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Lore Baum Steinitz Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 6841

Scope and Content Note

The Lore Baum Steinitz Collection documents to a large extent the work of the Wirtschaftliche Frauenschule auf dem Lande in Wolfratshausen as well as the lives of its former students. A smaller focus of this collection is on the highlights of the lives of members of the extended Steinitz and Baum families. The collection contains a profusion of material on the Frauenschule, including correspondence, questionnaires, research notes, copies of official papers and the article that formed the research's conclusion.

Series I comprises Lore Steinitz's extensive research and especially its correspondence on the history of the Frauenschule. As well as documenting the role of the school as a training center for young Jewish women in domestic and agricultural work, it also clearly displays the steps Steinitz took in conducting her research. In the end she received responses from some sixty former students, five teachers and a former director of the school, all of which combine to provide a significant narrative on the work of the school as seen from numerous points of view. Letters of teachers and Hannah Bodenheimer, former director of the school, provide further background on the school, its founding in 1926, influx of students during the 1930s and sudden closing in 1938. Letters from students mention the usefulness of the school to them, their memories of their courses and other students there. The letters also document the many lifelong friendships that were begun at the school. In addition to the letters Series I also holds some copies of official documentation for the school as well as a few publications, including varying versions of the school handbook, with an overview of the school's mission and courses.

Material relating to the Steinitz and Baum families constitute Series II. Included in this series are several brief biographical sketches and anecdotes of various members of the Steinitz and Baum families written by Lore Steinitz. Included among them is her own emigration story. Sketches of members of the Steinitz family include a few brief family trees. Other material in this series features her ancestor Valentin Wolff, some information on a Sinauer ancestor featured in a radio drama, and a few sketches on family friends.

Dates

  • 1860s, 1926-2004
  • Majority of material found within 1986-1992

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in German and English.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Johanna Lore Baum was born in Bad Nauheim on December 22, 1920, the daughter of Eduard (later Edward) and Irmina (later Irma) Baum. She had a younger brother named Rolf (later Ralph).

From 1935-1936 she took part in a Lehrjahr (a year of practical learning) at the Wirtschaftliche Frauenschule auf dem Lande in Wolfratshausen near Munich and stayed on there until March 1937 as an intern. This school trained young Jewish women in practical home economics, with courses in cooking, sewing, cleaning and childcare, as well as in agriculture, with studies in gardening, the raising of poultry, and milk and cheese production. With its focus on the occupational training of skills useful for young women preparing to emigrate, the school grew in attendance in the 1930s.

In April 1937 Lore Baum immigrated to New York with her parents and brother. She worked for a while in households and later trained as an infant nurse. In 1942 she married Robert Steinitz. They established a home in Montclair, New Jersey and had two sons. Lore Steinitz volunteered, worked as a clerk in a public school and then for many years organized recreation in a nursing home. In 1986 she became interested in discovering what became of the other former students of the Frauenschule and placed an advertisement in the newspapers Aufbau and The Jewish Press in order to find them. She then spent the next few years accumulating and analyzing the responses, her work interrupted by a move to Nova Scotia in 1989 and the illness and eventual death of her husband. In 1992 she once again took up her research project.

Lore Steinitz died on November 14, 2008.

Extent

1.0 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection contains the research and writing of Lore Baum Steinitz. The bulk of the collection focuses on her research into the history of the Wirtschaftliche Frauenschule auf dem Lande in Wolfratshausen and its students and faculty. A smaller portion of the collection relates to the histories of various members of the Baum and Steinitz families, including her own life. Included is research correspondence along with notes and copies of school documentation and publications. Several brief sketches on family members are also present.

Other Finding Aid

An older finding aid is available.

Related Material

The LBI Archives includes three collections related to the Wolfratshausen school. The small collection Wolfratshausen; Women's School for Economics (AR 4640), the Elisabeth Leibson Clippings Collection (AR 6134 C) and the memoir of Charlotte Stein-Pick "Die verlorene Heimat 1900-1951" (ME 619). Correspondence between Lore Steinitz and Elisabeth Leibson and Charlotte Pick is included in this collection.

A memoir of Lore Steinitz's mother, Irma Baum, is included in the LBI Archive and gives further details on the family history: "How They Survived..." (ME 872).

Separated Material

Many photographs were removed from this collection. Some of them can be viewed online.

Two audiocassettes from this collection were removed to the LBI Audiovisual Collection. These two tapes, recorded September 28-29, 1988, contain memories of Wolfratshausen by Hannah Lehman and Hanna Slyper.

Processing Information

The collection was processed in December 2012, with series created to reflect the current collection. A former inventory was found for the collection, but it did not reflect the actual arrangement of documents in folders or include all folders. Therefore folders were assigned descriptive titles; some evidence of original order was found among the former students' correspondence and this was retained.

In July 2012 two former collections, the Steinitz Family Collection (AR 11172) and the Valentin Wolff Collection (AR 10063) were incorporated into the Lore Baum-Steinitz, Wolfratshausen Collection (AR 6841). After processing AR 6841 is now Series I, the other two collections now form Series II.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Lore Baum Steinitz (1920-2008) 1860s, 1926-2004 AR 6841
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Dianne Ritchey
Date
© 2012
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from LoreBaumSteinitz.xml

Revision Statements

  • March 17, 2015 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States