Isidor Straus

Isidor Straus (1903)

Isidor Straus with his wife Ida, wedding picture 1871

Isidor Straus (born March 24, 1845 in Otterberg , Kingdom of Bavaria , † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank ) was a German-American businessman and politician .

Life

Straus was born in Otterberg near Kaiserslautern in 1845 as the son of the businessman Lazarus Straus (1809–1898) and his wife Sara (1823–1876). He had three younger siblings: Hermine (1846-1922), Nathan (1848-1931) and Oscar Solomon Straus (1850-1926). In 1853 his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Talbotton , Georgia , where Lazarus Straus opened a business. Straus came into possession of the tableware division of the R. H. Macy department store in New York in 1874 . In 1888, Isidor Straus and his brother Nathan became a partner in the department store.

Isidor Straus was also a member of the US House of Representatives for the Democrats from 1894 to 1895 . In 1871 he married Rosalie Ida Blun (1849-1912), who was also of German descent. Together they had seven children (one of the sons, however, died when he was young):

• Jesse Isidor Straus (1872–1936), married Irma Nathan (1877–1970)
• Clarence Elias Straus (1874–1876), died as an infant
• Percy Selden Straus (1876–1944), married Edith Abraham (1882–1957)
• Sara Straus (1878–1960), married Dr. Alfred Fabian Hess (1875–1933)
• Minnie Straus (1880–1940), married Richard Weil (1876–1918)
• Herbert Nathan Straus (1881–1933), married Therese Kuhn (1884–1977)
• Vivian Straus (1886–1974), married Dr. Herbert Adolph Scheftel (1875–1914) and George Dixon, Jr. (1891–1956)

On the Titanic

In the spring of 1912, the Straus couple and their 15-year-old granddaughter Beatrice traveled to Europe on the HAPAG steamer America (the Straus family traveled almost exclusively on German passenger ships) and spent most of their stay in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in southern France. For the return trip, however, they opted for the new RMS Titanic , a British ship (Beatrice stayed with relatives in Germany).

On April 10, 1912, Isidor and Ida Straus went together as first class passengers on board the luxury liner Titanic in Southampton , UK . They were accompanied by their servant John Farthing and the maid Ellen Bird, both British. They lived in Suite C-55/57, which was one of the most luxurious on board. When the ship collided with an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, the couple went to lifeboat No. 8 on the port side. Since, in contrast to the starboard side, no men were allowed to board here, Ida Straus should have gone alone. Isidor Straus was offered to make an exception with him, since he was already an elderly man, but he refused. Since Ida Straus resolutely refused to leave her husband, the boat cast off without her. However, she insisted that her maid Ellen get into the boat and handed her her fur coat with the words that she would no longer need it.

Some later saw the couple sitting on deck chairs, others apparently on the way to their cabin. Both were killed in the disaster. While the couple's children were on their way to New York in the United States to get information about their parents 'whereabouts, Isidor Straus' body was pulled from the Atlantic by the search ship Mackay-Bennett . Ida Straus' body was never found. Today a memorial in New York City commemorates the couple.

In the later film adaptations of the shipwreck, Isidor Straus was played by Roy Gordon ( sinking of the Titanic , 1953), Meier Tzelniker ( The last night of the Titanic , 1958), Gordon Whiting ( SOS Titanic , 1979), Peter Haworth ( Titanic , two-part TV series 1996 ) and Lew Palter ( Titanic , 1997).

In the latter, he and his wife appear in a short sequence towards the end of the film in which they are both lying tightly embraced on their bed while the water rushes into the room. In a previous scene, Ida's decision to stay on board the ship with her husband is discussed, which has found its way into most Titanic films but was cut out by James Cameron in his film version .

The essayist Elbert Hubbard wrote of the couple:

"Mr. and Mrs. Straus, I envy you the legacy of love and loyalty you have bequeathed to your children and grandchildren. The quiet courage you had in your long lives and successful careers was also yours in death. They knew how to do the big things - how to live, how to love and how to die. "

Ironically, Elbert Hubbard and his wife Alice exactly the same thing happened just three years later when they were both killed in the sinking of the British luxury liner RMS Lusitania .

literature

• Stephanie Andres-Hummel: "Ida Straus, together until death!", In: Veronik Heimkreitner, Ulrike Schäfer (Ed.): Wormserinnen , Worms Verlag, Worms 2016, ISBN 978-3-944380-56-8 , p. 65-73.

Web links

Commons : Isidor Straus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Isidor Straus in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Isidor Straus in the Encyclopedia Titanica

Individual evidence

1. ↑ titanic-titanic.com
2. ^ Encyclopedia Titanica