [Ana Golender], Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Married
    Death Age 61, Birth Date 11 Jan 1934, Death Date 11 Dec 1995, Death Place
    Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA, Death Hospital, Industry Miscellaneous Professional and Related Services, Occupation Chemists, Except Biochemists, Education 4 Years College, Father Golender, Certificate Number 095647, Time of Death: 12:10 Am, Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007, Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2022 ↩
  8. See Note 3, supra. See also Eric Baer, Gender Male, Age 66, Birth Year abt 1933, Marriage Date 7 Feb 1999, Marriage Place Ohio, USA, Marriage License Place
    Cuyahoga, Residence Place Cuyahoga, Times Married 1, Spouse Anne Hiltner, Certificate Number 3124, Volume Number 18147, Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Marriage Index, 1970 and 1972-2007, Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., Marriage Abstracts, 1970, 1972-2022. See also Phyllis A Hiltner, Gender
    Female, Race White, Marital Status Married Death Age 69, Birth Date 18 Mar 1941,
    Birth Place, Ohio, USA, Residence Place, Ohio, USA, Death Date 6 Sep 2010, Death Place Ohio, USA, Death Hospital Inpatient, Industry University Professor, Occupation
    Professor, Education Master’s Degree, Father Hiltner, Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics; Columbus, OH, USA; Index to Annual Deaths, 1958-2018,
    Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2022. ↩
  9. Jane Glaubinger, Age 69, Birth Year abt 1947, Marriage Date 3 Jul 2016, Marriage Place Ohio, USA, Times Married 2, Spouse Eric Baer, Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio Marriage Index, 2008-2022, Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., Marriage Abstracts, 1970, 1972-2022 ↩

The Baer Siblings in Baltimore

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By 1940, six of the eight children of Therese Spier and Eisenmann Adolf Baer were safely living in the United States; the other two, Julius (Jules) and Arthur were also out of Germany—Arthur and his family in England, Julius and his family in France and then Switzerland. Today I will focus on four who ended up in Baltimore before the US entered World War II: Paula, Meyer (Manfred/Fred), Klara, and Eugen.

Paula Baer and her husband Julius Steinberg and their son Kurt were living with two lodgers in Baltimore in 1940; Julius was working as a butcher, and Kurt, now nineteen, was a tailor in a clothing facility.1 When he registered for the draft in 1942, Julius listed Herman Fuld, Klara Baer’s husband, as the person who would always know where he was. Kurt also listed Herman Fuld that way on his draft registration; he was working for Haas Tailoring Company in 1942.

Julius Steinberg World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St Louis, MO, USA; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) For the State of Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M1939, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

Kurt Steinberg World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Maryland, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 500, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

In 1950 the family was still in Baltimore, and Julius was retired. Kurt was still living with his parents and working as a tailor in a cleaning establishment.2 But later that year on July 30, 1950, Kurt married Lottie Ladenburger in Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey.3 Lottie was the daughter of Arthur Ladenburger and Johanna Seldner and was born in Ittlingen, Germany, on December 22, 1922. Like her husband Kurt, she was a refugee from Nazi Germany and had arrived with her family in 1937.4 Kurt and Lottie did not have any children.

“Lottie Ladenburger to Become Bride at Norma Rites,” Vineland (NJ) Times Journal, July 28, 1950, p. 3

Julius Steinberg died the following year on March 14, 1951, at the age of 67.5 Paula died eighteen years later on January 19, 1969, at the age of 75.6  Their son Kurt died on March 15, 1996,7 and his wife Lottie died on July 25, 2018.8

Paula’s brother Meyer/Manfred Baer, who was known as Fred in the United States, was living with his wife Friedel (Frieda) and son Erich (Eric) in Baltimore in 1940. Fred was working as a fruit salesman.9 According to his 1942 draft registration, he was self-employed. In 1946 when Eric registered for the draft, he was a student at Baltimore City College. They were still in Baltimore in 1950, Eric now 21, and Fred still in the produce business.10

Meyer Manfred Baer World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St Louis, MO, USA; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) For the State of Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M1939, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

Eric Adolph Baer World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Maryland, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 16, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Eric was engaged to Judith Hoffman in January 1953. Eric had graduated from the University of Maryland by that time. They married on September 21, 1953.11  Judith, the daughter of Harold Hoffman and Selma Marens, was born on November 20, 1932, in Washington, DC.12 Eric and Judith had two children together. Eric later married Hanna Mannheim, who was born in Germany on December 27, 1934. She lived in South Africa and England before immigrating to the US with her mother Grete and sister Susan after the war. Like Eric, she had been previously married and had two children from that marriage.13

Eric’s mother Friedel died on October 25, 1961,14 and his father Fred Baer remarried a woman named Frieda Hellmann. I cannot find a marriage record for Fred’s second marriage, but both his obituary and her obituary are evidence that he married Frieda Hellmann Graf, who was born in Gunzenhausen, Germany, on July 5, 1904, daughter of Albert Hellmann and Fanny Brandeis. Her first husband Julius Graf died in 1953. 15

According to his obituary, Fred Baer had been a butcher, a scrap iron dealer, and a produce dealer; he was known for founding Chevra Ahavas Chesed, a burial society and charitable organization, and another organization called Holiday Services, Inc., which provided a synagogue where poor German Jews could worship. Fred died on March 15, 1985, at the age of 88.16

Eric Baer died on March 10, 2014.17 His wife Hanna had predeceased him in 2008.18 He was survived by his two children, two stepchildren, and grandchildren.

The third Baer sibling to settle in Baltimore was Klara (Clara) Baer, along with her husband Hermann (Herman) Fuld, and their daughter, who may still be living. In 1940 Hermann was working as an office clerk in a chemical factory.19 His 1942 draft registration reveals that he was working for Fuld Brothers, the company owned by his uncle and first cousins.

Herman Fuld World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Maryland, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 177, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

But sadly Klara Baer Fuld, the youngest of the eight Baer siblings, died on December 18, 1944, when she was only 35 years old.20 Her daughter was only thirteen at the time. Hermann remarried sometime before the 1950 census was enumerated; his second wife, Ursula, was born in Germany on September 15, 1914. I have not been able to learn more about her background nor can I find a marriage record for Ursula and Hermann.21

But in 1950, Hermann, his second wife Ursula, and his daughter were living together in Baltimore, and Hermann continued to work as a clerk for the chemical factory.22 Hermann died June 20,1965, at the age of 64.23

Finally, the fourth Baer sibling to settle in Baltimore before the US entered the war was Eugen Baer with his wife Hedwig and son Adolf “Eddie” Baer. We have seen that they arrived very late in 1939. Initially, they lived in New York City. The 1940 census shows them living with Hedwig’s sister Flora and her family, and Eugen was working as a butcher.24 But by February 1942 when Eugen registered for the draft, the family was living in Baltimore. By 1950 he was the owner of a women’s clothing store in Baltimore.25 We saw that Eugen (later spelled Eugene in the US) continued to pursue compensation for all the losses he suffered at the hands of the Nazis before finally getting to the US in December 1939.

Eugen Baer World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Maryland, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 16, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Their son Adolph “Eddie” or “Ed” Baer married Hannah Baer in New York City in 1961.26 Hannah was not related to this Baer family; she is the daughter of Herbert Baer and Erna Bauer and born in Germany and may still be living. Ed and Hannah had three children. Ed became a pharmacist after graduating from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.27

Eugen Baer died on March 20, 1965, at the age of 66.28 Hedwig survived hm by a little more than ten years, dying on June 2, 1976, at 71.29 They were survived by their son Adolph “Ed” Baer, who died on September 6, 2020, at the age of ninety.30

But Eugen, Hedwig, and their son Ed are survived by a large family of children and grandchildren. This article in the December 7, 2022, issue of JMore, the Baltimore Jewish newspaper, described the family’s trip back to Griedel in 2022 when the town decided to honor Ed by naming a street for him. The article reported that Ed and Hannah made regular trips back to Griedel starting in 1977 and reveals more about the Baer family’s life during the Nazi era. It also includes a photograph of the fifteen family members who made the trip to Griedel.

After all the Baltimore Baer siblings endured, especially Eugen and his family and their last-minute escape from Nazi Germany, reading this article gave me hope. First, it shows that despite it all, Eugen Baer and his siblings, and all their children, and grandchildren survived and are remembered and honored even in the town that once destroyed their homes and persecuted them. Secondly, it shows that there can be forgiveness and hope for a better world despite the ugliness and hatred of the past.

