Rosalie Ida Straus (née Blun; February 6, 1849 – April 15, 1912) was an American homemaker and wife of the co-owner of the

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

. She and her husband, Isidor, died on board the .

Early life

Rosalie Ida Blun was born in 1849 in

Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 82,000 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It wa ...

, to Nathan Blun (1815–1879) and his wife Wilhelmine "Mindel" (née Freudenberg; 1814–1868). She was the fifth of seven children, including Amanda (1839–1907), Elias Nathan (1842–1878), Louis (1843–1927), Augusta Carolina (1845–1905), Moritz (1850–1858) and Abraham Blun (1853–1881). She emigrated to the United States with her family. In 1871, Ida Blun married

Isidor Straus Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a Bavarian-born American Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United State ...

(1845–1912), a

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

American businessman. She and Isidor had seven children: * Jesse Isidor Straus (1872–1936) who married Irma Nathan (1877–1970), and served as U.S. Ambassador to France, 1933–1936 * Clarence Elias Straus (1874–1876) who died in infancy * Percy Selden Straus (1876–1944) who married Edith Abraham (1882–1957) * Sara Straus (1878–1960) who married Dr. Alfred Fabian Hess (1875–1933) * Minnie Straus (1880–1940) who married Dr. Richard Weil (1876–1917) * Herbert Nathan Straus (1881–1933) who married Therese Kuhnt (1884–1977) * Vivian Straus (1886–1974) first married Herbert Adolph Scheftel (1875–1914) and second, in 1917, married George A. Dixon Jr. (1891–1956) The couple was considered especially close by their friends and family; when Isidor traveled as part of his duties as a U.S. Representative for New York, or as co-owner of Macy's, they exchanged letters daily. Ida spent the winter of 1911/1912 in Europe with her beloved husband Isidor. They originally planned to return home on a different ship, but switched to ''Titanic'' due to a coal strike in England that caused the coal from other ships to be diverted to ''Titanic''.

Death and legacy

On the night of the sinking, Isidor and Ida were seen standing near Lifeboat No. 8 in the company of Mrs. Straus's maid, Ellen Bird. Although the officer in charge of the lifeboat was willing to allow the elderly couple to board the lifeboat with Miss Bird, Isidor Straus refused to go while there were women and children still remaining on the ship. He urged his wife to board, but she refused, saying, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Her words were witnessed by those already in Lifeboat No. 8 as well as many others who were on the boat deck at the time. Isidor and Ida were last seen standing arm in arm on the deck. When the survivors of the disaster arrived in New York City aboard the , many – including Ellen Bird – told reporters of Mrs. Straus's loyalty and fidelity to her husband. Her story struck a chord with people around the world. Rabbis spoke to their congregations about her sacrifice; articles in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

- and German-language newspapers extolled her courage; a popular song featuring the story of Ida Straus, "The ''Titanics Disaster", became popular among Jewish Americans. Although Isidor's body was recovered, Ida's body was not. A

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

at the Straus Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is dedicated to Isidor and Ida together. Its inscription reads: "Many waters cannot quench love – neither can the floods drown it." () The work was designed by James Gamble Rogers, with sculpture by Lee Lawrie.Harm, Gregory Paul, Lee Lawrie's Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol, Concierge Marketing, Omaha, NE, 2018 p. 56

Portrayals

Ida Straus was portrayed by Helen Van Tuyl in the 1953 film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

''. Helen Misener played her in the 1958 film '' A Night to Remember''. She was portrayed by Nancy Nevinson in the 1979 TV movie '' S.O.S. Titanic''. Janie Woods-Morris played her in the 1996 miniseries ''

''. She was portrayed by

Elsa Raven Elsa Rabinowitz (September 21, 1929 – November 2, 2020), known professionally as Elsa Raven, was an American character actress, perhaps best known for her two years (1988–1990) on the sitcom ''Amen'' and playing the mother of Vincent Terrano ...

in the 1997 film ''

''. Alma Cuervo played her in the 1997 Broadway musical ''

''. When Ida decided to stay with her husband Isidor, they sang the song "Still".

Memorials

In addition to the cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery, there are three other memorials to Isidor and Ida Straus in their adopted home of New York City: * A memorial plaque is located in the 34th Street main entrance to Macy's Department Store in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. It was closed to the public after 2001 and used as a stockroom for many years. The entrance has 21-foot-high ceilings, a two-story granite arch and two brass plaques — one commemorating the deaths of Ida and Isidor Straus on the ''Titanic'' in 1912, and a second honoring employees who died in World War I. The "Memorial" entrance was reopened in November, 2013. * The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial is located in Straus Park at the intersection of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and

West End Avenue West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

at W. 106th Street (Duke Ellington Boulevard) in Manhattan. * New York City public school P.S. 198 (the Isidor & Ida Straus School) in Manhattan is also named after the Strauses.

References

External links

Straus Memorial on Titanic-Titanic.com

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Biography of Ida Straus
Straus article at JewishEncyclopedia.com

– includes information on ''The Titanic's Disaster'' sheet music
Straus Historical Society
* ''Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy'', by John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas, W.W. Newton & Company, 2nd edition 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Straus, Ida 1849 births 1912 deaths Deaths on the RMS Titanic German emigrants to the United States 19th-century German Jews American people of German-Jewish descent People from Worms, Germany People from Rhenish Hesse People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse Straus family Spouses of New York (state) politicians Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) 19th-century American businesspeople