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Baruch: 1944. To Laura. L-a-u-r-a. Freiburg. F-r-e-i-b-u-r-g. She was a
daughter of David Freiburg and Bertha Freiburg Née Wittenstein. And we
moved to her house on Hobart Street, 5717 Hobart Street. Until we moved
here in this building 21 years ago.
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Strasser: But when you say her house, her parents home or?
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Baruch: Her mother's home, but her mother moved to Miami and we took over
the apartment.
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Strasser: And where is your wife from?
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Baruch: My wife is born and raised here in Pittsburgh.
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Strasser: And how many brothers and sisters? Baruch: None. Strasser: You
don't have any?
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Baruch: The only child. Neither brother nor sister. Incidentally, the
only. Only male child from both sides. From my friend. From my mother's
side, too. There were other grandchildren, but no male grandchildren.
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Strasser: Oh, you must have been the favored son then, huh?
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Baruch: More or less. And I think with me, that branch of the family will
die out since we have no children either.
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Strasser: And can you tell me about your father's occupation and--
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Baruch: My father was a flour miller.
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Strasser: All his life?
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Baruch: Beg your pardon?
Strasser: All his life.
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Baruch: All his life. And give you more about him. It's all in the
statistics here. Those things are good for some sometimes. My father's name
was Otto. Middle name. Julius Baruch, son of Moritz. M-o-r-i-t-z Baruch and
Emily Nay Gatzert G-a-t-z-e-r-t. He was born in Worms on the 1st of March
1871 and died here in Pittsburg on the fifth on the 19th of May, 1943. He
was the owner of the Nibelungen Flour mill,was a member of the City Council
and director of the Rhenania, R-h-e-n-a-n-i-a, Gesellschaft which means a
warehouse and President of numerous charitable societies. After 1933, the
couple which means he and my mother first moved from Worms where the Baruch
family has been living since 1799 to Frankfurt and emigrated to France in
November 1938, staying at Nice until October 1941, when they went to the US
via Portugal and I'm their only child.
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Strasser: Did your mother work outside of the home? Baruch: No. Strasser:
No.
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Baruch: She was a lady of leisure with two housemaids, one maid and one
cook and one laundress and one God knows what, you know, like. Like it used
to be. Wealthy Jewish families.
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Strasser: Okay. Can you tell me more about your education? What sort of
primary school you went to?
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Baruch: I went first to the fourth school from age 6 to 9. Then I went to
the for 12 years to the Humanistisches gymnasium, where the main emphasis
is on the old classics, old Greek and Latin and history. We did not have
English in school. That was voluntary and I took it half heartedly and then
I made the after 12 years I made the abitur or mature room, as they used to
call it, which is comparable to your graduation from high school, but
better and more. And I was a number two graduate there. The first one got a
prize and I did not have to take the oral examination on account of my good
grades. Then I entered the the university and studied law and economics.
Strasser: Which university? Baruch: First I entered the University of
Munich for three semesters. Then I was one semester at the University of
Berlin. Then I was two semesters on the University of Leipzig where I
graduated and I wrote two thesis my Doctor of law and doctor of we called
it Raapol, which is a rerum political, which is well, I call it Jewish
engineering. You know, the doctor of what is it, tip of my tongue.
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Strasser: A doctorate of?
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Baruch: Business administration. So actually, I have two doctorates, which
I would like to sell you for any price you want. They're not worth a
penny.
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Strasser: The knowledge gained.
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Baruch: Well, I don't know. I'm not sorry about it.
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Strasser: Well, presumably you knew you'd be going into the flour mill
business, right? Baruch: Right. Strasser: So you just did this simply out
of interest?
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Baruch: Well, I handled all the legal affairs. Plus the fact a little
egotistical, that doctor title was a kind of prestige thing in Germany at
that time. And with the thought that in case something should go wrong with
the flour mill, I always could be established as a lawyer or as a judge. In
Germany at that time, the judges the judges were not elected, but you
became a judge by passing examinations and you were appointed.
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Strasser: So you graduated from college when or from university?
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Baruch: Yeah, in 1926.
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Strasser: And you?
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Baruch: Very young.
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Strasser: How old were you? Baruch: 21. Strasser: 21, right? Baruch: Yeah,
yeah, yeah.
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Baruch: My second doctor. I was 22.
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Strasser: And you immediately went back to Worms, to the flour mill?