 

 

 

 

  1. Julius Steinberg and family, 1940 US Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: m-t0627-01523; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 4-374, Ancestry.com. ↩
  2. Julius Steinberg and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 4572; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 4-832, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Kurt Steinberg, Gender Male, Marriage Date Jul 1950, Marriage Place Pittsgrove Township, Salem, New Jersey, USA, Spouse Lottie Ladenburger, Certificate Number
    24152, New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey; Marriage Indexes; Index Type: Bride; Year Range: 1950; Surname Range: L – Z, Ancestry.com. New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-2016 ↩
  4. Lottie Ladenburger, Gender Female, Race White, Declaration Age 19, Record Type Naturalization Declaration, Birth Date 22 Dec 1922, Birth Place Ittlingen, Germany, Departure Place, Bremen, Germany, Arrival Date 11 Sep 1937, Arrival Place, New York, New York, USA, Declaration Date 23 Apr 1942, Declaration Place
    New York,  Court, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Declaration Number, 519925, Box Number 395, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  5. Julius Steinberg death notice, The Baltimore Evening Sun, March 15, 1951, p. 52; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35865533/julius-steinberg: accessed 23 Oct 2026), memorial page for Julius Steinberg (1884–14 Mar 1951), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35865533, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by LAC (contributor 50276438). ↩
  6. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35865533/julius-steinberg: accessed 23 Oct 2026), memorial page for Julius Steinberg (1884–14 Mar 1951), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35865533, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by LAC (contributor 50276438); Baltimore Sun, January 21, 1969, p. 34. ↩
  7. Kurt Steinberg, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 26 Nov 1920, Birth Place
    Camberg Taun, Federal Republic of Germany,  Death Date 15 Mar 1996, Father
    Julius Steinberg, Mother Paula Baer, SSN 212122078, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192110694/lottie-steinberg: accessed 23 Oct 2026), memorial page for Lottie Ladenburger Steinberg (22 Dec 1922–25 Jul 2018), Find a Grave Memorial ID 192110694, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Linda Rice Sutphin (contributor 47294770). ↩
  9. Fred Baer and family, 1940 US Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: m-t0627-01522; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 4-352, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  10. Fred Baer and family, 1950 US Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 165; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 4-655, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  11. Eric A Baer, Gender Male, Marriage Date, 21 Sep 1953, Marriage Place
    Washington, District of Columbia, USA, Spouse Judith J Hoffman, DC Public Library; Washington, DC; District of Columbia Marriage Bureau Listing, 1921-2000, Ancestry.com. Washington, District of Columbia, U.S., Marriage Bureau Listings, 1921-1990; “Miss Hoffman Engaged,” The Baltimore Sun, January 25, 1953, p. 90. ↩
  12. Judith Joan Hoffman, [Judith Joan Baer] [Judith Kamber], Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 20 Nov 1932, Birth Place Washington, District of Columbia
    Death Date, Mar 1981, Father Harold L Hoffman, Mother Selma Marens, SSN
    578421771, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  13. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48904348/hanna-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Hanna Mannheim Baer (27 Dec 1934–25 Oct 2008), Find a Grave Memorial ID 48904348, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178); Hanna Mannheim, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; London, England, UK; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: Bt26; Piece: 1254; Item: 27, UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, Ancestry.com; Hanna Mannheim, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: New York, Kings, New York; Roll: 1639; Page: 75; Enumeration District: 24-140, Enumeration District: 24-140; Description: Brooklyn borough – That part of Assembly District 2 (Tract 754 – part) Bounded by Ave. K; E. 27th; Ave. L; E. 23rd; This Enumeration District consists of the following blocks: 1, 2, 3, 4, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  14. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818614/friedel-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Friedel Baer (1900–25 Oct 1961), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818614, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  15.   Death notice for Fred Baer, Baltimore Sun, March 16, 1985, p, 8; Frieda Hellmann, Birth Date 05 Jul 1904, Birth Place Gunzenhausen, Bayern (Bavaria), Deutschland (Germany), Father Albert Hellmann, Mother Fanny Brandeis, Ancestry.com. Ansbach, Germany, Lutheran Parish Register Extracts, 1526-1940; “Fred Baer, Founder of Charities,” Baltimore Sun, March 17, 1985, p. 26; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239280850/frieda_graf-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Frieda Graf Baer (1904–1994), Find a Grave Memorial ID 239280850, citing Beth-El Cemetery, Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, USA; Maintained by dalya d (contributor 46972551). ↩
  16. “Fred Baer, Founder of Charities,” Baltimore Sun, March 17, 1985, p. 26; Fred Baer, Social Security Number 214-12-4696, Birth Date 8 Nov 1896, Issue year
    Before 1951, Issue State Maryland, Last Residence 21215, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA, Last Benefit 21215, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA
    Death Date, Mar 1985, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  17. Sun, The (Baltimore, Maryland) 13 March 2014, obit for ERIC “JOE” BAER, GenealogyBank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/14C86C44EB0974C0-14C86C44EB0974C0 : accessed 26 October 2026) ↩
  18. Death notice, South Florida Sun Sentinel, October 27, 2008, p. 37; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48904348/hanna-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Hanna Mannheim Baer (27 Dec 1934–25 Oct 2008), Find a Grave Memorial ID 48904348, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178). ↩
  19. Herman Fuld and family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: m-t0627-01523; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 4-374, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  20. Death notice, Baltimore Sun, December 19, 1944, p. 17; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35825264/clara-fuld: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Clara Fuld (1909–18 Dec 1944), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35825264, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by LAC (contributor 50276438). ↩
  21. Ursula Fuld, Gender Female, Birth Date 15 Sep 1914, Death Date 20 May 1992
    Claim Date 8 Jul 1976, SSN 119249283, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; Herman Fuld and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 166; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 4-688, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  22. See Note 21, supra. ↩
  23. Herman Fuld, Social Security Number, 212-03-3763, Birth Date 19 Jan 1901,
    Issue year Before 1951, Issue State Maryland, Last Residence 21215, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA, Death Date Jun 1965, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72172396/herman-fuld: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Herman Fuld (19 Jan 1901–20 Jun 1965), Find a Grave Memorial ID 72172396, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Beth Painter (contributor 47022293). ↩
  24. Eugen Baer and family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02670; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 31-1890, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  25. Eugen Baer and family, 1950 US census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 166; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 4-720, Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census ↩
  26. Adolph Baer, Gender Male, Marriage License Date 1961, Marriage License Place, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse Hannah Baer, License Number 18527, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018; Herbert Baer, Declaration of Intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, (Roll 541) Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 419501-420500), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  27. See his obituary at https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/obituaries/story-obituaries-2020-09-07-adolph-ed-baer-90-43661137 ↩
  28. Eugene Baer, Social Security Number 091-16-6194, Birth Date 13 Jul 1898,
    Issue year Before 1951, Issue State New York, Last Residence 21207, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Death Date Mar 1965, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818599/eugene-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Eugene Baer (1898–20 Mar 1965), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818599, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178); “Eugene Baer,” The Baltimore Sun, March 22, 1965, p. 12. ↩
  29. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35818621/hedwig-baer: accessed 26 Oct 2026), memorial page for Hedwig Samuel Baer (1905–2 Jun 1976), Find a Grave Memorial ID 35818621, citing Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Lauren A. Hubberman Cohen (contributor 49135178).; ↩
  30. See his obituary at https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/obituaries/story-obituaries-2020-09-07-adolph-ed-baer-90-43661137. ↩

Eugen Baer’s Escape from Germany, Part III: The “Lost” Luggage

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As we saw, Eugen and his family were unable to get to the US on their original German ship, the Hansa, because Hitler recalled all ships leaving Germany in late August, 1939. In addition, their luggage and other possessions were confiscated by Germany in Hamburg.

As the German Maritime Museum explains:

When the war began in September 1939, civilian shipping was largely discontinued. Freight that had not yet been loaded remained in the warehouses, and ships that had already left were ordered back to Germany. From spring 1940, the Gestapo confiscated these unshipped goods in order to “utilize” their contents and allow the proceeds to go to the German Reich. The emigrants’ private possessions were publicly auctioned off to the highest bidder on behalf of the Oberfinanzdirektion (Chief Finance Office).

