The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Issachar Ilan, the brother of Meir Baum.
Issachar Ilan (Bernhard Baum ) was born in Gailenkirchen, Germany, near the Dutch border, on November 20, 1926. His father, Leo, was also born in Gailenkirchen, on March 14, 1896. His mother, Erna Roos, was born on December 28, 1899, in Holzhausen, Germany. His younger brother, Otto (Meir), was born on November 18, 1927. His parents had a business distributing agriculture machinery and fertilizer. The family originally came from the Netherlands and had been settled in Germany for generations. There was a large Jewish community in the city; his paternal grandfather was the treasurer of the synagogue which would be destroyed during Kristallnacht. But in his early years, Issachar attended a Catholic kindergarten and a school administered by the Evangelical Church in Gailenkirchen. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Aachen, Germany, to join an uncle who had a textile business. However, as the Nazi Party gained more power after Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, anti-Jewish regulations and anti-Semitism caused the business to falter, as customers began telling them that they could not deal with them anymore. Leo was arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp for several weeks after Kristallnacht in November 1938. Because he had been a soldier in World War I, he was released, on the condition that he leave Germany immediately. He crossed the border and reached Belgium, where he was interned in a Belgian refugee camp. Erna succeeded in selling the textile business; the uncle had left Germany earlier. She received permission to move her household to Brussels, Belgium, where she worked for a Jewish family as a cook. Leo received permission to live with them, but he was promptly deported to the south of France and, as an enemy alien, sent to Gurs detention camp, and then to St. Cyprien. His wife and two sons eventually moved to Marseilles, France, hoping to be near him. Leo was able to leave camp and visit them in the small hotel where they lived from the fall of 1942 into 1943. Issachar and Otto were able to find work in a glue and ink factory and also as waiters’ helpers on La Canniebiere boardwalk. Leo Baum was then transferred to Les Milles detention camp, and it appears that the brothers and their mother were interned at this time. However, since the boys were not 16, Oeuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE) [Children’s Aid Society], was able to get them released on the condition that their parents abandoned their guardianship. Issachar and Otto left Les Milles on a bus and said farewell to their parents for the last time. Both parents would be deported and killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. They were sent first to Hotel La Bompard in Marseilles and then to the children’s home of Montintin, where they stayed during the winter of 1943. The brothers were separated when Issachar, who had asthma, became quite ill, developed jaundice, and was sent to live with a peasant family. Otto was sent to an orphanage in Majolier, and in late 1943, was smuggled to Switzerland where he lived with an aunt and was apprenticed in a bakery. Issachar and Otto would remain separated until after the end of the war, but they were able to correspond regularly. Issachar had returned to Montintin and when he recovered, was given false papers under the name Bernard Boime, and sent to work as a cook’s apprentice in a hotel in Rive La Gayard. The accountant there was Jewish and worked for the Maquis, guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. He asked Issachar to help deliver instructions. In April 1944, returning late from a mission, Issachar saw a truck at the hotel, being loaded with Jews for deportation. He had money, since he had been paid that day, so he went to the railroad station and managed to board a train going to Switzerland. When they neared the border, he bought a Michelin guide and jumped off at a small stop before Annecy, France. He knew Annecy, as a border town, was very dangerous for Jews, but he managed to cross under the barbed wire before he was caught and taken to the police station. He gave them his real birth date and German name, Bernhard Baum (Issachar Ilan was the Hebrew version.) He tried twice more to cross the border and was warned that they would have to turn him over to the Germans. However, one of the guards gave him a Swiss franc and said that he would be on duty at a different crossing after midnight. From there, Issachar could cross and walk to Geneva. He did this and found a police station where he turned himself in. He was interrogated for days to learn how he crossed the border. Eventually, after a period of work duty, he was told he could stay in Switzerland. He changed his name to Vernon May, the name of a cousin who had emigrated to Chile. After the war ended, Issachar was associated with the Red Cross, assisting with refugee care until he found a position as an apprentice with the Dutch Government in Exile at the Princess Beatrix Lyceum. An uncle found both brothers in Switzerland after the war. He wanted them to emigrate to the United States, but Issachar and Otto, wanting to honor their parents who had actively supported the Zionist cause, chose to emigrate to Palestine. They arrived on the ship, Maatora, on Rosh Hashana 1945. It was around this time that he changed his name to Issachar Ilan (from Bernhard Baum) and Otto began to use the name Meir. Issachar was sent to Mikveh Yi´sra'el, but could not remain there due to his asthma. He was sent to a home in Jerusalem where he met Tirza Wolff. They married in December 1946. Otto Baum was born in Gailenkirchen, Germany, near the Dutch border, on November 18, 1927. His father, Leo, was also born in Gailenkirchen, on March 14, 1896. His mother, Erna Roos, was born on December 28, 1899, in Holzhausen, Germany. His older brother, Issachar (Bernhard), was born on November 20, 1926. His parents had a business distributing agriculture machinery and fertilizer. The family originally came from the Netherlands and had been settled in Germany for generations. There was a large Jewish community in the city where his family played an important role. His paternal grandfather was the treasurer of the synagogue which would be destroyed during Kristallnacht. But in his early years, Otto attended a Catholic kindergarten and a school administered by the Evangelical Church in Gailenkirchen. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Aachen, Germany, to join an uncle who had a textile business. However, as the Nazi Party gained more power after Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, anti-Jewish regulations and anti-Semitism caused the business to falter, as customer’s began telling them that they could not deal with them anymore. Leo was arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp for several weeks after Kristallnacht in November 1938. Because he had been a soldier in World War I, he was released on the condition that he leave Germany immediately. He crossed the border and reached Belgium, where he was interned in a Belgian refugee camp. Erna succeeded in selling the textile business; the uncle had left Germany earlier. She received permission to move her household to Brussels, Belgium, where she worked for a Jewish family as a cook. Leo received permission to live with them, but he was promptly deported to the south of France and, as an enemy alien, sent to Gurs detention camp, and then to St. Cyprien. His wife and two sons eventually moved to Marseilles, France, hoping to be near him. Leo was able to leave camp and visit them in the small hotel where they lived from the fall of 1942 into 1943. Otto and Issachar were able to find work in a glue and ink factory and also as waiters’ helpers on La Canniebiere boardwalk. Leo Baum was then transferred to Les Milles detention camp, and it appears that the brothers and their mother were interned at this time. However, since the boys were not 16, Oeuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE) [Children’s Aid Society], was able to get them released on the condition that their parents abandoned their guardianship. Otto and Issachar left Les Milles on a bus and said farewell to their parents for the last time. They were sent first to Hotel La Bompard in Marseilles and then to the children’s home of Montintin, where they stayed during the winter of 1943. The brothers were separated when Issachar, who had asthma, became quite ill with jaundice and was sent to live with a peasant family. Otto was sent to Majolier which had an excellent educational program, based on the liberal Makarenko system. He remembers his teachers Boris and Luba and the concerts and lessons provided by Nina Winaver. In late 1943, he was smuggled to Switzerland where he lived with an aunt and was apprenticed in a bakery. He and Issachar would remain separated until the end of the war, but they were able to correspond regularly. After the war, they learned that both their parents had been killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. An uncle found both brothers in Switzerland after the war. He wanted them to emigrate to the United States, but the brothers, having been raised as supporters of the Zionist cause, chose to emigrate to Palestine. They arrived on the ship, Maatora, on Rosh Hashana 1945. It was around this time that Otto began to use the name Meir
Rectangular paper calling card. On the front is the name stamp; above the stamp, a handwritten inscription. On the back is a pencil drawing of the exterior of a large multilevel house with turrets, nestled in a grove of several species of trees. A driveway crosses the middle ground in front of the house. In the foreground is a fountain, near a large tree in the lawn. front, top, handwritten in pencil : le ointeu e ref il n y en a plus que 99 artes! [there are more than 99 edges!]
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overall: Height: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Width: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm)
Drawing created by 15-year-old Otto (Meir) Baum depicitng the Chateau Montintin, a home for refugee children where Otto and his 16-year-old brother, Bernhard (Issachar Ilan), were placed in early 1943. Montinin was run by the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE), [Children’s Aid Society], which was able to get the boys released from Les Milles internment camp in France because they were not yet 16. The Baum family, Erna and Leo, and their 2 sons, had been imprisoned because they were Jewish refugees from Germany. Before OSE would take custody of the boys, their parents had to give up all parental rights. The boys said their goodbyes and boarded a bus; it was the last time they would see their parents. Both Erna and Leo died in Auschwitz concentration camp. Bernhard became quite ill and was hidden with a peasant family for a while, though he later returned to Montintin. Otto was sent first to Majolier, then, in late 1943, was smuggled to Switzerland, where he had an aunt. Bernhard had to keep moving from place to place, but in April 1944, he managed to cross the border to safety in Switzerland. An uncle would find both boys after the war and offer to take them to the United States. However, in honor of their parents, who had been dedicated Zionists, they chose to emigrate to Palestine in September 1945.
Drawing of Chateau Montintin OSE orphanage during World War II