Karl Baumann

Karl Baumann

The merchant Karl Baumann was from Schmieheim in Baden where he was born on Kuly 28, 1891. There, on January 18, 1934, he married Irma Bloch, who was from Schmieheim as well, born on December 3, 1893. ¹ Her sister’s name was Meta Bloch; she was born on January 21, 1890. ² Their parents were Hannchen Bloch, née Wachenheimer, and Abraham Bloch, who, for more than forty-five years, acted in the Jewish community of Schmieheim as cantor and teacher. ³

Karl and Irma Baumann raised a family: Hanna Sophie Baumann was born on March 31, 1935, in Lahr in Baden. ⁴

On September 21, 1939, the family moved from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse to Augsburg-Kriegshaber to 185 Ulmer Strasse. ⁵ It could not be traced back, when they had moved from Schmieheim to Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. ⁶ They rented an apartment in Kriegshaber from the Jewish couple Moriz and Lydia Einstein, who, in the subsequent period, took more Jews into their house. The residents jointly managed the household, including using the kitchen. It is not known, whether the Einsteins were forced by the NS authorities to take Jews looking for housing into their home. The number of those had grown considerably, since on April 30, 1939, the tenant protection for Jews living in houses belonging to non-Jews had been canceled. From then on, Jewish homeowners could be forced to take Jewish tenants. ⁷

Due to the National Socialistic legislation, Karl Baumann was no longer able to follow his trade. Presumably he had to do forced labor for a construction company. ⁸

On November 20, 1941, Irma, Karl and Hanna Baumann were deported to Kaunas in Lithuania and shot. ⁹

After the deportation of the family, their belongings and their furniture were confiscated by the Augsburg Finance Authority and sold to the National Socialist Welfare Organization. ¹⁰

This is an excerpt from the biography Anna-Katharina Beuter compiled in the summer term 2014 at Augsburg University. She attended the proseminar course “National Socialism in Augsburg. Persecution history mirrored by the biographies of Augsburg Jews” by Dr. Benigna Schönhagen at the department for European Ethnology.

(Translation by Michael Bernheim)