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Else Baker

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Else Baker
Else Baker standing at a podium in Auschwitz-Birkenau giving a speech
Else Baker giving a speech at the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 20 January 2020
Born
Else Schmidt

(1935-12-18) December 18, 1935 (age 89)
Hamburg, Germany

Else Baker (born 18 December 1935 in Hamburg) is a survivor of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp.

Life

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Else Baker, née Else Schmidt, was adopted by Auguste and Emil Matulat at the age of one.

Nazi Party officials classified her biological mother as “half gypsy”. For that reason, on 11 March 1943, aged seven, Else was picked up by the police and taken to a warehouse near the port of Hamburg. The warehouse was used as a collection point for Sinti and Romani people from Hamburg who were to be deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. However, her foster father, Emil Matulat, was able to prevent her deportation by immediately intervening with the authorities..[1][2][3][4]

The following year, Else was arrested again and taken back to the same warehouse. On 18 April 1944, she was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. She was accompanied by 26 others who were deported with her, including 21 children between the ages of one and 15. On 21 April 1944, Else's name was entered in the inmate register and her inmate identification number was tattooed on her left forearm, marking the eight-year-old as inmate “Z 10.540”. Else was housed in the Auschwitz "Gypsy Family Camp", which consisted of primitive wooden barracks.[4]

The SS liquidated the camp on 2 August 1944, murdering thousands. Else, however, was transported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women. By chance, shortly before her departure, she met four of her biological siblings in Auschwitz: her sisters Rosemarie and Elisabeth and brothers Uwe and Dieter, who were twins. While Elisabeth, Uwe, Dieter, and Else's biological mother were murdered in Auschwitz, Rosemarie was also sent to Ravensbrück. On 3 August 1944, Else was entered in Ravensbrück register of inmates as inmate number 48.114.[4]

At considerable personal risk, her foster father continued to try to secure Else's release, writing petitions and letters to the Nazi authorities and leadership. His request was finally granted, and he was allowed to collect Else from Ravensbrück on 27 September 1944. Before she was allowed to leave the concentration camp, Else had to sign a non-disclosure agreement agreeing to maintain absolute silence about her experiences in the concentration camps.[2][4]

In 1963, Else Schmidt left Germany and emigrated to the United Kingdom. She married in 1965 and took the surname Baker. In 1966, she had the tattoo of her inmate number removed. Else Baker now lives near London.[5][6]

Impact

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From 1974 on, Else Baker increasingly engaged with her childhood experiences under the Nazi regime. In 1994, she spoke for the first time about her experiences in the concentration camps in an interview with the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma. Since then, she has been actively engaged in public as a contemporary witness of the Porajmos, or Romani Holocaust.[5][6]

She was the first Sintesa to be received in audience by Queen Elizabeth II on Holocaust Memorial Day in 2005[2][5][6][7]. She spoke publicly at commemorative events in Auschwitz in 2019[8] and 2020[9].

In 2007, Else Baker's life story was published under the title Elses Geschichte: Ein Mädchen überlebt Auschwitz as a children's book.[10] In 2014, the English translation was published as Else's Story: The story of how a little girl survived Auschwitz.[11] The Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma maintains a German-language website which provides further background information and educational materials about the book.[12]

Honours

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On 15 July 2012, Else Baker was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at the German embassy in London[5][13]

References

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  1. ^ "Else Baker reports about her time as child in the KL". European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti und Roma. 2020-07-24. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  2. ^ a b c "Else Baker". European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti und Roma. 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  3. ^ Pflock, Andreas (2010). Elses Geschichte – Themen und Materialien für eine Bearbeitung im Unterricht [Else’s Story — Topics and Materials for Use in the Classroom] (PDF) (in German). Heidelberg: Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-3-929446-27-2.
  4. ^ a b c d Pflock, Andreas; Diehm, Melanie. Elses Geschichte – Hintergrundinformationen [Else's Story – Background Information] (PDF) (in German). Heidelberg: Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma. pp. 13–24.
  5. ^ a b c d "Baker (geb. Schmidt), Else – Verortungen" (in German). Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  6. ^ a b c "Gebrandmarkt auf ewig". Süddeutsche.de (in German). 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  7. ^ UCL (2005-02-01). "Holocaust Memorial Day". UCL News. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  8. ^ "Internationale Gedenkfeier am 2. August 2019 in Auschwitz-Birkenau". Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma (in German). 2024-09-24. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  9. ^ ps (2020-01-27). "In memory we must search for sources for our responsibility today. 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz". Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Archived from the original on 2024-02-25. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  10. ^ Krausnick, Michail (2007-06-15). Elses Geschichte: Ein Mädchen überlebt Auschwitz (in German). Fischer Sauerländer. ISBN 978-3794161140.
  11. ^ Krausnick, Michail (2014-08-07). Else's Story: The story of how a little girl survived Auschwitz. Translated by Robertson, Struan. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1500772659.
  12. ^ "Elses Geschichte". elses-geschichte.de. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  13. ^ "Bekanntgabe von Verleihungen des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". Bundesanzeiger (in German). 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
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