Ewald Bauer collection

Ewald Bauer was born 2 May 1906 in Liberec/  Reichenberg in Bohemia, the middle child of a lawyer, having an elder brother, Kurt, and a sister Renée. He studied at the German School of Architecture in Prague and became an architect and interior designer. He lived for several years in Prague where he worked for a number of firms. He also worked on a number of freelance projects including the interior of his sister’s flat in Paris. During the crisis years, 1930-1938, he was only employed periodically thanks to a relative, Václav Pavelka.  

He met Vali Machulková in 1928 when she contacted him for German conversation lessons. They fell in love and remained together until Ewald was deported to Terezin. Ewald decided not to marry in order to protect Vali, who, unlike Ewald, was not Jewish. Vali urged Ewald to escape while he still could whilst on a holiday trip in the mountains in Moravia in 1939. He declined as he didn’t want to leave his parents during those difficult times. Ewald along with his mother was deported to Terezin in the Autumn of 1941. His sister Renée was already living in Paris and managed to escape to the UK before the outbreak of war. His brother, Kurt, who also spent time in the Little Fortress at Terezin, survived the Holocaust.

Vali visited Ewald 3 times in Terezin- see 1896/3 for an account written by Vali in 1977. Ewald along with his mother was deported to Auschwitz on 29.9.1944. Vali went to live in Switzerland after the war where she remained and never married. 

Whilst in Terezin Ewald Bauer along with a number of other inmates produced a humorous periodical entitled Šalom na Pátek- Shalom for Friday. The intention was to portray all aspects of life in the ghetto however macabre in a satirical gallows-humour style. Most of the periodical is written in Czech; about 20% in German and a small part in the ghetto slang comprising a mixture of Czech, German and Yiddish. For a more detailed description of the periodical see 1896/3. See also the essay by Ruth Bondy “Šalom na Pátek- Shalom zum Freitag: Die Theresienstädter humoristische Zeitung” in  Theresienstädter  Studien und Dokumente, 1996, pp 185-211. This collection contains copies of the originals. The originals were donated to Yad Vashem in the 1970s.