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Baruch: No, I. My parents sent me for my education first to Holland to
learn a little bit about the grain importing business. Then after that, for
a full year. Then after that, they sent me here to the States to learn the
American grain business. And I was a kind of a Playboy here. And when my
father said, We don't need you at home, would you like to stay stay here in
the States? I said, God knows people here work too much and they die young
and leave their widows, the rich, wealthy and high insurance policy. I
don't want to live here. That's the irony of my life.
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Strasser: You ended up back here? Baruch: Yeah. Strasser: So instead you
went back to Worms?
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Baruch: Yeah. After a trip around the world.
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Strasser: In a balloon?
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Baruch: No, on a on a British freighter from Los Angeles. In an eastward,
on a westward position through Asia. It took about four months. That's one
of the happiest time of my life. Yeah. Yeah.
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Strasser: So then you got back, say, 1927, 28, 29?
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Baruch: 29.
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Strasser: And you started into the business?
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Baruch: Right. Yeah, late 29 or even 30. I forgot.
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Strasser: And you entered the business--
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Baruch: Right, from. I was not privileged. From bottom, I learned
everything. And then while my father and my uncle, it was very nicely
divided. There were two brothers and each one my father had me as my son
and my uncle. My father's brother had a son in law. He had no no male heirs
and his daughter was married. So we were junior partners and finally became
equal partners.
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Strasser: And you enjoyed that job?
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Baruch: Yes, very much so.
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Strasser: You'd say it was the best you had, the happiest?
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Baruch: I think so, yeah. Also, I must say, while I was working for
Calvert, the renumeration was not very big, but I had a lot of fun. No
capital investment and it was an easy job for me. Nowadays people would
say, you overqualified for that job like that. But I liked it. I met common
people and heard their experience and I gained a lot of knowledge about
American life and culture and so on and so forth.
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Strasser: What were some of the problems you faced, if you faced any, in
moving into the Pittsburgh area? Did you find it difficult?
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Baruch: Number one, money problems, of course. I didn't have much or
practically no money whatsoever. And if it wasn't for my wife working, we
couldn't have made ends meet.
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Strasser: Where did your wife work?
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Baruch: She was a school teacher.
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Strasser: Oh, yes. Where was she teaching?
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Baruch: Science in the public schools.
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Strasser: So she moved around to different schools?
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Baruch: No. No. She was a regular science school teacher.
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Strasser: At what school?
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Baruch: At that time, she was at Arsenal School. Then she went to Liberty
School. That's in Shadyside. Arsenal School is in Lawrenceville. And then
after things became a little bit better, after I got my flour mill back and
restitution coming in, she decided to give up her school job and took took
a what they call a pre. I forgot the name of it. Allowance withdrawal. It's
not a regular pension. She still gets a pension, but much less as she would
have stayed until her pension age. But this was practically my only
problem.
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Strasser: You think because you married a Pittsburgh woman, you didn't
face as much difficulty in settling down in Pittsburgh as, say, couples who
are both Germans?
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Baruch: Definitely. Yeah. There's no question about it. Her family, even
before we were married during our so called going steady time and
courtship, embraced me with open arms and were more than friendly to me.
They did everything they could for me.
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Strasser: Her parents were German?
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Baruch: Beg your pardon?
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Strasser: Her parents were German?
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Baruch: No. No, they were not. Strasser: They were Americans also? Baruch:
They were Americans. And I think they originally they came from Eastern
Europe.
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Strasser: But that was back a few generations. Baruch: Yes, yes, yes.
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Baruch: But her her parents, she is related to a big family here to the
Roth Family. R-o-t-h. They have family reunions and so on and so forth.
They are all over and the large family. And they accepted me right away.
And so it wasn't too hard for me from a social angle.
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Strasser: So what about your dealings with other people and that weren't
family? Did you ever have any difficulties being Jewish? Did you ever
find-- Baruch: Yes. Strasser: People treating you nastily?
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Baruch: In my desperation, when I couldn't find a job, I applied once for
a job on an aid as a salesman, and it turned out to be a milk company. I
was supposed to drive a truck back and sell milk, and I had the feeling, of
course I can't prove it, that they wouldn't hire me on account of being
Jewish.
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Strasser: And did you ever find because of your accent, you had to
polish?
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Baruch: Yes and no. I know that I have an accent and I know that I never
will lose it after a certain age. You can't lose it. It's a proven fact. I
think even you still have a little bit of a British accent. Yeah. I don't
know whether you want to lose it or not. I think it's. And after a certain
age, they claim it's about. Before puberty. If you come afterwards, there's
a trace of an accent always. Not as heavy as mine, but it's much heavier on
the ear. On the tape. Then I think you hear it yourself.
