Tag Archives: Baer

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. ↩

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 “Case” Against Julius Baer: A Page out of Kafka’s The Trial

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It’s been several weeks since I last posted about my Baer cousins, the children of Therese Spier and Eisenmann Adolf Baer and great-great-grandchildren of Sprintz Blumenfeld, the sister of my three-times great-grandmother, Breine Blumenfeld. I had an incredible couple of weeks with my own children and grandchildren and a chance to re-energize myself for more genealogy research. Discussing my latest novel, The Women Before Us, with my daughter has made me realize once again how important it is to preserve the stories and memories of our ancestors.

And so now I will return to the story of Julius Baer, the youngest child of Therese Spier Baer, and his experiences during the Nazi era.

In my last post I confessed that I had gotten myself into a deep hole by confusing my cousins Julius and Arthur Baer with two unrelated men with the same names and concluding that both of my cousins had been arrested after Kristallnacht in 1938 and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. But thanks to Bryan Knobloch, who shared with me pages from Hanno Muller’s book Familienbuch Butzbach Band V: Judenfamilien in Butzbach und seinen Stadtteilen (Family Book Butzbach Volume 5: Jewish Families in Butzbach and its Districts), I discovered that mistake and learned that my Julius Baer was not even in Germany in 1938.

Muller’s note on Julius Baer indicated that he had owned a ready-made clothing store in Butzbach, Germany, and that he was “said to have been a communist and was brought to the Osthofen concentration camp near Worms in February 1933 together with Josef Oppenheimer.”  The note further reported that Julius and his family had left Germany for France in 1936, then fled to Switzerland in 1942, returning to France after World War II ended.

Having made one mistake, I wanted to be sure I was more careful before relying on Muller’s report, and so I wrote to the Hesse Archives in Darmstadt for documentation of Julius’ arrest and imprisonment in Osthofen and to Switzerland for documentation of his time there during the war. I also wrote to France for information about Julius’ life in France and asked a cousin in France for further help in that country. I’ve received the documents from Darmstadt and from Switzerland and will now report on some of the German documents.1

The documents from Germany are, of course, in German, so I used claude.ai to translate them. Since most of them were typed, not handwritten, the translations are likely accurate. Rather than post the entire text and images, I will summarize the important points and quote and include the appropriate images of the documents where appropriate.

I immediately noticed two errors in the Muller note about Julius Baer and his arrest and imprisonment. First, it took place in 1934, not 1933, and second, he was arrested with a man named Julius Ehrlich, not Joseph Oppenheimer, as named in the Muller note. Both Julius Ehrlich and Julius Baer were charged with making disparaging remarks about the SA leader Ernst Roehm on January 5, 1934, in Ehrlich’s shoe store. SA is the abbreviation used to refer to the Sturmabteilung, or Stormtroopers, the Nazi’s paramilitary force.

Two women, Luisa Zahrt and Ria Artz, were in the shop at the time and reported Ehrlich and Baer to the local Nazi government, which then issued the following order on January 10, 1934:2

Enclosed I am sending you a sworn statement against the Jew Julius Bär, born 5/15/1900 in Griedel; residence: Wetzlarerstrasse 31 (Butzbach), who disparaged and insulted Chief of Staff Röhm through his remarks in a public shop. I request that this Jew be sent to Osthofen without delay, along with his racial fellow Julius Ehrlich, Butzbach, Cleebergerstrasse 11, born January 3, 1882 in Friedberg, who provoked the conversation in question through his provocative questions.

According to Ria Artz’s sworn statement:3

On Friday, January 5, 1934, after 6 pm, I went with Miss Luise Zahrt, born 8/6/1915 in Lang-Göns, into the Ehrlich shoe shop, Butzbach, Wetzlarerstrasse, to exchange shoes for acquaintances.

On this occasion the shop owner Ehrlich asked: “Do you also need brown SA boots?” The Jew Bär, [of the] textile trade, Butzbach, who was present, then said the following words to us: “From now on the girls will get SA boots too, and Chief of Staff Röhm will become the Führer!”

Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Bestand G 15, Nr. Q 149 (Schutzhaftsache Julius Ehrlich, Butzbach, und Julius Baer, Griedel, 1934), p. 7

(Interestingly, Roehm was perceived as a rival and a threat by Hitler and was killed on Hitler’s orders on July 1, 1934, just six months after these charges were filed.)