The LostLift database maintained by the German Maritime Museum includes a document in Eugen Baer’s file (as sorted and translated by Google AI) that listed the inventory of the family’s belongings that at some point had been packed up and brought to Hamburg to be shipped to the United States:1

  • Item 1: 1 Large moving crate (1 Kiste)
  • Item 2: 2 Bed frames (2 Patentrahmen)
  • Item 3: 1 Chair (1 Stuhl)
  • Item 60: 5 Laundry/washing boards (5 Wäscheplatten)
  • Item 63: A collection of picture frames and 3 family pictures (1 Partie Bilderrahmen / 3 Bilder)

Family Footwear

  • Item 7: 1 Pair of ladies’ house shoes/slippers (1 Paar Damen-Hausschuhe)
  • Item 8: 1 Pair of men’s leather boots (1 Paar Herrenstiefel)
  • Item 9: 1 Pair of men’s shoes (1 Paar Herrenschuhe)
  • Item 10: 1 Pair of white ladies’ dress shoes (1 Paar weisse Damenschuhe)
  • Items 11–14: 4 Additional pairs of assorted ladies’ shoes (4 Paar Damenschuhe)
  • Items 15–16: 2 Pairs of children’s shoes belonging to little Adolf (2 Paar Kinderschuhe)

Eugen’s Clothing & Linens

  • Item 4: 3 Pieces of men’s winter underwear (3 Teile Herrenunterwäsche)
  • Item 39: 3 Men’s nightgowns (3 Herren-Nachthemden)
  • Item 40: 5 Men’s nightgowns (5 Herren-Nachthemden)
  • Item 42: 4 Pairs of men’s underpants, noted as mended/patched (4 Herrenunterhosen, teils gestopft u. geflickt)
  • Item 43: 3 Men’s undershirts (3 Herrenunterjacken)
  • Item 47: 3 Men’s dress shirts (3 Oberhemden)
  • Item 48: 2 Men’s dress shirts (2 Oberhemden)
  • Item 68: 1 Pair of men’s trousers (1 Herrenhose)
  • Item 78: Eugen’s heavy men’s winter coat (1 Herrenwintermantel)
  • Item 79: Eugen’s men’s overcoat/ulster (1 Herrenulster)

Hedwig’s Clothing

  • Item 5: 3 Ladies’ scarves (3 Schals)
  • Item 18: 1 Ladies’ pullover sweater (1 Damen-Pullover)
  • Item 22: 3 Ladies’ aprons (3 Damenschürzen)
  • Item 24: 1 Ladies’ skirt (1 Damenrock)
  • Item 25: 1 Unfinished/in-progress handmade ladies’ wool skirt (1 unfertiger Damenwollrock)
  • Items 26–27: 6 Additional ladies’ aprons (6 Damenschürzen)
  • Item 29: 1 Black smock/house dress (1 schwarzer Kittel)
  • Item 30: 1 Traditional German Dirndl dress (1 Dirndlkleid)
  • Item 31: 1 Ladies’ beach/sun suit (1 Strandanzug für Damen)
  • Item 34: 4 Pieces of assorted ladies’ underwear (4 Teile Damenwäsche)
  • Items 36–37: 4 Ladies’ nightgowns (4 Damen-Nachthemden)
  • Item 44: 3 Pieces of ladies’ undergarments (3 Teile Damenunterwäsche)
  • Item 45: 2 Pairs of ladies’ wool bloomers/panties (2 wollne Damenschlüpfer)
  • Item 66: 1 Ladies’ jacket (1 Damenjacke)
  • Items 69–71: 3 Matching sets of a ladies’ blouse and skirt (3 Bluse, 1 Rock)
  • Item 72: 2 Ladies’ blouses (2 Blusen)
  • Item 73: 1 Ladies’ blouse (1 Bluse)
  • Item 74: 1 Ladies’ dress (1 Damenkleid)
  • Item 77: 1 Black ladies’ winter coat (1 schwarzer Damenmantel)

Adolf’s Clothing

  • Item 20: Adolf’s children’s athletic training suit (1 Kinder-Trainingsanzug)
  • Item 32: 2 Pairs of children’s pants (2 Kinderhosen)
  • Item 38: 1 Child’s morning robe (1 Kindermorgenrock)
  • Item 58: 2 Pieces of children’s underwear and 1 child’s vest (2 Teile Kinderwäsche / 1 Pollunder)
  • Item 64: Adolf’s boy’s raincoat (1 Knaben-Regenmantel)
  • Item 67: 1 Child’s jacket/blazer (1 Kinderjackett)
  • Item 80: 1 Child’s set of pajamas (1 Kinder-Schlafanzug)

Household Textiles & Valuables

  • Item 6: 1 Real cat fur blanket/throw (1 Katzenfell)
  • Item 23: 2 Wool blankets (2 Wolldecken)
  • Item 41: 1 Tablecloth (1 Tischdecke)
  • Item 49: 6 Hand towels (6 Handtücher)
  • Item 50: 5 Kitchen dish towels (5 Geschirrtücher)
  • Item 51: 2 Bed comforter covers (2 Bettbezüge)
  • Item 52: 1 Bath towel (1 Badelaken)
  • Item 54: 1 Bed sheet (1 Bettlaken)
  • Items 55–56: 6 Pillowcases (6 Kissenbezüge)
  • Item 57: 7 Hand towels (7 Handtücher)
  • Item 61: 1 Handbag containing a 26-piece family silverware set (1 Tasche m. 26 Teilen Besteck)

There were also several items of furniture, including bed frames and a chair.

But these items never made it out of Germany.  They were seized by the Nazis in Hamburg after Eugen and his family were turned back to port in August 1939, and later auctioned off, the proceeds being kept by the Nazi government.

According to another document in Eugen Baer’s file in the LostLift database, on November 19, 1942, the government ordered a bailiff in Hamburg to auction off Eugen Baer’s confiscated possessions; the bailiff reported back on May 6, 1943, that the goods had been sold at auction for 655.50 Reichmarks  (RM) with an additional 15% added as a “buyer’s premium,” bringing the total proceeds to 753.85 RM.2 One calculation indicates that that would be worth almost $6000 today. After paying fees to the bailiff, the rest of the proceeds went back to the Nazi government in Hamburg.3

When Eugen filed a claim for restitution against the German government in 1958, he claimed compensation for all these items and the cost of shipping them from Bad Nauheim to Hamburg as well as compensation for other losses:4

  1. The cost of the tickets he had purchased for his family to travel to the United States from Hamburg in 1939 from HAPAG, the Hamburg shipping company, which Eugen claimed he had purchased for 838 RM, which, according to one calculation, would be worth about $8000 today;
  2. The value of debts he had never been able to collect; and
  3. The value of the furniture and household belongings that had been destroyed in Griedel as well as some jewelry that had been stolen.

The German government contested these various claims, but in the end provided compensation for the unused tickets and the goods that had been shipped to Hamburg and later sold at auction, but not for the items damaged by the Nazis in Griedel nor for the stolen jewelry and linens and other items that Eugen had lost. He was awarded 1200 DM in 1961. Accounting for inflation, that would be worth about $3350 dollars in 2026.5

Given that the auctioneer sold the shipped goods for what would now be worth about $6000 and that the unused tickets would be worth about $8000 in today’s US dollars and that the judgment did not include many other valuable items that the Baer family lost, the award obviously did not cover even their material losses.

Having endured so much persecution and abuse—their home vandalized and possessions stolen, their ship to safety being called back, Eugen being sent to a camp in France– no amount of money could compensate them for all the emotional, psychological, and other intangible losses and harm they’d suffered. But fortunately by the end of 1939, Eugen, Hedwig, and Adolf were safe in America along with all of Eugen’s siblings except Julius, who, as we saw, survived the war in France and Switzerland.

  1. LostLift database, German Maritime Museum – Leibniz Institute for Maritime History, “Removal good: Eugen Baer” (source: Staatsarchiv Hamburg 214-1_124, Baer, Eugen, Bad Nauheim, Bekleidung/Hausrat, Lgb. C 12/43, 1942–1943), https://lostlift.dsm.museum/en/detail/collection/a2f6b9b1-b72f-4649-9389-8d00c303527d. ↩
  2. LostLift database, German Maritime Museum – Leibniz Institute for Maritime History, “Removal good: Eugen Baer,” https://lostlift.dsm.museum/en/detail/collection/a2f6b9b1-b72f-4649-9389-8d00c303527d (last modified: 2 Aug. 2026). ↩
  3. RM 753 is converted here using the official 1943 exchange rate of approximately RM 2.50 = $1 (Marcuse, “Historical US Dollars to German Marks Currency Conversion”), then adjusted for inflation using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator. The resulting figure of almost $6000 is an approximation. ↩
  4. StAHH 213-13 Nr. 24475 (Z 24657), Eugen Baer, Anmeldung, 24 Feb. 1958. ↩
  5. Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 314-15 Oberfinanzpräsident, Nr. 885 (Bescheid, 27 March 1961). There was also an award of accumulated interest of 4% a year not included in this figure. ↩

Eugen Baer’s Escape from Germany, Part II: The Cancelled Ship

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We saw last time that Eugen Baer and his family left Griedel for Bad Nauheim and were in Bad Nauheim until August 1, 1939. According to their ship manifests, his wife Hedwig and son Adolf had visas for the US from the consulate in Stuttgart dated August 11, 1939, ten days later. But Eugen did not obtain his visa until October. And yet even Hedwig and Adolf did not sail for the US until November and Eugen not until December.

