Bach, Karl.

Biographical/Historical note

Absent biographical sources, this collection history and biography is drawn from the documents themselves and is supplemented by copies of ship manifests obtained through online genealogical resources.

The collection documents the experiences of the extended German Jewish Katten family of Halsdorf, Germany. The extended Katten family included two sisters - Paula Katten Bach (b. 1886) and Johanna Katten Lowenstein (b. 1896) -- and two brothers -- Herman Katten (b. 1890) and Meier Katten (birthdate unknown). Paula Katten Bach was married to Leopold Bach (b. 1886); they had two children -- Karl Bach (b. 1917) and Sanni Bach (b. 1919). Johanna Katten Lowenstein was a widow with four children - Karl, Jenny, Trude and Friedrich. Herman Katten emigrated to the United States in 1902, at the age of 13, to join family members in Stockton, California. The children of Meier Katten included Fritz Katten (b. 1914), Sanni Katten Hammerschlag (b.1916), Ilse Katten (b. 1920) and Herman Katten (b. 1922). Hermann Hammerschlag (b. 1895) was the husband of Sanni.

Karl Bach emigrated to the United States from Germany. He arrived in the United States on April 2, 1937, sponsored by his uncle Meier Katten. His parents, Leopold and Paula Katten Bach, and his sister Sanni arrived in October of the same year.

Fritz Katten and Herman Katten had emigrated earlier; Fritz arrived on April 24, 1934 and Herman, the youngest of that family, arrived on May 18, 1936. Both were sponsored by their uncle Herman Katten, who lived in Stockton, California.

Other members of the Katten family remained in Germany. In March 1938 Mr. Bach was living in New York City, where he approached a distant relative, Helen Elman, wife of violinst Mischa Elman, to persuade her to assist in providing affidavits for family members in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Elman sponsored the Hammberschlags and they arrived in the United States on July 13, 1939. Ilse Katten was sponsored by Leopold Bach, who was then living in San Francisco, California, and arrived on October 25, 1939. Their parents, sponsored by Hermann Hammberschlag, arrived in New York on December 24, 1940.

The Lowenstein family remained behind. Karl Bach made extraordinary efforts to secure their freedom, but documents in the collection, confirmed by the Yad Vashem Shoah Victims' Names Database, indicate that the family was not able to leave and that all its members perished during the Holocaust.

From the guide to the Karl Bach papers, 1938-1949, (Tauber Holocaust Library)