It was those alleged words by Ehrlich and Baer that led to their arrest and interrogation; both denied much of Ria Artz’s story. On January 18, 1934, on being questioned by the police, Julius Ehrlich gave the following sworn statement:4

It is correct that in early January of this year, Luise Zahrt from Lang-Göns was in my shop with a female friend. Zahrt exchanged shoes there. I cannot recall precisely whether it was on 5.1.34. I know Luise Zahrt very well, as she has bought from my shop on several occasions before. Owing to the long-standing business connection with Zahrt and her relatives, I address the young woman informally (“Du”) and make jokes with her whenever she makes a purchase.

It is possible that I therefore said to the girls, jokingly: “May I try some long boots on you?” I also stock long boots in various styles. I use this humorous turn of phrase often with good acquaintances.

However, I must dispute that I said to the girls: “Do you also need brown SA boots?”

The merchant Julius Bär of this town happened also to be in my shop as a customer while the girls were there. Whether Bär said to the girls: “From now on the girls will get SA boots too, and Chief of Staff Röhm will become the Führer,” is not within my knowledge, as I was occupied elsewhere at the time. However, I can recall that Bär did speak with the girls.

It was absolutely far from my intention to insult anyone in any way, especially since girls do not wear SA boots at all.

Julius Baer initially gave the following statement on January 19, 1934:5

I have been in Ehrlich’s shop several times before. That I am supposed to have been at Ehrlich’s on 5.1.34, when two young women were exchanging shoes, is not known to me and I cannot recall anything of the sort.

The accusations that the two girls raise against me are invented.

I definitely cannot recall having said to two girls, at Ehrlich’s or anywhere else: “From now on the girls will get SA boots, and Chief of Staff Röhm will become their leader.”

I can give no further information on the matter.

But Julius then amended his statement, saying,6

After careful reflection, it occurs to me that I was in Ehrlich’s shop, where the two girls in question were also present. Mr. Ehrlich, on that occasion, spoke jokingly with the girls and offered them long boots. It is possible that I said, on that occasion: “The girls are getting SA boots now too.” But that Chief of Staff Röhm was to become their leader — that I definitely did not say.

I have to admit that Julius undermined his credibility by his recanting of his initial denial of being in the store, but nevertheless, the question remains, even if Ehrlich and Baer said exactly what the two women claimed, what was the crime? Joking about the SA’s boots? Its leader? Apparently so.

On January 22, 1934, Ehrlich was sentenced to four weeks and Julius Baer to six weeks of “protective custody” in the Osthofen prison camp and were transported there on February 1, 1934.7

Julius Baer’s lawyer petitioned for early release of Julius. He introduced a number of witness statements in support of his client’s release: a letter from a doctor attesting to the poor health of Julius’ mother, Therese Spier Baer, who was suffering from angina pectoris; a statement from the mayor of Griedel attesting to the service of Julius’ father guarding prisoners of war during World War I despite being beyond draft age; a statement from the mayor of Butzbach as to Julius Baer’s good standing in that town; a statement from Julius’ brother Meier listing his service for Germany during World War I, including being wounded at the Battle of Verdun on August 10, 1918; and a statement from the mayor of Griedel about Julius’ own service for Germany during World War I. In exchange for 150 Reichmarks to be donated to the Butzbach Winter Relief Fund, the authorities agreed to release Julius Baer after four weeks in custody on March 1, 1934, the same day that the four-week term of Julius Ehrlich expired.8

So for allegedly making a joke about the SA and its leader, my cousin Julius Baer was sent to a prison camp for a month. Imagine his own fear, imagine how terrified his wife and child must have been. This is how a fascist government operates; it uses fear and force to intimidate its citizens so that they cannot even make jokes about that government without fear of imprisonment. It turns other citizens into informers who rat out their fellow citizens. It makes all of us suspicious of each other and frightened to speak up against those who are persecuted.

The next post will discuss what happened to Julius Baer and his family after he was released from Osthofen on March 1, 1934.

  1. Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Bestand G 15, Nr. Q 149 (Schutzhaftsache Julius Ehrlich, Butzbach, und Julius Baer, Griedel, 1934). There are 28 pages of documents in this folder. I will refer to the relevant pages below. ↩
  2. Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Bestand G 15, Nr. Q 149 (Schutzhaftsache Julius Ehrlich, Butzbach, und Julius Baer, Griedel, 1934), document 3 ↩
  3. Ibid., p. 7 ↩
  4. Ibid., p. 25 ↩
  5. Ibid., p. 27 ↩
  6. Ibid., p. 28 ↩
  7. Ibid., p. 28 ↩
  8. Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Bestand G 15, Nr. Q 149 (Schutzhaftsache Julius Ehrlich, Butzbach, und Julius Baer, Griedel, 1934)(multiple pages in the file) ↩

When I Assume, I Make An Ass Out of ME!