This had me perplexed. What could have held them up? Why didn’t they travel together? I had several theories. Maybe Eugen was sick. Maybe he had a harder time getting a visa. Maybe there were quotas for men that were different from women. Theories but no answers. I didn’t know why Eugen’s visa was dated so much later than that of his wife and son or why he didn’t get a ticket on the same ship as Hedwig and Adolf. Maybe there was no more room on that ship, maybe he needed to tie up loose ends before he could leave.

One thing my general research indicated was that none of them could have received a visa from the US consulate unless they already had tickets on a ship to the US.1 That meant that by August 11, 1939, at least Hedwig and Adolf and perhaps even Eugen already had purchased their tickets. And yet they didn’t arrive in the US for months.

And then I found a 2020 obituary for their son Adolf that revealed part of the story. It included this information:

Ed [as he was known in the US] was born on January 7, 1930 in Greidel [sic], Germany, and immigrated to New York City in 1939 with his mother, Hedwig. They settled in Baltimore, MD in 1940 when his father, Eugene, was able to join them after being separated from his family and held falsely in a French internment camp in Falaise.

So Eugen had been separated from his wife and son, but when? And why in France?

Only when I received the documents relating to the compensation claim that Eugen filed after the war was I able to put together more of their story. In detailing his emigration costs as part of that claim, Eugen claimed in part, “2½ tourist-class passages (per attached invoice) RM 1,163.12. These tickets were not used, since the ship was recalled before Southampton.”2

 

The file from Germany also included a confirmation of the purchase of these tickets from Hamburg-Amerika Linie, otherwise referred to as HAPAG, the shipping company from which Eugen and his family originally planned to travel to New York. This meant that at that time the ship was to sail in August, 1939, Eugen also must have had a visa from the US Consulate in Stuttgart, likely obtained the same time that Hedwig and Adolf received theirs.

HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Norddeutscher Lloyd/Hamburg-Amerika Linie Bestätigung, 1 Aug. 1939, p. 22.

But that ship was recalled, as Eugen wrote, because two weeks after they obtained their visas on August 11, 1939, Hitler ordered all German commercial ships to return to Germany or a neutral port, and no German ships could leave Germany after that date.3

This explains why despite having visas in August, Hedwig and Adolf did not leave until months later. Their original plan to leave failed once the ship had to return to port. The family thus had to purchase new tickets from a non-German shipping company sailing out of a non-German port. As Eugen wrote:4

We consequently had to stay in France. My wife and son could only continue on with the “Manhattan” after 3 months. I myself was interned and could only travel on 6 Dec. with a French ship, the “Oregon,” arriving here only on 28.12.39. These passages were paid in advance by my brother-in-law from New York and I had to repay him:
1½ passages from Verdun, approx. $175.—
1 [passage] from Le Havre, approx. $150.—
Stay in France for 3 months cost approx. $500.—

But when had they gotten to France? And where did they stay? The compensation claim file included a statement from Julius Baer, Eugen’s brother, who, as you may recall, had left Germany in 1936 and settled with his family in Molsheim, France, in the Alsace region. Julius wrote:

My brother Eugen came 8 days before the outbreak of war, with his family (wife and son) to us in Molsheim, in order to emigrate to America from here. He had already paid for the ship tickets on the “Hansa” and wanted to board the ship with his family at the port of Cherbourg. Due to the war events the ship did not sail, and so he traveled back from Cherbourg to Paris. He himself was held as a foreigner in a camp until the end of 1939, and his wife and son were sent to Bordeaux and Limoges. Since all three had no financial means and had not anticipated these events, I of course, as the only brother living here, had to provide for their support. I lent them, successively, sums amounting to the equivalent of 500 dollars.[translation by Claude.ai]

HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Jules Baer, eidesstattliche Versicherung, 3 June 1957, p. 47

World War II started on September 1, 1939, and eight days before September 1, 1939, was August 24, 1939. A separate confirmation from HAPAG indicates that August 24, 1939 was the day that Eugen, Helga, and Adolf were supposed to embark from Hamburg:

We hereby confirm that Mr. Eugen Baer and family traveled with our former ship S.S. HANSA on 24 August 1939 from Hamburg, and that this steamer was recalled one day after departure due to the threat of war, so that the family had to withdraw from the voyage. As is further evident from our records, the family’s assets were confiscated pursuant to an order of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD dated 2 November 1942.

HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Hamburg-Amerika Linie to Regierungspräsident Darmstadt, 25 April 1957, p. 52.

Thus, Eugen and family went to Molsheim after their ship was turned back, leaving behind their possessions. I cannot explain why Julius said they were sailing from Cherbourg and HAPAG says Hamburg, but as we will see, their possessions were confiscated in Hamburg. More on that to come in my next post.

We know from their ship manifest that Hedwig and Adolf were eventually able to get tickets on the US-owned ship, the SS Manhattan, and left from Le Verdun, France on November 7, 1939. But Eugen was left behind. I am hoping to get more information about his arrest and time in the French concentration camp, but for now we know that Eugen was later able to get a new visa to travel to the US in October and sailed out of France in December. On December 28, 1939, he joined his family in the United States.

 

 

  1. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Immigration to the United States, 1933–41,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/immigration-to-the-united-states-1933-41. ↩
  2. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden (HHStAW), Abt. 518, Nr. 23400 (Wiedergutmachungsakte Eugen Baer, 1954–1960) eidesstattliche Erklärung (emigration costs), 4 Feb. 1957, p. 21. [hereinafter cited as ” HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Eugen Baer” with the appropriate title and page number in the file.] ↩
  3. See, e.g., “The S.S. Bremen: Last Voyage of a Luxury Liner,” Cruising the Past, https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/the-s-s-bremen-last-voyage-of-a-luxury-liner/; also, see the Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung 1939–1945 (KTB Skl), the official daily war diary of the German Naval High Command, at https://uboatdata.ussleahy.com/SKL/1/Trans/wardiarygermanna11939germ.pdf ↩
  4. See Note 2, supra. ↩

Eugen Baer, Escaping the Nazis, Part I: Bad Nauheim

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Now that I am back from traveling, I will return to the saga of the Baer siblings, in particular the one remaining Baer sibling, Eugen. And his story, like that of his brother Julius, is quite complicated. Eugen and his wife Hedwig and son Adolf did not arrive in the US until after World War II had started. Hedwig and Adolf arrived on November 15, 1939, and Eugen arrived six weeks later on December 28, 1939.

I was curious as to why they arrived so late and why they arrived separately. Piecing together that story was a challenge. Rather than tell the story in a direct way, I’d like to take you on the roundabout journey I took to figure it out.

The first documents I studied about their departure were the two ship manifests, one for Hedwig and Adolf and one for Eugen. According to the information on the passenger manifest for Hedwig and Adolf, they had obtained US visas in Stuttgart on August 11, 1939, before the war started; they listed their last residence as Griedel, Germany.

Hedwig and Adolf Baer, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Looking at the passenger manifest for Eugen, however, I noticed that he did not receive his visa in Stuttgart until October 12, 1939, two months after his wife and son received theirs and six weeks after the war started. But since the US was not yet at war with Germany at that time, Eugen was still able obtain a visa from the US Consul in Stuttgart.

Eugen Baer, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Unlike Hedwig and Adolf’s manifest, which listed their last residence as Griedel, Eugen’s manifest listed his last residence as Bad Nauheim, a town where there was and is a resort and spa and that is less than ten miles from Griedel (and incidentally the town where his brother Arthur had moved to after his home and business were vandalized). I wondered: Why was Eugen living in Bad Nauheim, not Griedel? Was he ill? Is that why he left later? Is that why he didn’t apply for a visa when his wife and son did? Was the family living separately?

Thus began a search that took me through archives in Germany and France and through many other sources.

I found my next important clues in the LostLift Database, a database created by the German Maritime Museum that contains documents detailing the Nazi expropriation and sale of the belongings of Jewish refugees.1 I located a file in that database for Eugen Baer that included the following comment: “The furnishings of their apartment in Griedel near Friedberg were destroyed. The family then moved to Bad Nauheim and later emigrated to the USA.”