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Strasser: Well. When did you come into contact with the Friendship Club?
Certainly not for your wife's family.
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Baruch: No. Right away.
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Strasser: Right away?
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Baruch: Yeah, Through those. Through that boarding house. Pessel
P-e-s-s-e-l. There were people that told me there was an organization here,
and they had meetings on Saturday nights, and I went there.
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Strasser: Where were the meetings?
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Baruch: Somewhere in Squirrel Hill. I forgot. Somewhere on the second
floor in Squirrel Hill. They moved several times and I met other Germans
there too. But after I met my wife, which was pretty soon, I did not have
too much contact with them. I still had it, but. I found out. That it is. I
won't say impossible, but not very good and rather hard to mix Americans
and the so called German refugees socially. Now, for instance, nowadays
when we entertain, we always have two kinds of entertainment. Our American
friends and my German friends, which Lara accepted fully too, you know,
it's was a two way street. Her family accepted me 100% and she accepted my
friends 100%. So that worked out pretty well. But mixing of those two
societies, I still find, I won't say impossible, but rather difficult.
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Strasser: So you just had brief contact really with them. You weren't
active in the Friendship Club.
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Baruch: No, never. Never. I'm still a member and I pay my dues and I never
go. This has nothing derogative about the Friendship Club, but I personally
think they have no right of existence anymore, except maybe for a few old
people who don't have any roots here. But most people in my age have either
children married to Americans or their children are fully Americanized. And
in my opinion, that Friendship Gap has to die out one of those days because
there is no reason for it being anymore. And you probably know better than
I, the Germans, whom I know are all in good circumstances. Not only that,
they got restitution, but they worked their way up and they have no
monetary problems. There might still be some. I personally don't know of
any. I would like to hear from you in your interviews. Are there still some
some of them?
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Strasser: I dont think so, no.
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Baruch: That's it.
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Strasser: I haven't come across any. Baruch: Right. Strasser: The Great
Depression of the 1930 had an effect on almost everyone. How was your life
affected by it?
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Baruch: Well, as I tell you before Hitler, it didn't affect me because we
were in the manufacturing business and unlike our today's inflation. We had
tangible goods. Our economy was not based on a dollar or on gold, but yes,
on gold, but not on a on a market. In other words, our flour mill had the
permission from the German government to print our own money because the
value of the mark sank so rapidly that we couldn't pay our workers. This
was based on the amount of grain and or flour we had on our premises.
During my college vacation, I worked in a bank. Our depression and
inflation started earlier before the 30s started in the 28s, 29s. And I
remember distinctly one day it was one of the big banks, the manager of our
bank came in and that that gives you an idea how big the inflation was.
Listen, we can't count that money anymore. It takes too much time. You take
so much money and a measuring tape and measure that height and weigh the
paper. And if it sold so many grams, then, you know, it's about a billion
marks or whatever it is. That gives you, that makes really. Comment. How do
you say exclamation? How did it say in the Nixon papers when he used the
dirty word?
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Strasser: Depleted?
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Baruch: This may deplete out of your inflation. Strasser: Right. Right.
Yeah. Baruch: That was not a six, seven, ten, 12, 13. That was 1,000%
inflation. That gives you an idea. So we as manufacturers, we are not
affected.
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Strasser: But did you do anything for your workers at that time to lighten
the burden?
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Baruch: Certainly. Like I told you, they were paid. This is a thing which
finally comes here. If I wanted to buy a life insurance here, I paid good
dollars and get back bad dollars. Right? In Germany, you could insure
yourself for, let's say, a thousand loaves of bread. If a loaf of bread
costed a mark and you took the insurance and you died, it was worth ten.
Ten loaves of bread. You got ten loaves of bread. I don't know whether you
follow me. I lost you. Here, I pay for that cushion here. The dollar, if I
want to replace it after a year, it's $2. I exaggerate. In Germany, you
could pay for that cushion, not literally, but you could pay a loaf of
bread which costed, let's say, a mark. And if they need another cushion,
you still pay the loaf of bread for it, but it cost you ten marks.
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Strasser: Oh, right. I think I.
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Baruch: If you have any doubts, ask me. If you want to buy a house today,
suppose you want to get married, you take a mortgage on the house. Right.
