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Karl Baum Archive

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Karl Baum (Creator of the archive)
  • Archive

Karl Baum (1907-1996) was a Jewish journalist and editor from Brno, who left for London in 1938 and spent the rest of his life there. After the war he was director of the Information Department at the World Jewish Congress, and later on director of the International Council of Jew from Czechoslovakia, also member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Czechoslovak Jewish Aid Trust. The archive contains material that Baum collected in the context of these three organizations and positions. It deals with the current situation of Jews in the CSSR, then later Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, also with information and help requests of Czech Jews in regard to claiming pensions and restitution, with antisemitism, with the situation of Charter-77 and the accusation that it was organized by Jews, and with the constant suspicion that people might perhaps be informers for the Communist regime of the CSSR.

Reference Code
ARC. 4* 1744
Dates
1942-1998
Consists of
0.4 m..
Languages
German; English; Czech;
Description
The archive includes four series: 1. correspondence of Karl Baum and the ICJC, 2. material in the context of his work at the World Jewish Congress, 3. material in the context of his work for the International Council of Jews from Czechoslovakia, 4. material not written by him such as press clippings and texts of others. Baum had organized most of the material and stapled documents together in the way that he considered to be the best. For this reason much of it has been kept in this arrangement. The correspondence of the secretaries at the ICJC after Baum's resignation but while he was still involved in the ICJC has been included in series 1.
location
  • The Archives Collection of the National Library of Israel The Archives Collection of the National Library of Israel
Title Karl Baum Archive.
Additional Titles כותרת בעברית: ארכיון קרל באום.
Citation Note ARC. 4* 1744, Karl Baum Archive, Archives Department, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem
Host Item Karl Baum Archive.
Level of Description Fonds Record
Biographical summary Karl Baum was born on 6. October 1907 in Brno, as only son of the merchant Rudolf Baum (1875-1942) and Charlotte Rischawy (1873-1942). Both parents were murdered 1942 in Auschwitz. From 1922 until 1925 Karl Baum studied in Brno, during this time he was a member of the Verband zionistischer Studenten in der Tschechoslowakei, and became its president in 1923. Until 1924 he was also member of the Zionist student organisation Hatikwah. After graduating he worked for two years as editor of Jüdische Volksstimme, from 1927 he was a correspondent for the Jüdische Telegraphenagentur in Brno and Berlin, and from 1928 an associate for Keren Hayesod. Besides he also worked as editor for several other newspapers in Ostrava, Prag and Berlin (1929–32 Der Jüdische Sozialist and at the same time until 1938 Ostrauer Morgenzeitung and Handelsblatt in Moravská Ostrava, 1933–34 Der neue Weg in Brno, 1934–38 Moravian edition of Prager Tagblatt, collaborator of Prager Abendblatt). In 1929 and 1931 he also edited the publications of the 16th and 17th Zionist Congresses. He was fully involved in politics, from 1929 as an associate of the Jewish cultural association Tarbuth, 1929–75 as a member of Poale Zion, 1929–33 as a member of the presidency of the Jüdische Partei der Tschechoslowakei, 1925–38 as a member of the Reich Association of the German Press, and the International Union of Journalists. Between 1936 and 1938 he served as president of the Herder-Jugendloge B'nai B'rith in Brno. In 1938 he emigrated to Great Britain via Switzerland and France on a tourist visa. During the journey he met his future wife, Margot Gladtke, whom he married in 1945.They settled in London and he worked 1938–40 as secretary of the Self Aid Association of Jews from Czechoslovakia. He managed to bring both his sisters Mizzi and Martha to England in 1939. 1940–47 he worked as a diplomatic correspondent for the Czechoslovak government-in-exile at the Exchange Telegraph Agency, where he was the head of its department for radio interception. From 1945 he also wrote literature, using the pseudonym William J. Collins. After the end of the war 1945 he became the founder of the Information Department of the World Jewish Congress in London, and until 1957 acted as its director. Between 1950 and 1970 he was also a London correspondent for Yedioth Hadashot and was a foreign correspondent for its German-Jewish version. From 1968 to 1975 he held the position of president of the International Council of Jews from Czechoslovakia, from 1970 he was the executive director of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. He was also a member of the National Union of Journalists, the Foreign Press Association and a number of other Jewish organizations (Leo Baeck Lodge, B'nai B'rith, Poale Zion). In his last years he was still involved in the operation of the ICJC, and until the death of Ota Adler and its subsequent dissolution he was a board member of the Czechoslovak Jewish Aid Trust in London. All matters regarding Czechoslovakia were of deep interest to him until the last months of his life. He died 22. May 1996 in London.
Language Note The materials are in German, English and Czech.
Credits With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future and by the German Federal Ministry of Finance. בסיוע ועידת התביעות בחסות הקרן זכרון, אחריות ועתיד ובתמיכת משרד האוצר הפדרלי הגרמני.
National Library system number 990026725210205171

When using this material, please acknowledge the source of the material as follows:

With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future and by the German Federal Ministry of Finance. בסיוע ועידת התביעות בחסות הקרן זכרון, אחריות ועתיד ובתמיכת משרד האוצר הפדרלי הגרמני.

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