So I learned that the family’s home in Griedel had been ransacked and that the family had fled to Bad Nauheim, but there were no dates included as to when these events occurred. It took until more recently when I acquired files from the Hesse Archives in Wiesbaden2 that I learned more details. These files related to a claim for compensation that Eugen made after the war in part for boat tickets he had purchased for himself, his wife, and his son to leave Germany and immigrate to the United States, just as many of his siblings had already done.

Eugen filed this sworn statement as part of his compensation claim [translation by Claude.ai]: 3

Since 1929 I operated the cattle-trading business and butcher shop that had existed for many years, run by my late father, under the firm name Eugen Baer, Griedel b/Friedberg/Hessen.

After the seizure of power by the Third Reich on 30 January 1933 and the boycott of Jewish businesses, I had no way to continue my livelihood and was forced by measures of the Party to close the butcher shop already in 1933 and to give up the cattle trade in 1935.

The methods used are generally known and I consider it unnecessary to go into them further. However, I cannot fail to mention the following incident:

My son had to be transferred to the Israelite Hospital in Frankfurt/M for an operation, and my wife and I stayed overnight with the boy. The next day we returned to Griedel. When we entered our apartment, we were met with a scene of devastation that can hardly be described. On the evening of the previous day, a number of SS and SA men had forced their way into the house after breaking down the front door, and smashed everything that wasn’t nailed or bolted down. All the cupboards had been torn open and all valuables, clothing, linens, etc. destroyed and largely stolen. All the windowpanes and doors were smashed, nothing was spared. Pepper had been strewn in quantity throughout all the rooms, so that it was impossible to remain in the house. …

As a witness I can name the entire population of Griedel.
Signed: Eugen Baer

HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Eugen Baer, “Verfolgung,” p. 4.

Eugen did not include the date on which these attacks occurred, but from his statement and the description of the vandalism, I assume that it took place after 1935 and could have been during Kristallnacht on November 8-9, 1938, when many Jewish homes and synagogues were attacked by the Gestapo and SA and heavily vandalized and even destroyed.

An article entitled “A Special Homecoming” about Eugen’s family published on December 7, 2022, in JMore, the Baltimore Jewish community newspaper, provided an indication that this attack had occurred during Kristallnacht. It reported that, “Growing up in the German village of Griedel, Adolph “Ed” Baer [Eugen’s son] was often the victim of antisemitic bullying by his classmates. He witnessed the torching of his town’s synagogue during Kristallnacht, the 1938 “night of broken glass” ….” That language would suggest that the family had not left Griedel until after Kristallnacht.

One additional clue that helps to corroborate this possibility is the fact that Eugen and his family left Griedel by April 26, 1939. That fact appeared in another document in this compensation file. The town of Bad Nauheim reported that Eugen Baer was registered as a resident of Bad Nauheim from April 26, 1939, until August 1, 1939.4

HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Meldebestätigung, Bad Nauheim, 12 March 1957, p. 24.

Why did they choose Bad Nauheim as their refuge? There appear to have been two possible reasons. First, he had family there. Included in the LostLift database was a document that revealed that Eugen and presumably Hedwig and Adolf were living in Bad Nauheim at the address of Berthold Baer, Eugen’s second cousin.5 That may also explain why Eugen’s brother Arthur had also fled to Bad Nauheim.

Also, Bad Nauheim had had a Jewish community for centuries and had three hundred Jewish residents in 1933. Its synagogue was looted and severely damaged during Kristallnacht but not destroyed as was the case for so many other synagogues in Germany.

This article from the Jerusalem Post from November 11, 2017, provides more context:

BAD NAUHEIM, known for its hot springs, attracted many visitors, including Jews, looking for health benefits. There were a number of kosher hotels, and a significant percentage of the doctors who served the townspeople and guests were Jews.

Prior to the Nazi takeover, antisemitism was somewhat muted – the presence of paying guests who were Jews made overt hostility bad for business….The many guests from all over the world – including Dwight Eisenhower, who would later instruct the US Army Air Force to refrain from bombing the town – probably mitigated open antisemitism to a certain degree and may well have played a part in the preservation of the synagogue.….

IN BAD NAUHEIM, as elsewhere, Kristallnacht was traumatic for the Jewish community. On November 10, local Brownshirts gathered at a tavern and set out from there, with the active assistance of other residents, to destroy Jewish homes and shops. They looted and threw merchandise into the street. Hitler Youth joined them in removing clothing and furniture from destroyed homes and burning them.

The vice mayor and head of the local Nazi cell attempted to restrain the mob to some degree, especially when it came to private homes and the synagogue – an attempt that was only partially successful. The hooligans broke into the synagogue and defaced the large Stars of David on the building’s facade. Ritual articles and costly rugs were destroyed, although some holy objects had been removed to a different location for protection.

They set the building aflame – but it was extinguished by town residents recruited for the task. A French Red Cross delegation was visiting Bad Nauheim to observe its spa and therapeutic facilities, and municipal officials did not want foreign visitors to be eyewitnesses to the barbarity.

This is what ultimately saved the synagogue. Yet the damage was significant.

Thus, Eugen likely chose to move to Bad Nauheim because he had relatives there and because it was a safer place for his family to hide. Not that there weren’t Nazis there, but, as the article above indicates, the antisemitism was not as virulent there as in other places in Germany because it was a destination for many foreigners.

But obviously at some point Eugen and Hedwig realized that they had to get out of Germany and by August 1, 1939, one month before the war started, they left Bad Nauheim. But where did they go?

That requires another post.

  1. LostLift database, German Maritime Museum – Leibniz Institute for Maritime History, Person: Eugen Baer, Permalink: https://lostlift.dsm.museum/en/detail/person/3439a55b-b0da-43a3-8305-20e8d46ee767 (Last modified: 8.9.2025) [translated by Google] ↩
  2. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden (HHStAW), Abt. 518, Nr. 23400 (Wiedergutmachungsakte Eugen Baer, 1954–1960) [hereinafter cited as ” HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Eugen Baer” with the appropriate title and page number in the file. ↩
  3. HHStAW Abt. 518 Nr. 23400, Eugen Baer, “Verfolgung,” p. 4. ↩
  4. I can’t explain why Hedwig and Adolf’s last residence was given as Griedel on their manifest except to say it seems to be an error. ↩
  5. LostLift Database (Hamburg State Archives), Eugen Israel Baer file, Order for Auction, Aktz. U.89, Nov. 1942  Eugen’s father Eisemann Adolf Baer was the first cousin of Berthold Baer’s father Meier Baer. Eisemann and Meier were the grandchildren of Eisemann Baer and Breinie Bendheim. Berthold was born in Bad Nauheim. Berthold Bär, Gender männlich (Male), Birth Date 20 Dez 1895 (20 Dec 1895), Birth Place Bad Nauheim, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office, Bad Nauheim, Father Meier Bär, Mother Nannÿ Bär, Certificate Number 86, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 1167, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩

Arthur Baer Leaves Germany

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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.

  1. 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. ↩
  2. 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. ↩
  3. 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. ↩

The Baer Sisters and Two Brothers Leave Germany

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Therese Spier Baer, the first child of Samuel Spier, died on July 26, 1935, in Griedel, Germany, at the age of 64, leaving behind all eight of her children and all of her grandchildren. By that time the Nazis had come to power. What was the fate of those eight children and all of their children?

Even before Therese died, her youngest daughter Klara and her husband Hermann Fuld and their two-year-old daughter Helga had left Germany. They arrived in New York on March 22, 1934. On the passenger manifest for their ship, which sailed from Hamburg, they listed their destination as Jackson Heights in Queens, New York, where Hermann’s brother Max Fuld was living. Max had arrived in the US in 1926, long before the Nazi era.1

Klara Baer Fuld and family, passenver manifest, “New York City, New York, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95ZY-W4W?view=explore : Jul 30, 2026), image 161 of 847; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 004870034

When Klara filed her declaration of intention to become a US citizen on May 23, 1935, the family was living in the Bronx.

Klara Baer Fuld declaration of intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Description: (Roll 486) Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1842-1959 (No 364301-365300), Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943

However, by 1937 Herman and Clara (as spelled in the 1937 Baltimore directory) were living in Baltimore; Herman was associated with a disinfectant business called Fuld Brothers Inc. There were two other men listed in that directory, Joseph Fuld and Melvin Fuld, who also listed Fuld Brothers as their business. I assumed they were his relatives and that the business was why he and Clara moved to Baltimore.

