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Ida Baumann (née Weis) * 1875

Valentinskamp 63 (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
IDA BAUMANN
GEB. WEIS
JG. 1875
GEDEMÜTIGT / ENTRECHTET
FLUCHT IN DEN TOD
2.3.1942

further stumbling stones in Valentinskamp 63:
Auguste Hüpper

Ida Baumann, née Weis, born on 27 Mar. 1875 in Neuheimhausen/Tachau (later Czech, Novy Haimhausen/Tachov), flight to death on 2 Mar. 1942

Valentinskamp 63 (formerly Fürstenplatz 2)

Ida Weis was born on 27 Mar. 1875 in Neuheimhausen (District of Tachau) in Silesia as the only child of the Jewish married couple Wolf Weis and Sophie Weis, née Lappert. Her parents owned a grocery store. All we know about Ida’s childhood is that she was baptized and raised as a Protestant. Her parents, passing away before 1909, were buried in Neuheimhausen.

Ida learned the trade of a seamstress. On 17 Aug. 1908, she moved from Bohemia to Tunnelstrasse 24 in Hamburg to reside with the Lisiewicz family. On 15 December of the same year, she moved in with the Urban family at Tunnelstrasse 35.

On 23 Sept. 1909, Ida married the non-Jewish helmsman Georg Richard Baumann in Hamburg. He was born as the child of Wilhelm Louis Baumann and Christiane Emilie, née Fichtner, in Hainsberg near Nuremberg, Germany. The marriage of the young Baumanns remained childless. Georg Baumann took part as a helmsman in the maiden voyage of the cruise ship "Cap Polonio” on 16 Feb. 1922 to South America. The triple-screw fast steamer sailed under the German flag of the Hamburg-Süd shipping company and it was regarded as the most luxurious ship of its time. We do not know if Ida Baumann worked as a seamstress at that time.
Georg Richard Baumann died on 14 Mar. 1930 in the Eppendorf Hospital in Hamburg. We have no information as to where he was buried.

From 1929 to 1942, Ida Baumann lived in Hamburg at Fürstenplatz 2.

During the Nazi period, she would have been protected, although Jewish, by the marriage with Georg Richard Baumann, but this became obsolete or at least questionable due to his death. She was also dependent on material support from the welfare office.

In 1942, she had to give up her apartment at Fürstenplatz 2 and move to a "Jews’ house” ("Judenhaus”) on Johnsallee. Like all those who had been relocated, she could only take a few things with her, because the occupants were crammed together in a very confined space. In Hamburg, one person was only entitled to six square meters (some 65 sq. ft.) of living space. Every "Jews’ house” had to be marked with a black "Jews’ star” at the entrance door according to instructions by the Reich Security Main Office starting in Mar. 1942.

The humiliations, prohibitions, and deprivation of rights were very hard on Ida Baumann. Thus, she planned her death. She also wrote a farewell letter to the Secret State Police (Gestapo): "I would like to take the liberty to express another wish and request! I would like to offer my small room furnishings, kitchen equipment, and everything else that is still there to the welfare office on ABC-Strasse in Hamburg as sincere thanks for the kind support afforded to me over the years. With thanks, Ida Baumann”

She poisoned her parrot by the name of "Lore,” whom she "loved dearly,” on 1 Mar. 1942 and hurled herself out of the window on the fifth floor of her old apartment at Fürstenplatz 2 on 2 Mar. 1942. The police report noted that passers-by had taken her back to her apartment. Having suffered severe head and leg injuries, she was unconscious. Her right arm was broken. She was taken to the Jewish Hospital on Johnsallee where she died.

Her mortal remains were buried in the Neustrelitz Cemetery.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: June 2020
© Bärbel Klein

Quellen: StaH, 1; 4; 5; 8; 331-5_711/1942; 332-4_1242; 213-13_15106: 332-5_517; ,332-5_591/ 1930;332-5_115/1942; 741-4_K 7145; 741_4_17373; Sterbeurkunde Dresden 920/1906.
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