The interest rates are extremely high now on your mortgage, you make a
stipulation with the company that you have a varying interest rate, that in
case the interest rate goes down, you pay less. It works both ways. Of
course, if they go up, you have to pay more. This is in quintessence but
that amounts to.
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Strasser: To move on. Have you any contacts with Germany now? Any family
left there?
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Baruch: No. No family left. I had a lawyer there and an accountant who
took care. Who took care of my restitution affairs. But that's all gone.
And I have no contact whatsoever there anymore.
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Strasser: But these friends in the fraternity.
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Baruch: Yes. Yes, but they're mostly not in Germany anymore. Yes.
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Strasser: Did you ever send money or packages to anyone there?
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Baruch: Yes. Yes, I did to our former maid. Who was adorable when I
revisited her in 1950. And. She hid a few pictures of our photos, not
pictures. And then there was a lady in Britain, a Gentile lady in England,
whom my mother met occasionally. And she gave her some jewelry, a valuable
ring. And after the war was over, she sent that jewelry over. And, of
course, we took care of her. She was I won't say poor, but certainly not a
wealthy lady. And right after the war, things were, as you might know, not
personally, you were too young, but from your parents, although things were
not so good in Britain. So we send packages and so on and so forth. The
same we did in Germany.
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Strasser: What was the most crucial aspect of being Jewish when you were
growing up in Worms?
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Baruch: Unfortunately, I cannot answer you that way, the way you would
like to hear it. I had a very happy Jew youth. We Jews were regarded as
Germans that were the trouble.
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Strasser: I'm happy to hear that.
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Baruch: We did not feel as non-Germans. There was a perfect understanding
among my classmates. We were the leaders in everything in practical jokes
as well as in intelligentsia. Now, I remember in my graduating class. There
were about 20, if I'm not mistaken. Among them, they were seven Jews. And
seven Catholics and six Protestants, and that didn't make any difference.
We just were friends and classmates. And if there was a practical joke to
be pulled on the teacher, the Jews were in the front. And if there was a
price to be had in academic work, the Jews were there too. In in athletics,
the Jews were not very prominent.
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Strasser: Um. Okay. What aspects of American culture came into conflict
with your European? You found anything to be difficult about?
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Baruch: Yes. The kind of barbarism. Strasser: Barbarism? Baruch: In the in
eating menace. I had to get educated to that. That you eat fish with a
knife and don't have a special fish knife like you have in Britain and in
Europe that you hold your fork in the right hand instead of the left hand.
That you drink brandy before dinner on ice. Which Americans do as a
cocktail. That you drink sherry, which is, in my opinion, an aperitif, as
the after dinner dessert drink here? Yes. You as a half Briton or 100%
Briton will sympathize with you. Strasser: Im not. Baruch: You're not? You
consider yourself 100% American? Strasser: Oh I am American. Baruch: 100%?
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:34.000
Strasser: I am, yes.
00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.000
Baruch: Oh, I thought you had a British urge.
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:41.000
Strasser: No, I just lived there. Baruch: Oh, you lived there? Strasser:
But my parents are.
00:27:41.000 --> 00:30:14.000
Baruch: I see. Well, anyhow. And then I think we in Germany thought we
were. I don't know whether we really were a little bit more cultured than
here. There was more emphasis on good music and art and so on and so forth,
which finally comes up here in the United States. The children of my
friends have a good musical education, the one. But some of my American
friends, not my family, my friends, no friends of my American family, I
don't think they ever read a book. They read magazines and watch
television. They might have a library, but for the children. But they don't
look into books. I never came into a home of some of my American friends
that I saw somebody reading a book. Like you asked me, did you read that
book? They read magazines and watch television. And are busy making a
living and making money and spending it. It's not very flattering. I'm
sorry, but this is my opinion. But I must say that now nowadays, especially
in this decade, the US is way ahead of everybody else. I mean-- Strasser:
Financially. Baruch: Financially, and we have great artists, great
musicians and great thinkers and philosophers and poets and writers,
actors. But I think in in Germany, in my circles, it was impossible to
think of somebody who didn't have a subscription to either the theater or
the concert, the symphony or whatever it was. When I came here, that was.
Don't forget, I'm talking about the time 30, 40 years ago. That was an
exception and a rarity. Nowadays, you know, the symphonies, concerts and
the operas are sold out.
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:24.000
Strasser: But then again, the county is cutting down on finances for
libraries. Historical societies--
00:30:24.000 --> 00:31:24.000
Baruch: Right. Right. Well, in Europe, when I say Germany, I actually mean
Central Europe.