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As we saw in the last post, the four daughters and one of the sons of Therese Spier Baer escaped from Germany before Kristallnacht and ended up in the United States. Klara was in Baltimore as was Paula while Jenny and Selma were living in New York. Their brother Meyer/Manfred settled in Baltimore. Another son, Arthur Baer, escaped with his family to England.

But I realized after publishing my last post that I had made an error in my research about Arthur Baer and that he had never spent time in Buchenwald. I have updated my last post to correct this error, and I’ll write more about Arthur Baer’s actual story in a later post. I only realized I’d made that error when I discovered I’d made a similar error in researching Arthur’s brother Julius. In researching both Julius and Arthur, I made stupid assumptions that led me down a deep rabbit hole that led me nowhere for quite a while.

According to records in the Arolsen Archives, a man named Julius Baer was arrested during June 1938 as part of a mass arrest of Jewish men to force their emigration from Germany. The record revealed that he was released from Sachsenhausen concentration camp on July 16, 1938.1 There was no birthdate or birthplace on those records, and I made the fatal novice genealogist error of assuming that this was my Julius Baer. That assumption was unfortunately reinforced when I saw that that a Julius Baer also was sent to Buchenwald and released on the same day as an Arthur Baer.2 I assumed—incorrectly—that the two brothers had been released together after some pressure from their relatives. After all, their names were listed one after the other on one of  the Arolsen documents (along with many other names).

But then I hit a dead end on Julius. I knew only that at some point my Julius Baer ended up in France because he died there in 1981.3 But I didn’t know when or how he got to France or anything about his life there during or after World War II.

When I found that there were Stolpersteine laid for Julius and his wife and sons in Butzbach, Germany, that report that the family fled to France in 1936, I was confused. How could Julius have been in France in 1936 if he was arrested in Germany and sent to concentration camps in 1938? I dismissed it as an error on the Stolperstein and shrugged.

Stolperstein in Butzbach, Germany, for Julius Baer, GeorgDerReisende@Vicuna, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

But it turns out that I was the one who’d made errors. And I learned that when Bryan Knobloch, another genealogist, sent me scans of pages from Hanno Muller’s book about the Jews of Butzbach.4 Bryan had seen my first post about the Baer family and commented on my blog about Muller’s book and its content related to the Baer family. I wrote to him and asked if he would scan the relevant pages, and he graciously did so.

On page 50 there was this entry about Julius a/k/a Jules Baer [as translated by Google]:

  1. Baer, Julius
    171 | 15.05.1900 | 03.11.1929 | France
    He was born in Griedel, was a merchant (in 1927 he founded a ready-made clothing store together with his brother Arthur Bär; see Chap. 9.3.2: 1926) in Butzbach, Marktplatz 20 and Weiselerstraße 14, and was a marriage witness in 1929 for Arthur Bär; V: Adolf Bär in Griedel. He is said to have been a communist and was brought to the Osthofen concentration camp near Worms in February 1933 together with Josef Oppenheimer [105] (WOLF, 1988 p. 45). His textile business had to close in 1934 as a result of the boycott of Jewish businesses (WOLF, 1988 p. 47). The wife was born in Nonnenweier in Baden, and the marriage took place there too. The family moved to Molsheim in Alsace on February 19, 1936 (HELLRIEGEL, 1968 p. 45). From there they fled to Southern France in 1940 and in early October 1942 to Switzerland (WOLF, 1988 p. 51). After the end of the war, they returned to Molsheim in Alsace, where both died in 1981 (according to Arnold BAER: Mein Vater Julius Baer, Jerusalem 2005, in: Stadtarchiv Butzbach Judaica Familie “Bär”).
    oo Wertheimer, Erna | 19.07.1907 | France

That paragraph tells a far different story about Julius. It indicates that the Stolperstein was correct—Julius did flee to France in 1936. And it also reports that once World War II started, they fled to Switzerland, returning to France after the war ended.

It was also Muller’s book that alerted me to the fact that Arthur Baer had not spent time in Buchenwald. As with Julius, I had incorrectly assumed that records for an Arthur Baer in the Arolsen Archives were for my cousin because the two names—Julius and Arthur—were listed together on one of the documents.

But how could I verify the information in Muller’s book? I requested the original files from Germany regarding Julius’ arrest in 1933 and from Switzerland regarding his time there; I also have asked another researcher to help me find information about his life in France, including possible descendants. In my next post I will report on what I learned from the German documents I’ve received and what really happened to Julius Baer and his family.

I will be taking a break from blogging until after Labor Day to enjoy the next two weeks with my children and grandchildren. Enjoy the last days of summer, everyone! And this might be a great time to read The Women Before Us!  It’s available on Amazon here in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

 

 

  1. Name Julius Baer, Nationality H., Record Type Register, Departure Date 16 Jul 1938, Prisoner Type A. S. R., Prisoner Number 5268, Reference Number 00115100112, Arolsen Archives; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Group 1 Camp Lists, Reference Number: 00115100112, Ancestry.com. Arolsen Concentration Camp Lists, 1939-1944. ↩
  2. Julius Baer, Religion Jude, Record Type Register, Departure Date 28 Dez 1938 (28 Dec 1938), Prisoner Type Schutzhaft, Prisoner Number 20699, Reference Number 00116100004, Arolsen Archives; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Group 1 Camp Lists, Reference Number: 00116100004, Ancestry.com. Arolsen Concentration Camp Lists, 1939-1944 ↩
  3. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/283584356/jules-baer: accessed 14 Aug 2026), memorial page for Jules Baer (1900–26 Jul 1981), Find a Grave Memorial ID 283584356, citing Cimetière Israélite de Rosenwiller, Rosenwiller, Département du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; Maintained by Laura (contributor 48852786). ↩
  4. Hanno Muller, Familienbuch Butzbach Band V: Judenfamilien in Butzbach und seinen Stadtteilen (Family Book Butzbach Volume 5: Jewish Families in Butzbach and its Districts). ↩

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 ↩

Therese Spier Baer and Her Eight Children, Part I

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My cousin Therese Spier Baer, the first child of Samuel Spier, had eight children with her husband Eisemann Adolf Baer between 1893 and 1909, and amazingly all eight survived to adulthood, and they all survived the Holocaust as did their children. Almost all of them then lived remarkably long lives.

Therese’s first child was her daughter Paula, born on June 14, 1893, in Griedel, Germany.

Paula Baer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 721, Year Range: 1891-1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Then came Selma, born February 19, 1895, in Griedel.

Selma Baer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 721, Year Range: 1891-1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Next was her first son, Meyer Manfred, born on November 8, 1896, also in Griedel.

Meyer Baer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 721, Year Range: 1891-1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Her fourth child and second son was Eugen, born July 13, 1898, in Griedel.

Eugen Baer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 721, Year Range: 1891-1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Then came Julius, born May 15, 1900, in Griedel.

Julius Baer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 721, Year Range: 1891-1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

The third daughter and sixth child, Jenny, was born in Griedel on November 25, 1902.1

A fourth son, Arthur, was born on August 28, 1905, in Griedel.2

And finally a daughter, Klara, was born on January 21, 1909, in Griedel.3

Eight children, four girls and four boys, born in just over fifteen years! Most of the children were born less than two years apart.4

Next we will see who these children married and who their children were.

It’s not too late! Please consider reading and reviewing The Women Before Us, available on Amazon here.

 

 

 

  1. See, e.g., marriage record of Jenny Baer, Jenni Bär, Gender weiblich (Female)
    Age 24, Birth Date 25 Nov 1902, Marriage Date 19 Jan 1927, Marriage Place Griedel, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Griedel, Spouse
    Julius Goldschmidt, Certificate Number 3, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 727, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930 ↩
  2. Marriage record of Arthur Baer, Gender männlich (Male), Age 23, Birth Date
    28 Aug 1905, Marriage Date 02 Jun 1929 (2 Jun 1929), Marriage Place Nieder-Weisel, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Nieder-Weisel, Spouse Erna Krämer, Certificate Number 4, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 1376, Year Range: 1921-1930, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930 ↩
  3. Marriage record of Klara Baer, Gender weiblich (Female), Age 20, Birth Date
    21 Jan 1909, Marriage Date 06 Nov 1929 (6 Nov 1929), Marriage Place Griedel, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office Griedel, Spouse Hermann Fuld, Certificate Number 7, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 924; Laufende Nummer: 727, Year Range: 1921-1930, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930 ↩
  4. At first I only had found the first seven children and was surprised that Therese did not have more children after she was 34; then, while searching for a death record for Therese, I found a reference to Klara, who was born when her mother was 37. ↩

Are These Two Photographs of the Same Woman?