Herman Fuld, Maryland, City Directory, 1937, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995

So I researched Joseph and Melvin Fuld and found that they were the sons of Solomon Fuld from Sickenhofen, the same town where Hermann Fuld was born. I then researched Solomon Fuld and found that he was the brother of Lazarus Fuld, Hermann’s father. So Melvin and Joseph Fuld were first cousins of Hermann. Interestingly, Solomon had come to the US back in 1894 and his sons were American born.2

By the time  Klara and Herman moved to Baltimore in about 1937, some of Klara’s siblings had also arrived in the US, but all after their mother Therese had died. Jenny Baer and her husband Julius Goldschmidt and their seven-year-old daughter Lore arrived in New York on July 31, 1936, along with Julius’ mother Lina, a widow. They listed Atlantic City as their final destination on the manifest, but on January 25, 1937, when Julius filed his declaration of intention, they were living in the Bronx. Julius, who had listed his occupation on the manifest as a merchant, now listed his occupation as a mechanic.3

Julius Goldschmidt and family, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Hansa, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Selma Baer and his husband Julius Siegmann were the next to arrive. They and their three sons, Heinz (later Henry), Adolph (later Edward), and Erich (later Eric) arrived in New York on October 7, 1937. They listed Julius Goldschmidt, Jenny’s husband, as the person they were going to and their destination as the Bronx. Julius Siegmann listed his occupation as a cattle dealer, but clearly there was no opportunity to pursue that in the Bronx!

Selma Baer Siegmann and family, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Gerolstein, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Just a month later the next Baer sibling arrived, Paula, along with her husband Julius Steinberg and their teenage son Kurt. They arrived in New York on November 11, 1937, indicating that they were going to Paula’s sister Clara in Baltimore.

Paula Baer Steinberg and family, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Champlain, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

When Paula filed her declaration of intention on March 2, 1938, they were in fact living in Baltimore.

Paula Baer Steinberg declaration of intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pa; Petitions For Naturalization, 1903-1972; NAI Number: 654310; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21
Petitions 24451-24750, Ancestry.com. Maryland, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1931

Thus, the four sisters—Klara, Jenny, Selma, and Paula—-were all safely in the US and out of Europe before their four brothers. Were the women more able to see the writing on the wall and willing to leave Germany behind or did they marry men who had that foresight?

The oldest brother Meyer Manfred Baer, his wife Friedel, and their son Erich arrived in New York on July 22, 1938, just a few months after Paula. Meyer listed his occupation as a butcher on the manifest.

Meyer Manfred Baer and family, passenger manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ship or Roll Number: Washington, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Although the manifest did not indicate their destination, the family ended up in Baltimore like Klara and Paula, as seen on Meyer’s declaration of intention dated October 29, 1938. He was still working as a butcher.

Meyer Manfred Baer declaration of intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pa; Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1911-1967; NAI Number: 573394; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Description: Declarations 27401-28200, Ancestry.com. Maryland, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1931

Arthur Baer’s story is not quite as straightforward. In the aftermath of Kristallnacht in November 1938, he was arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp; he was released on December 28, 1938, and like the others arrested after Kristallnacht, he left Germany soon after being released.4

UPDATE: I have now realized that this was a different man named Arthur Baer. My cousin Arthur Baer was not sent to Buchenwald! In fact, as we will see in a subsequent post, he left Griedel before Kristallnacht and was living in Bad Nauheim. More on that to come. The paragraphs below, however, are accurate. Arthur and his family did escape to England.

Arthur and his wife Erna and their son Erich escaped to England, where they appear living in London on the 1939 England and Wales Register which identified Arthur and Erna as refugees. Arthur was temporarily interned in England as an alien enemy but was released on November 25, 1940. As we will see, Arthur and his family eventually came to the United States.

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

Arthur Baer UK World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945, The National Archives; Kew, London, England; HO 396 WW2 Internees (Aliens) Index Cards 1939-1947; Reference Number: HO 396/166, Piece Number Description: 166: German Internees Released In UK 1939-1942: Ba-Berg, Ancestry.com. UK, World War II Alien Internees, 1939-1945

The remainingg two siblings, Eugen and Julius, have much more complicated stories that will follow in the posts to come, but as we can see, Paula, Jenny, Selma, Clara, Meyer, and Arthur were safely out of Germany before 1940.

  1. Max Fuld, Petition for Naturalization, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; NAI Title: Index to Petitions For Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906; NAI Number: 5700802; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Rg 21, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  2. Sol Fuld, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 4 Jan 1875, Birth Place Sickenhofen, Federal Republic of Germany, Father Joseph Field Mother Bertha Simon, SSN 212091919, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; Solomon Fuld and family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Baltimore Ward 15, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll: T624_558; Page: 2b; Enumeration District: 0255; FHL microfilm: 1374571, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Julius Goldschmidt, declaration of intention, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; NAI Title: Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906; NAI Number: 5700802; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Description: Petitions For Naturalization From Us District Court For the Southern District of New York, 1897-1944, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  4. Arthur Baer, Religion Jude, Record Type Register, Departure Date 28 Dez 1938 (28 Dec 1938), Prisoner Type Schutzhaft, Prisoner Number 22955, Reference Number 00116100004, Arolsen Archives; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Group 1 Camp Lists, Ancestry.com. Arolsen Concentration Camp Lists, 1939-1944 ↩

Meier Rothschild, Part V: Siegfried Friedrich Rothschild

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After several weeks focused on updates on Berthold Rothschild and other topics, I now will return to the other children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge. As with the three oldest children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge, Berthold, Theodor, and Gertrud, I struggled to learn more about what happened to their fourth child Siegfried Friedrich Rothschild and his family during and after the Holocaust.

I have no actual records or even indices of records that show where Siegfried and his wife Gisela Katz and sons were in the 1930s or 1940s, but multiple factors indicate that they went to Palestine/Israel. First, there are some entries on the IGRA website for a Zigfried Rotschild, and that could be Siegfried, but I cannot be certain. Secondly, one of Siegfried’s sons used the name Zeev Rotem; and that may indicate that the family was at least for some time in Israel because Zeev is a common Israeli name and  Rotem is a Hebrew term for the tamarisk plant found in Israel. I doubt that Zeev was born with that name in Germany, but rather that it is a name he adopted in Israel. But these are just circumstantial bits of evidence, nothing definitive.

But my assumption that the family went to Israel at some point is also reinforced by the grave memorials I found on the Gravez site for both Siegfried and Gisela. Siegfried died on September 14, 1972, and Gisela died on December 26, 1998. They are both buried in the same cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel. Does that mean they lived in Israel or that they had spent the war years in what was then Palestine? No. Many are buried in Israel who did not live there. But all these clues together support an assumption that Siegfried and Gisela and their sons lived for some time in Israel.

Their son Zeev may have spent time in Israel, but according to this death record, he had been a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada for nine years when he died at the age of 46 on November 20, 1973, in Vancouver, Canada. He was survived by his wife and children. He had been a professor in the mechanical engineering department, according to a death notice located online.

Zeev Rotem death certificate, Zeev Rotem, Birth Circa 1927, Death Nov 20 1973, Vancouver, British Columbia, Age at death 46, Registration # 1973-09-016282, BCA microfilm # B13328
GSU microfilm # 2050141, Canada, British Columbia deaths, MyHeritage at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-20459-596398-/zeev-rotem-in-canada-british-columbia-deaths?indId=externalindividual-b78e16dee8e36e46fe53394e9101649b&trn=partner_Geni&trp=logged_out_matches_module

As you can see, this record ties Zeev Rotem to Gisela Katz, his mother, and to “Frederick Rotem.” Siegfried’s middle name was Friedrich, and my guess is that this is how the informant remembered Zeev’s father’s name.

UPDATE: Thanks to Mark Goldsmith who sent me a link to the obituary for Zeev’s widow Chava Eve Rotem, I am able to fill in a few gaps in this blog. According to her obituary, she and Zeev were married in Palestine in 1947. Eve was born in Berlin on January 15, 1928, and escaped to Palestine when she was five. She trained as a doctor in Switzerland and then returned to Palestine where in 1948 she and Zeev volunteered to help resettle refugees from Nazi Germany. After completing her medical studies in 1949, she and Zeev went to England where their two children were born. They returned to Israel in 1960, but then moved to the US and ultimately to British Columbia, where she and her children continued to live after Zeev’s death in 1973. Chava died on August 15, 2020, after a very distinguished career as a cardiologist in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was survived by her children and grandchildren. (Another obituary here has some differences, but the essence is the same.)

As for Gunther Michael Rothschild, Zeev’s younger brother and the youngest grandchild of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge, a search on FamilySearch turned up some very helpful documents. First, I found his Declaration of Intention to become a US citizen. That document revealed that Gunther Michael Rothschild was living in Detroit, Michigan, when he filed the declaration on November 27, 1953. It also revealed that he had arrived in the US on July 29, 1952. Finally, it reported that Gunther was a citizen of Israel, proof that he had been living in Israel and more evidence suggesting that the other members of his family had as well.

Gunther Michael Rothschild dec of intent, “Michigan, Naturalization Records, 1837-1997”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CLHY-RRPZ : Thu Apr 10 18:17:38 UTC 2025), Entry for Gunther Michael Rothschild, 27 Nov 1953.

I had no idea why Gunther Michael would have been living in Detroit until I found his petition for naturalization on FamilySearch. Gunther Michael Rothschild became a US citizen on August 22, 1957.On his petition he again stated he was a citizen of Israel and that he was living in Detroit but added that he was a student. Most helpful were the names of the witnesses who supported the petition, in particular a man named Louis L. Friedland who identified himself as a professor.

“Michigan, Naturalization Records, 1837-1997”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CV38-FWZM : Thu Apr 10 14:56:55 UTC 2025), Entry for Gunther Michael Rothschild.

I googled “Louis L. Friedland” and learned that he had been a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. Further googling uncovered a commencement program from Wayne State in 1958 that listed G. Michael Rothschild as a candidate for a bachelor’s of science degree in industrial engineering.

A passenger manifest from August 1958 lists Michael Rothschild, as he seemed to be known in the US, as a passenger coming from the US, his permanent residence, going to England for two weeks. His occupation was a student. A few months later in December 1958 he is listed on a passenger manifest card as a US citizen residing in Detroit, Michigan. I found several records showing him traveling between the US and England during the 1950s and 1960s as well.1

Some records from Ancestry’s “Public Records” Index list Gunther living in various places in the US over many years including into the 2000s.2 I could not find, however, any news articles or other records revealing more about him. I don’t know whether Gunther Michael Rothschild ever married or had children. According to the Social Security Applications and Claim Index entry for Gunther Michael Rothschild, he died on October 10, 2007.3 Entries on FamilySearch and Geni indicate he was buried in Tel Aviv, but I cannot find his grave on Gravez or anywhere else. So perhaps he was living in the US, perhaps at some point he’d returned to Israel. I sent a message to the manager of his profile on MyHeritage, and perhaps I will learn more.

Piecing this all together, it seems safe to assume that at some point the family of Siegfried Friedrich Rothschild lived in Israel, but their son Zeev spent years in Canada and their son Gunther Michael spent many years in the US. If and when I learn more, I will update the blog.

Coming soon! Ten days until the release of The Women Before Us on Amazon! You can pre-order the Kindle version now and both paperback and Kindle versions will be released on June 20.

 

 

  1.  Michael Rothschild, Arrival Age 27, Birth Date 11 Mar 1931, Port of Departure New York, New York, USA, Arrival Date 2 Aug 1958, Port of Arrival Southampton, England, Ports of Voyage New York and Galway, Ship Name Ryndam, Shipping Line Escombe, McGrath and Company Ltd, Official Number 7767/20, The National Archives in Washington, DC; London, England, UK; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: Bt26; Piece: 1410; Item: 74, Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960. There are several passenger cards for him leaving from the US in Ancestry. ↩
  2. E.g., Michael M Rothschild, [G Michael Rothschild], [Gunther M Rothschild], [Michael G Rothschild], Birth Date Mar 1931, Residence Date 2002-2020, Residence Shokan, New York, USA, Postal Code 12481, Second Residence Date 2001-2012, Second Residence Norwich, Connecticut, USA, Second Postal Code 06360, Third Residence Date 2002-2012, Third Address Po Box 403, Third Residence Shokan, New York, USA, Third Postal Code 12481, Ancestry.com. U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019 ↩
  3. Michael Rothschild, [Gunther Michael Rothschild], [G Rothschild], Gender Male
    Race White, Birth Date 11 Mar 1931, Birth Place Werezmunde, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date 10 Oct 2007, Father Sigfried F Rothschild, Mother Giseca Katz
    SSN 078284849, Notes Aug 1952: Name Listed As Michael Rothschild; Nov 1952: Name Listed As Gunther Michael Rothschild; 21 Jun 2005: Name Listed As G Michael Rothschild; 22 Dec 2007: Name Listed As G M Rothschild, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩

Meier Rothschild’s Daughter Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn and Her Family: How and Where Did They Survive the Holocaust?

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Finally, after a few weeks without a post, I return to the children of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge. Meier was the youngest child of Gelle Blumenfeld and my second cousin, three times removed. I am up to his third child, Gertrud.

As with her brothers Berthold and Theodor, I have also struggled to find reliable information about the third child of Meier Rothschild and Bertha Lorge, their daughter Gertrud Rothschild, her husband Gustav Neuhahn, and their daughter Ruth.

I found Gertrud on a passenger manifest card dated January 22, 1962, for a flight to Houston from Mexico City. On that card her residence is given as Tel Aviv, Israel. I could not find a comparable card for Gustav or their children.

Gertrud Rothschild Neuhahn passenger manifest card, The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Houston, Texas; ARC Number: A3982; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, NARA Roll Number: 50, Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1963

I searched for them all in Israel and found this interesting document in the Israel Genealogical Research Association (IGRA) website:

This is a list of packages sent from Israel to people in Europe who were Holocaust survivors; the program was organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. One of those sending packages in 1945 was “Neuhahn-Rothschild,” presumably Gertrud, and the intended recipient was Theodor Rothschild, her brother, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. That reaffirms the fact that Theodor was in Monaco and also establishes that Gertrud was in Tel Aviv in 1945, but not anything more.

A search on the IGRA site for Ruth Neuhahn revealed more evidence of the Neuhahn family in Palestine in 1944. A list of registered voters in 1944 shows Ruth, her parents, and a previously undiscovered sister Tirza living in Tel Aviv.

Neuhahn family on 1944 Voters Registration list found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/

This translates as:

Yosef Neuhahn, son of Zelig

Gertrud Neuhahn, daughter of Shlomo

Ruth Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef

Tirza Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef

That matches what I know about Gustav; his father was Selig Neuhahn. Gustav’s Hebrew name must have been Yosef. I was confused by Gertrud’s name since her father was Meier, but perhaps he used Shlomo as his Hebrew name. And I have no prior record for a daughter named Tirza or by any other name. Unfortunately, I cannot find any later record for Tirza Neuhahn.

I did, however, locate a marriage record for Ruth Neuhahn on the IGRA website:

Marriage of Ruth Neuhahn to Moritz Neumann, found at IGRA, https://genealogy.org.il/AID/

The record shows that Ruth Neuhahn, daughter of Yosef and Gertrud Neuhahn, age 22, married Moritz Neumann, son of Shimon and Chaya Neumann, age 35, on  February 2, 1945, in Tel Aviv. Both resided in Petah Tikva, Moritz was a clerk, and Ruth a typist.

On Ancestry I located some passenger manifest cards for Ruth and two women with the same surname and addresses who I presume are her daughters. For example, here is a passenger card for Ruth Neumann in June 1959, stating that her nationality was Israeli, but her residence was in Mexico. She was traveling and staying in San Antonio, Texas. She also traveled in Miami in 1960 and in 1962,1 reporting the same facts. Her residence in Mexico may explain why her mother Gertrud had been flying from Mexico to San Antonio in 1962, as seen above.

Ruth Neumann passenger manifest card 1959, The National Archives At Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At San Antonio, Texas; ARC Number: A3524; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, NARA Roll Number: 28, Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1963

Thus, in 1962 Ruth was still living in Mexico, still an Israeli citizen, and now visiting Miami, Florida. As for her husband Moritz, one tree on Ancestry shows that he died in Mexico City in 2003 and that Ruth died there as well. I have written to the owner of that tree and am hoping that she can share more information about Gertrud, Gustav, and Ruth, and their family.

If I can get more information about Gertrud and her family, I will update the blog. But for now this is the best I can do. The good news is that it appears that all of Gertrud’s family all survived the Holocaust.

  1.  Name Ruth Neumann, Nationality Israeli, Arrival Age 40, Birth Date 18 Mar 1920
    Birth Place Kassel, Germany, Record Type Arrival Arrival Date 2 May 1960, Arrival Place Miami, Florida, USA, Flight Number 150, Airline Guest Aerovias Mexico, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: A3995; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963; Ruth Neumann, Nationality Israeli, Arrival Age 42, Birth Date 18 Mar 1920, Birth Place Germany, Record Type Arrival, Arrival Date 19 May 1962, Arrival Place Miami, Florida, USA, Flight Number 100, Airline Gam, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving At Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: A3995; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963 ↩

Meier Rothschild’s son Theodor Rothschild and His Family: How and Where did They Survive the Holocaust? And Who Was Willie Weisbecker?

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Although it was hard to find much about the life of Berthold Rothschild and his family after the Nazis came to power in Germany, I was able to scratch together some basics: the death of his ex-wife in a Nazi-run hospital in Herborn, his death in South Africa, his profession (photographer), the marriage of his daughter Adelheid to Manson Samson at Westerbork, and the young couple’s survival of their time in Nazi concentration camps.

Turning to Berthold’s oldest sibling Theodor Rothschild and his family, my research was also less than complete. But I did find out a few things.

First, a file in the Arolsen Archives included the name of Theodor Rothschild.1 A translation of that file reveals its purpose:

To all German universities

Breslau, 12 February 1941

The following named persons have, on the basis of § 2 of the Law on the Revocation of Naturalizations and the Deprivation of German Citizenship of 14 July 1933, been declared to have forfeited German citizenship.

In view of this, the academic doctoral degrees awarded to them by the competent faculties of the University of Breslau have been revoked by resolution of the Dean’s Committee of the Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Breslau dated 5 February 1941.

The revocation becomes effective with this publication. No legal remedy is permitted.

Theodor Rothschild is listed as one of those whose degree was being revoked. He is grouped with those with a doctorate in dentistry and identified as follows: “Rothschild, Theodor, born 16 Mar. 1891 in Hof, district of Kassel, doctorate 26 Sept. 1929.” This meant that Theodor had lost his citizenship as well as his doctorate.

By doing a full-text search on FamilySearch, I found a letter written by someone named Willie Weisbecker to the US State Department on July 7, 1941, requesting the appropriate forms to apply for visas for eight different families. Theodore Rothschild and his wife and daughters were one of the listed families (#7), as was someone named  Berthold Rothschild and his wife Minna (#2). I learned that Willie Weisbecker was a German-born immigrant to the US who was an attorney and active in helping former German Jews recover compensation for property that was confiscated by the Nazis.2

“United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/
ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M93C-G?view=fullText : Feb 6, 2026), image 1058 of 1101;
United States. Department of State. Image Group Number: 008699970
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M93C-G?view=fullText

Although Theodore was described as a second cousin to Willie, Berthold was described as his brother-in-law. I have no record of Theodor’s brother Berthold being married to a woman named Minna, though we know that his first wife Sarah had died in 1937. I thus am not sure that the Berthold Rothschild listed was the same person as Theodor’s older brother Berthold. I did find a tree on JewishGen with a different Berthold Rothschild married to a woman named Minna Weisbecker, so assuming that is accurate, the Berthold Rothschild in Willie’s letter is not my relative.

That made me wonder whether the Theodor Rothschild in Willie’s letter was in fact the same Theodor Rothschild on my family tree. I spent a great deal of time down the rabbit hole without any luck, trying to figure out how Willie Weisbecker was a second cousin (or any cousin) to Theodore Rothschild or his wife Bettina Schiff. The fact that Willie listed Theodor as from Monaco and having two daughters supports the assumption that this was the same Theodor Rothschild who was the son of Meier Rothschild and thus my cousin because other documents (discussed below) revealed that Theodor did live in Monaco. And I knew that he did have two daughters, Doris and Ellen.

But if Theodor and Willie were second cousins, they would share great-grandparents; same if Theodor’s wife Bettina and Willie were second cousins. So far, however, I have not found any commonality in the ancestries of Theodor and Willie or Bettina and Willie. I have contacted a person who has an extensive Ancestry tree for the Weisbecker family to see if he can help me find a link.

In any event, the State Department responded to Willie’s letter, agreeing to send the required forms for all the people listed in the letter except for those still in Germany.

“United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/
ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M97K-M?view=fullText : Feb 6, 2026), image 1060 of 1101;
United States. Department of State. Image Group Number: 008699970
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V386-M97K-M?view=fullText

I don’t know whether Theodor ever completed those forms and applied for a visa, but in any event I have no record of him or his family ever coming to the United States.

Rather, I found on MyHeritage references for the French naturalization for both Theodor and his daughter Ellen on May 27, 1949. 3 But I did not find any naturalization references for either Theodor’s wife Bettina or his older daughter Doris. Willie Weisbecker’s letter indicated that Monaco was part of the unoccupied territory of France in July 1941, and I don’t think that’s technically correct since Monaco has always been a separate sovereign country. But France did allow residents of Monaco to become French citizens by decree if certain conditions were met.4

Although I did not find a naturalization record for Theodor’s daughter Doris, I did find a French death record showing that she died in Saint-Gratien, Val-d’Oise, France, on February 13, 2017. She would have been 97 years old.5

For Theodor and Bettina, the only other references I could find are a FindAGrave memorial showing that they both died and are buried in Monaco. Theodor died in 1961, Bettina in 1982.6

I don’t know how accurate those memorials are, but those same dates and locations also appear in an Ancestry family tree that could be that of a descendant. I have written to the tree owner for more information, hoping she knows the story of Theodor and Bettina and their daughters. Her tree has more information about the daughters and their marriages, but I’d prefer to wait to learn more than to rely on a tree alone. For now, this is all I have records for about the lives of Theodor Rothschild and his family.

If and when I learn more, I will update the blog accordingly.

  1.  1 Incarceration Documents / 1.2 Miscellaneous / 1.2.1 Deportations and Transports /, Glatz (Lower Silesia): Minutes and correspondence concerning the collection of Jewish property, compulsory names, expatriation and deportation of the Jewish population (1938-1943), Reference Code 10007588 Creation Date 1938-12-06 – 1943-05-10 ↩
  2. “Willie Weisbecker, Lawyer and Writer,” The New York Times, December 4, 1955, p. 88 ↩
  3. Ellen ROTHSCHILD, Birth Mar 7 1929, Kassel, District de Kassel, Hesse, Allemagne, Naturalization May 27 1949, France, Notes Cette personne était un enfant mineur lorsque ses parents ont bénéficié d’un décret de Naturalisation, de Réintégration ou d’Admission sur lequel elle a été mentionnée, il est donc Français par EFFET COLLECTIF., Source Les naturalisations entre 1900 et 1963, Decree Number 12302-38, Reference Number H002-NAT1056319, Sources Journal Officiel, found at MyHeritage, https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-14015-409204/ellen-rothschild-in-france-naturalizations?s=OYYV67OZ5BWBQ5GHZXDK3ZTZXZLZYQY; Théodore ROTHSCHILD
    Birth Mar 16 1891, Hoof, Schauenburg, District de Kassel, Hesse, Allemagne
    Naturalization May 27 1949, France, Notes A l’origine cette personne était de nationalité étrangère, elle est devenue française en bénéficiant d’un décret de NATURALISATION. Le premier texte concernant les naturalisations d’étrangers en France est un arrêt du Parlement de Paris daté de 1515: “L’enfant né en France de parents étrangers est Français s’il choisit de se fixer définitivement en France”
    Source Les naturalisations entre 1900 et 1963, Decree Number 12302-38
    Reference Number H002-NAT1056334, Sources Journal Officiel, found at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-14015-765667/theodore-rothschild-in-france-naturalizations ↩
  4. Ordonnance n° 45-2441, 19 oct. 1945 (Fr.), Code de la nationalité française art. 60–62 (1945). ↩
  5. Doris Rothschild, Gender femme (Female), Death Age 97, Birth Date févr. 1920 (Feb 1920), Birth Place Kassel, Allemagne (Germany), Death Date 13 févr. 2017 (13 Feb 2017), Death Place Saint-Gratien, Val-D”Oise (Val-d’Oise), France, Certificate Number 27, URL https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/fichier-des-personnes-decedees/, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (Insee); Paris, France; Fichier des personnes décédées; Roll #: deces-2017.txt, Ancestry.com. Web: France, Death Records, 1970-2021 ↩
  6. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99379564/theodore-rothschild: accessed February 5, 2026), memorial page for Dr Theodore Rothschild (1891–1961), Find a Grave Memorial ID 99379564, citing Cimetière de Monaco and Columbarium, Monaco-Ville, Monaco; Maintained by: Find a Grave. ↩