Alice Baum
1902 - 1959

Alice Baum was born on February 15, 1902, in Usingen (Taunus) near Frankfurt as the daughter of Bermann (also Bärmann) Baum (1867-1939) and Cäcilie Baum, née Hirsch (1870-1922). Her Jewish father was a merchant and, together with other family members, ran a furniture and textile store in Usingen at Obergasse 11 (Raphael Baum company). He came from Hasselbach, a small village in the "Hintertaunus" where there had been a small Jewish community--in 1885 there were still twelve Jews living in the village. Her mother came from Freudenheim (Austria-Hungary?). Alice Baum had an older sister named Liesel (Elisabeth) Baum, born in 1900.

Bermann Baum was very active in Usingen. In 1917, for example, he was one of three members of the supervisory board of the "Vorschußverein" Usingen (corporative credit association). Two years later, on March 9, 1919, Bermann Baum was even elected first chairman of the Usingen district and local group of the Volksbund. In 1924, he was elected a member of the "Gewerbeverein" (trade committee) Usingen. Another three years later, the new Usingen "Handwerker- und Gewerbeverein" (Craftsmen's and Tradesmen's Association) elected Bärmann Baum as its second chairman. And in the spring of 1930, the Usingen local history and tourist association set up benches in the town, for example at Hattsteiner Weiher. It said: "Die Schaffung dieser Bänke ist vor allem Kaufmann Bärmann Baum zu verdanken." (The creation of these benches is primarily thanks to merchant Bärmann Baum.)

Alice Baum was also active in Usingen society. For example, she won the first two prizes for the best mask at the Usinger Turngemeinde 1846 e.V. (Usingen gymnastic club) masquerade ball at the Hotel Adler in 1926, together with Lilli Hirsch, who was also Jewish. She married Carl (also known as Karl) Rosenthal, also born in Usingen in 1898, in 1928. He was the son of the Jewish merchant August Rosenthal (1871-1933), born in Herold, and his Jewish wife Rosa (also Rosalie), née Strauß (1870-?), who came from Grävenwiesbach in the Taunus mountains. They had two children, Richard, born in 1929, and Cäcilia, born in 1933.

Alice Baum joined the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1923. Her father, Bermann Baum, had already become a member of this section in 1909. He may therefore have recommended her to join. Interestingly, her father was correctly listed as Bermann Baum in the annual reports of the Frankfurt section before the First World War, but as Hermann Baum in the list of members in the annual report for the period 1919 to 1924. Due to a lack of sources, we were unable to clarify whether this was a typing error or a deliberate concealment of the Jewish given name Bermann.

After the introduction of the so-called "Arierparagraf" (aryan paragraph) in the statutes of the Frankfurt section in February 1934, Alice Baum, Rosenthal since her marriage in 1928, could no longer remain a member. As a member from before 1914, her father was not affected by this paragraph. However, Bermann Baum was not honored for his 25-year membership in the Alpine Club in 1934. It can therefore be assumed that he had previously left the section. We therefore assume that Alice Rosenthal also left the section on her own will.

Alice Rosenthal and her husband were attacked and abused by local National Socialists in their house in Usinger Obergasse in November 1938. Fortunately, they had sent Alice's father Bermann Baum and their two children Richard and Cäcilia to her sister Elisabeth in Freiburg (in Breisgau) in good time beforehand. After the war, Carl Rosenthal described these abuses in November 1938 in a statement for a trial in Germany as follows:

