page_title: Herbert Baum
hierarchical_section_title: Herbert Baum
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Herbert Baum ADN-ZB: Baum, Herbert. Antifaschist, Elektriker, geb. 10.2.1912 in Moschin (Mosina bei Poznan). Von den deutschen Faschisten am 11.6.1942 ermordet. Er kam 1931 über die Deutsch-Jüdische Jugendgemeinschaft zum KJVD [Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands]. 1936 baute er eine Widerstandsgruppe auf, der vorwiegend parteilose junge jüdische Menschen angehörten. [Porträtzeichnung von Herbert Baum] Abgebildete Personen: Baum, Herbert: Widerstandskämpfer, Deutschland Information added by Wikimedia users. English: Baum, Herbert. Anti-fascist fighter, electrician, born February 10, 1912 in Mosina (near Posen), Poland. Killed by German fascists on June 11, 1942. Through his involvement in German-Jewish youth organizations, he came to join the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD) in 1931. In 1936, he formed a Resistance group, primarily of young Jewish people not affiliated with any political party. [Portrait of Herbert Baum] (from a photograph, see GDW bio)
context_page_description: Herbert Baum was a Jewish member of the German resistance against National Socialism.
  Baum was born in Moschin, Province of Posen; his family moved to Berlin when he was young. After he graduated from secondary school there, he began an apprenticeship as an electrician, which became his profession.
  By 1926, he was an active member of different left wing and Jewish youth organizations, and from 1931 he became a member of the Young Communist League of Germany.
  After the seizure of power by the National Socialists he began, together with his wife Marianne Baum and their friends, Martin and Sala Kochmann, to organize meetings dealing with the threat of Nazism, meeting in the Kochmann drawing room and in the apartments of other members. The circle of friends, most of whom were Jewish, designated Herbert Baum as chairman. Up to 100 youths attended these meetings at various times, engaging in political debates and cultural discussions. The group openly distributed leaflets arguing against National Socialism.
  In 1940 Baum was rounded up and forced into slave labour at the electromotive works of the Siemens-Schuckertwerke.
context_section_description: Herbert Baum (February 10, 1912 – June 11, 1942) was a Jewish member of the German resistance against National Socialism.  
  Baum was born in Moschin, Province of Posen; his family moved to Berlin when he was young. After he graduated from secondary school there, he began an apprenticeship as an electrician, which became his profession. 
  By 1926, he was an active member of different left wing and Jewish youth organizations, and from 1931 he became a member of the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD).
  After the seizure of power by the National Socialists he began, together with his wife Marianne Baum (February 9, 1912 - August 18, 1942) and their friends, Martin and Sala Kochmann, to organize meetings dealing with the threat of Nazism, meeting in the Kochmann drawing room and in the apartments of other members.  The circle of friends, most of whom were Jewish, designated Herbert Baum as chairman. Up to 100 youths attended these meetings at various times, engaging in political debates and cultural discussions. The group openly distributed leaflets arguing against National Socialism.  
  In 1940 Baum was rounded up and forced into slave labour at the electromotive works of the Siemens-Schuckertwerke (today Siemens AG).  From 1941, he headed a group of Jewish slave labourers at the plant, who, to escape deportation to concentration camps, went into the Berlin underground.
  On 18 May 1942, the group organised an arson attack on an anticommunist and anti-Semitic propaganda exhibition prepared by Joseph Goebbels at the Berliner Lustgarten. The attack was only partially successful and, within days, a large number of the group's members were arrested and 20 were sentenced to death. Baum and his wife Marianne were arrested on May 22. Herbert Baum was tortured to death in Moabit Prison, dying on June 11, 1942. The Gestapo reported his death as a suicide. His wife, Marianne, was executed in Plötzensee Prison on August 18, 1942.
  Listing of some of the Baum Group's members with their dates of birth and death; they were all executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on March 4, 1943:
  Heinz Rotholz (1922–1943), Heinz Birnbaum (1920–1943), Hella Hirsch (1921–1943), Hanni Meyer (1921–1943), Marianne Joachim (1922–1943), Lothar Salinger (1920–1943), Helmut Neumann (1922–1943), Hildegard Löwy and Siegbert Rotholz (1922–1943). 
  There is some disagreement as to the manner of death of at least one of the members. Helmut Neumann was either hanged or decapitated.
caption: Baum circa 1930
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