Ida Bach, née Frankfurter

Ida Bach, née Frankfurter

Frankfurter Family

In the late 1870ies, Ida Bach’s parents, coming from Stuttgart, arrived in Göppingen, where Ida’s father Heinrich Frankfurter (January 1, 1838 – April 27, 1901) opened a mechanical weaving mill on Bahnhofstrasse.¹ Heinrich and his wife Dorothea, née Gutmann, of Jebenhausen (March 28, 1843 – February 6, 1918), had six children. All of them were born in Stuttgart. Moritz was the first son, but died already in infancy (March 24, 1865 – February 3, 1869).² Then Sigmund followed (March 15, 1866 – November 1, 1942),³ Jakob (January 27, 1868 – December 10, 1942),⁴ Max (August 18, 1869 – May 8, 1918),⁵ Mathilde (March 18, 1873 – June 6, 1932) ⁶ and finally Ida (February 28, 1875 – December 5, 1943). ⁷

Ida Bach’s Life

Ida Frankfurter was born in a wealthy and well-respected family. ⁸ Nothing is known about her childhood and youth. At the age of twenty-one, she married Leopold Bach of Altenstadt on the Iller, born December 23, 1862. ⁹ The marriage remained childless. The couple lived in Ulm, where her husband, only forty-four years old, died on January 29, 1907.¹⁰ On April 11, 1910, she moved to Augsburg, where she initially lived at 2 Burgkmairstrasse, 2nd floor, (houseowners Albertshauser family). On August 2, 1926, she moved in with her sister Mathilde and her brother-in-law Max Bach (September 19, 1859 – November 30, 1940) who lived at 7 Prinzregentenstrasse. ¹¹ .¹²

In 1938, the family became a victim of the “Aryanization”. Following a massive intervention of the Württemberg State Ministry of Economy, the Frankfurter family of Göppingen, owners of the Weaving Mill bearing their name, had to sell their company to the NS party members Munz and Öhme. ¹³

Most probably, Ida Bach was forced to move to Bahnhofstrasse 18 1/5. In addition, from May 26 to July 21, 1942, she had to do forced labor at the Augsburg Balloon Factory. ¹⁴ On August 5, 1942, she was deported from Munich to Theresienstadt, where she died on December 5, 1943. ¹⁵ Before the deportation, she was forced to turn in her property. ¹⁶ After 1945, her relatives started a compensation procedure; they received an amount of money. ¹⁷

Ida Bach is remembered in the Augsburg Rathaus memorial.

Brother Sigmund Frankfurter

Ida’s brother Sigmund (March 15. 1866 – November 1, 1942) lived in Göppingen together with his wife Ida, née Epstein, (September 5, 1877 – November 1, 1942), who was from Augsburg. They were socially committed and well respected. They had friends beyond the religious boundaries. In 1901, Heinrich, their first son, was born, ten years later, his brother Richard. Both children got their degrees as textile engineers and assumed leading positions in the family business. In the pogrom night, Sigmund and Richard Frankfurter were arrested: the father was sent to the Göppingen prison, the son to the Dachau concentration camp. After having been released from Dachau he was arrested again and taken to the so-called protective custody prison Welzheim. Nevertheless, he managed to escape to Peru with his wife and children. ¹⁸

Shortly before the pogrom, the eldest son Heinrich and his wife had traveled to Palestine. After November 9, 1938, they managed to also bring their two children there. The parents, Sigmund and Hedwig, tried as well to emigrate to Palestine; this was not successful, not more than the escape to Peru. ¹⁹ On August 22, 1942, Sigmund and Hedwig Frankfurter were deported to Theresienstadt. ²⁰ There, Sigmund died on November 1, 1942. On May 16, 1944, his wife was further deported to Auschwitz and murdered. ²¹

Brother Jakob Frankfurter

Jakob Frankfurter, too, initially worked in the family business, but left in 1932 and moved to Stuttgart.²² During the NS era, he lived with his brother Sigmund and sister-in-law Hedwig at 11 Lutherstrasse, Göppingen. On August 22, 1942, he was also deported to Theresienstadt and died there on December 10, 1942.²³

This is an excerpt from the biography written by Jacqueline Enzi, senior student 2018/2020 at the Gersthofen Paul Klee High School. The project was part of the “W” history seminar “Jewish Victims of National Socialism in the Augsburg Region”.