Marianne Baum Executed (1942)

Tue Aug 18, 1942

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Image: The image shows a portrait off Marianne’s husband, Herbert Baum

Marianne Baum was a German communist and Jewish member of the anti-fascist resistance to the Nazis, executed by the Third Reich on this day in 1942 after the Baum Gruppe (co-founded by her husband, Herbert, shown) attacked an anti-communist propaganda exhibition in Berlin.

Marianne Baum, was born Marianne Cohen on February 9th, 1912, in Saarburg, Germany, later moving to Berlin. She was active in left-wing political groups as a teen, joining a communist youth organization in 1931.

Alongside her husband Herbert Baum, she co-founded the anti-fascist Baum Gruppe in 1938-39. The organization, almost entirely composed of young Jewish people, produced anti-Nazi propaganda and sometimes engaged in direct action against the Third Reich.

On May 18th, 1942, the group set fire to an anti-communist exhibition held in Berlin, temporarily closing it. The high profile attack caught the attention of senior Nazi officials and many Baum Gruppe members, including Marianne and Herbert, were arrested in the following days.

On August 18th, 1942, Marianne was executed via guillotine by the Nazi state. Her husband Herbert had died a few months earlier, tortured to death in Moabit Prison on June 11th, 1942. Today, there is a plaque in the Weißensee Cemetery in Berlin commemorating the Baum Gruppe.