"Man jagte uns mit Schlägen die Treppe hinunter und auf die Straße. Auf der Straße stand eine große Menschenmenge, soweit ich das in meiner damaligen Aufregung beurteilen konnte, mögen es etwa 150 bis 200 Leute gewesen sein, die den an uns verübten Mißhandlungen untätig zusahen. [...] Sobald ich die Straße betreten hatte, verlor ich meine Frau aus den Augen. Ich selbst wurde unter ständigen Schlägen und Tritten die Obergasse in Richtung Marktplatz hinunter gejagt. [...] Unter Gejohle, Geschrei und Beschimpfungen aus der Menge erreichte ich den Brunnen, der mitten auf dem Marktplatz gegenüber vom Rathaus steht. An dem Brunnen kam meine Verfolgung für kurze Zeit zum Stillstand. [...] Ich riß mich los und rannte auf das Goldschmidtsche Haus zu, das ebenfalls am Marktplatz, etwas zurück liegt. Meine Verfolger rannten hinter mir her und schlugen und traten fortgesetzt auf mich ein. Ich weiß, daß ich auf dem Weg vom Brunnen zum Goldschmidtschen Haus mindestens einmal, soweit ich mich erinnere, aber mehrmals hingefallen bin, mich aber immer wieder aufgerappelt habe. Schließlich erreichte ich einen kleinen Gang zwischen dem Goldschmidtschen Haus und dem Nachbarhaus [...]. In diesem Gang wurde ich endgültig gestellt und zusammengeschlagen. [...] So weiß ich mit aller Bestimmtheit, daß, nachdem ich in dem Gang zusammengeschlagen worden war und kurze Zeit benommen am Boden gelegen hatte, ich von H. S. an den Füßen ergriffen und auf einen inzwischen herbeigeholten Handwagen geschleift wurde. [...] Man zog mich mit dem Handwagen bis zum Alten Friedhof hinter der evangelischen Kirche. [...] Sicher ist jedenfalls, daß S. und E. mich anfaßten und schon, während sie mich vom Wagen herunterholten, mit Schlägen und Tritten mißhandelten. Zugleich wurde aus der übrigen Gruppe gerufen: 'Schlagt ihn doch tot, den Juden!' und ähnliches. [...] Sie warfen mich die unmittelbar neben dem Weg liegende Böschung hinunter, die zur Verbindungsstraße zwischen der Bahnhofsstraße und der Wehrheimer Straße hin abfällt. Sie kamen die Böschung herunter nach, nahmen ihre Mißhandlungen sofort wieder auf und schleiften mich über die erwähnte Verbindungsstraße und über die Wiese zum Bach. [...] Wiederum waren es E. und S., die mich, vielleicht unter Beteiligung eines oder mehrerer anderer, in den Bach hineinstießen bzw. warfen. [...] Ich habe dann längere Zeit im Wasser gelegen aus Furcht, daß ich, wenn ich jetzt schon herauskäme, weiter mißhandelt werden würde. Dann bin ich aus dem Bach herausgeklettert und mit meinen triefenden Kleidern unter Umgehung von Usingen und aller Straßen quer durch den Wald nach Wehrheim gelaufen, wo ich bei der befreundeten Familie Hartmann trockene Kleider und etwas Geld bekam."

(We were chased down the stairs and into the street with blows. There was a large crowd on the street, as far as I could tell in my excitement at the time, there must have been about 150 to 200 people who stood idly by and watched the abuse inflicted on us. [...] As soon as I entered the street, I lost sight of my wife. I myself was constantly beaten and kicked as I was chased down the Obergasse towards the market square. [...] Amid jeering, shouting and insults from the crowd, I reached the fountain in the middle of the market square opposite the town hall. My pursuit came to a brief halt at the fountain. [...] I tore myself away and ran towards the Goldschmidt house, which is also on the market square, a little way back. My pursuers ran after me and continued to beat and kick me. I know that on the way from the fountain to Goldschmidt's house I fell down at least once, as far as I remember, but several times, but I always managed to pick myself up again. Finally I reached a small passage between the Goldschmidt house and the neighboring house [...]. In this corridor I was finally confronted and beaten up. [...] So I know for certain that after I had been beaten up in the corridor and had lain dazed on the ground for a short time, I was seized by the feet by H. S. and dragged onto a handcart that had been fetched in the meantime. [...] They pulled me with the handcart to the old cemetery behind the Protestant church. [...] In any case, it is certain that S. and E. grabbed me and began to abuse me with punches and kicks as they pulled me off the cart. At the same time there were shouts from the rest of the group: 'Beat him to death, the Jew! [...] They threw me down the embankment right next to the road, which slopes down to the road connecting Bahnhof street and Wehrheimer street. They followed me down the embankment, immediately resumed their abuse and dragged me across the aforementioned connecting road and across the meadow to the stream. [...] Again it was E. and S. who, perhaps with the help of one or more others, pushed or threw me into the stream. [...] I then lay in the water for a long time for fear that I would be maltreated further if I came out now. Then I climbed out of the stream and walked with my dripping clothes, bypassing Usingen and all the roads, across the forest to Wehrheim, where I stayed dry with the Hartmann family, who were friends of mine.)

Alice and Karl Rosenthal later joined their sister Elisabeth Epstein, née Baum, in Freiburg (in Breisgau) and emigrated from there to the USA in 1939. In the USA, they lived and worked in Shreveport (Louisiana). Carl Rosenthal died in 1958, shortly before his 60th birthday. Alice Rosenthal died in May 1959, not even 57 years old. Both were buried at the Gates of Prayer Jewish Cemetery in New Orleans (Louisiana). Their son Richard Baum worked as a rabbi in Tacoma (Washington) for more than 40 years and died there in 1999. Their daughter Cecile Lepold died in 2005 and was buried in another Jewish cemetery in Louisiana.

Bermann Baum, Alice's father, died in Freiburg (in Breisgau) in February 1939. Her older sister Elisabeth Epstein was able to emigrate to Switzerland. Alice's uncle Bernhard Baum, her father's younger brother, left Usingen for Frankfurt on the Main in 1938 and was deported from there to Theresienstadt in September 1942. He died in November 1943 due to the catastrophic living conditions in the Nazi camp Theresienstadt. Alice's mother-in-law, Rosalie Rosenthal, first went from Usingen to Frankfurt on the Main. She was later also able to emigrate to the USA and thus escape the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany.