Margarete Baer (née Raczinski)

Margarete Baer was born on September 25, 1881, in Gilgenburg, East Prussia (now Dąbrówno, Poland), the daughter of merchant David (1838–1911) and his wife Olga Raczinski (née Katz, 1850–1927). Margarete had six siblings, all of whom were also born in Gilgenburg: Heinrich, Julius, Luise, Anna, Emma, and Paula Raczinski. The Raczinski family belonged to the Jewish community.

Little is known about Margarete Raczinski’s life and work. At a time unknown to us, she moved to Berlin. On January 25, 1906, Margarete married the Berlin merchant Siegismund Salomon (1879–1942). Three years later, the couple divorced. The marriage produced no children.

On June 16, 1910, Margarete married the Berlin merchant Karl Goldstein (1881–1939). Karl Goldstein died of a stroke on May 4, 1939, at the Jewish Hospital on Iranische Straße. Until then, the couple had lived at Prenzlauer Allee 8. According to current information, this marriage also remained childless.

On March 18, 1940, Margarete Raczinski married for the third time, to Abraham Baer (1868–1942), a shoemaker originally from Lobsens (Polish: Łobżenica). The couple last lived in Margarete’s apartment at Prenzlauer Allee 8. It was there that they received their deportation order. On November 1, 1941, Abraham and Margarete Baer were ordered to report to the Grunewald freight station. As part of the so-called “IVth Transport,” they were deported along with 1,037 other people to the Litzmannstadt ghetto. The deportation train arrived in Litzmannstadt the following day. The couple was forced to move into quarters at Goldschmiedgasse 48/4.

On May 9, 1942, the Baers were deported to the Kulmhof extermination camp and murdered there. Margarete and Abraham Baer were victims of the Shoah.

Margarete’s brother Heinrich (1874–1918) was killed in action during World War I near Damascus. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Nazareth.

Julius Raczinski (1876–1950), another of Margarete’s brothers, married Margarethe Wittrin (1895–?, Protestant) on September 30, 1916. The couple had two sons, Rolf (1915–1971) and Heinz Günther (1919–1947). The couple and their children survived the Shoah.

Margarethe’s sister Luise (1878–1943) married the composer and conductor Valentin “Falk” Pinner (1876–1943) on March 21, 1902. In 1908, the couple had a son who presumably died shortly after birth. The couple had no other children. Valentin Pinner was deported to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp on March 2, 1943. Two days later, on March 4, 1943, Luise Pinner was also deported to Auschwitz. Valentin and Luise Pinner were presumably murdered immediately upon the arrival of the transports. The couple were victims of the Shoah.

Anna Raczinski (1880–1942), another of Margarete’s sisters, married Albert Delbanco (1865–1942), a corporate officer, on March 24, 1904. The marriage remained childless. Facing their impending deportation, the Delbanco couple committed suicide on September 30, 1942. Their final resting place is at the Jewish Cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee. The couple were victims of the Shoah.

Margarete Baer’s second-youngest sister, Emma Raczinski (1884–?), married the merchant Georg Jechil Laser (1882–1945) on March 25, 1909. Together with her son Egon Laser, Emma managed to flee to Cape Town at a time unknown to us. There she survived the Shoah. Georg Jechil Laser remained in Berlin and died of a heart attack in his apartment on May 9, 1945, one day after Nazi Germany’s surrender.

Paula Raczinski (1887–?), Margarete’s youngest sister, married the Berlin-based director Botho Karl Ludwig Deike (1887–1951) on June 14, 1911. The couple emigrated to the United States that same year, traveling via England and Canada. There is no information indicating whether the marriage produced any children. Paula Deike’s fate is also unknown. Botho Karl Ludwig Deike remarried in 1941.

The Raczinski family was persecuted as Jews in Germany. Of the seven Raczinski siblings, only Julius, Emma, and Paula survived the Shoah. Heinrich Raczinski was killed in World War I.

Special thanks go to our colleague, Johanna Steinhaeuser (ZLB), who researched the biography of Margarete Baer (née Raczinski) and her family.