Marianne Baum (February 9, 1912 – August 18, 1942) was a German communist and anti-Nazi. She was executed after an attack on a propaganda show in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Life and death

Marianne Baum was born in

Saarburg Saarburg (, ) is a city of the Trier-Saarburg district, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the banks of the river Saar in the hilly country a few kilometers upstream from the Saar's junction with the Moselle. Now known as a tourist ...

in 1912 into a Jewish family. She had one brother, Lothar Cohn, who would also become a communist activist. In 1927, at the age of 14, she met her future husband

Herbert Baum Herbert Baum (February 10, 1912 – June 11, 1942) was a Jewish member of the German resistance against National Socialism. Life Baum was born in Moschin, Province of Posen; his family moved to Berlin when he was young. After he graduated fro ...

while attending the Jewish youth group Deutsch-Jüdische Jugendgemeinschaft. Around 1930, Baum joined her first communist organization, the Communist Youth Federation (KJVD). In 1933, Marianne became an active member of the Communist resistance movement. However, the Jewish Baums were pushed out of the more mainstream organizations such as the KPD and the German Communist Party, as both groups thought having Jewish members would be too great a risk in antisemitic Nazi Germany. Interested in continued resistance, the Baums formed a Communist-Jewish resistance group "Gruppe Herbert Baum" in Berlin. The Herbert Baum Group became a successful resistance organization separate from the mainstream communist party, and planned and executed a successful attack on an anti-Communist propaganda exhibition in Berlin titled " Soviet Paradise". The attack on May 18, 1942 led to the arrest of the group's members. Marianne Baum and eight other activists were sentenced to death for treason, and were executed by guillotine on August 18, 1942 at the Berlin-Plötzensee penitentiary.

Legacy

A plaque in the

Weißensee Cemetery Weißensee (German: ''white lake'') may refer to: Places *Weissensee (Berlin), a district of Berlin *Weißensee, Thuringia, a town in Thuringia, Germany *Weissensee, Austria, a municipality in Carinthia, Austria *Weissensee (Carinthia), a lake in C ...

in Berlin commemorates the Herbert Baum Group. There is also a street near the cemetery named Herbert-Baum-Straße. In Berlin's

Lustgarten The ' () is a park on Museum Island in central Berlin, near the site of the former () of which it was originally a part. At various times in its history, the park has been used as a parade ground, a place for mass rallies and a public park. The ...

, a monument designed by

Jürgen Raue Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George. Notable people named Jürgen include: A *Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 196 ...

was erected in 1981 commemorating the 1942 attack. The

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

government, which established these memorials, emphasized Baum's allegiance to Communism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baum, Marianne 1912 births 1942 deaths People executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison People from Trier-Saarburg Executed communists in the German Resistance