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Sharon, one of my readers and a fellow genealogy blogger, asked in response to my last post whether I thought the woman in this photograph of Lawrence Baer and his son John Degen Baer could be John’s grandmother. Certainly the way his hand rests on her shoulder suggests that she was someone he knew well and felt comfortable with:

Lawrence Baer, John Degen Baer, unknown person, 1924

Lawrence Baer, John Degen Baer, unknown person, 1924

John’s paternal grandmother was Amalia Hamberg, the woman in the photo I’d posted in an earlier post. People thought that photo was taken in the 1880s or about 40 years before the one above:

amalia-hamberg-and-jacob-baer-from-celena-adler-watermarked

Amalia Hamberg and Jacob Baer

 

Could the woman in the top photo also be Amalia? In 1924, Amalia would have been 73 years old. Her face is obviously much thinner in the later photograph, but are the mouth, nose, and eyes similar? Do you think this is the same woman in both photographs?

And if any of Amalia’s descendants can help, please let me know.

(I tried to use the pictriev tool that Cathy Meder-Dempsey blogged about, but the photo of Amalia and Jacob was too small for pictriev to detect the faces.)

More Gifts of Photographs

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In my last post, I shared the wonderful photograph I received of Amalia Hamberg and Jacob Baer from one of their descendants.  Before posting it here, I shared it with other descendants of Amalia and Jacob, and that prompted some of those descendants to share some other photographs. Thank you to the extended Baer family for allowing me to publish these photos.

First is a photograph of Lawrence Baer, Amalia and Jacob’s youngest child, born in 1891 in PIttsburgh.  Lawrence became one of the principal innovators and executives at the family-owned jewelry business, Attleboro Manufacturing.  This photograph was taken in 1924.  The little boy in the center is John Degen Baer, Lawrence’s son.  He would have been three years old in this photograph. The individual on the right is not known.

Lawrence Baer, John Degen Baer, unknown person, 1924

Lawrence Baer, John Degen Baer, unknown person, 1924

Here is a photograph of Lawrence Baer’s first wife and John Degen Baer’s mother, Donna Degen.  This photograph was not dated, but it looks like the 1920s to me.

Donna Degen

Donna Degen

This is another picture of their son John, dated 1924:

John Baer, summer of 1924

John Baer, summer of 1924

How adorable is he!

Finally, here is a photograph of Olivia Ganong Baer, Lawrence Baer’s second wife, and Minette Brigham Baer, John Degen Baer’s first wife, with Lawrence in the background.

Olivia Ganong Baer, Minette Brigham Baer, and Lawrence Baer

Olivia Ganong Baer, Minette Brigham Baer, and Lawrence Baer

John Degen Baer grew up to be a very accomplished business leader like his father.  He died just a little over a year ago on November 3, 2015.

According to his obituary,

Baer attended both Yale and Brown Universities, graduating from the latter in 1943. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, having been attached to the Second Marine Division in the Pacific theater and int he Occupation of Japan. He resigned his commission in 1950. He was the owner and C.E.O. of the Bishop Company, an Ophthalmic Manufacturing Company, which he merged with the Univis Lens Company of Dayton, Ohio in 1960. The merged company, Univis, Inc., was headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with branch manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico, Tennessee, New York and Massachusetts. Univis was sold to Itek, Inc. in 1970. Mr. Baer established a consulting company in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 1970 joined the Edwards Baking Company as Executive Vice President. He retired from Edwards in 1978. While residing on Sea Island, Georgia, he participated in the construction and management of the Island Retreat and the Island Square apartments.

Baer and his family moved to Blairsville in 1985 where he and his wife founded and managed the Truck & Gas Market. The business closed in March 1992. Baer then retired from all activity. While residing in Massachusetts, Baer served as a member of the Attleboro Zoning Board of Appeal for 12 years. He was also a Director of a local Bank and the Chamber of Commerce. For several years he served as a director of the Optical Manufacturers Association, located in New York City. While living in Oxford, Georgia, Baer was elected and served on the town Council.

Thank you again to his children for sharing these photos and allowing me to see the faces behind the names of these cousins of mine. Here’s a chart showing how we are related.

relationship-john-baer-to-me