Ida Straus
Encyclopedia
Ida Straus, born Rosalie Ida Blun (February 6, 1849 – April 15, 1912) was an American homemaker and wife of the co-owner of the Macy's
department store
. She and her husband Isidor
died on board the RMS Titanic.
, Germany
to Nathan Blun (1815–1879) and his wife Wilhelmine "Mindel" Freudenberg (1814–1868). She was the fifth of seven children including Amanda (1839–1907), Elias Nathan (1842–1878), Louis (1843–1927), Augusta Carolina (1845–1905), Moritz (1850–1858) and Abraham Blun (1853–1881). She emigrated to the United States
with her family.
In 1871, Ida Blun married Isidor Straus
(1845–1912), a German-American businessman. She and Isidor had seven children (one of whom died in infancy):
The couple was considered especially close by their friends and family; when Isidor was forced to travel as part of his duties as a U.S. Representative
for New York or as co-owner of Macy's, they exchanged letters daily.
Isidor and Ida Straus traveled with their fifteen-year-old granddaughter Beatrice Straus to Europe
in early 1912 aboard the HAPAG
liner Amerika
. The elder Strauses left their grandchild in Germany and, although they normally traveled aboard German ships only, fatally decided to make their return voyage to the United States on the newly commissioned RMS Titanic.
On the night of the sinking, Isidor and Ida Straus were seen standing near Lifeboat No. 8 in the company of Mrs. Straus's maid, Ellen Bird. Although the officer in charge of the lifeboat was willing to allow the elderly couple to board the lifeboat with Miss Bird, Isidor Straus refused to go so as long as there were women and children still remaining on the ship. He urged his wife to board, but she refused, saying, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Her words were witnessed by those already in Lifeboat No. 8 as well as many others who were on the boat deck at the time. Isidor and Ida Straus were last seen alive sitting together quietly on deck chairs on Titanic's boat deck when a huge wave washed over them.
When the survivors of the disaster arrived in New York City aboard the RMS Carpathia
, many, including Ellen Bird, told reporters of Mrs. Straus's loyalty and fidelity to her husband. Her story struck a chord with the Jewish community. Many American and British newspapers emphasized the bravery of the well-to-do white Anglo-Saxon Christian men who had voluntarily remained on board while the women and children were put into lifeboats; some had labeled men who panicked or attempted to save their own lives as "Mediterraneans", "Italians", "Jews", or "foreigners", and misidentified Jewish victims who acted bravely (such as Benjamin Guggenheim
) as "Anglo-Saxons". Ida Straus's story was to the Jewish community not just a story of a brave woman but of a brave Jewish woman who refused to desert her husband even in the face of death. Rabbis spoke to their congregations about her sacrifice; articles in Yiddish and German-language
newspapers extolled her courage; a popular song featuring the story of Ida Straus, "The Titanic's Disaster", became popular among Jewish-Americans.
Ida Straus's body was never recovered.
There are four memorials to Isidor and Ida Straus in their adopted home of New York City.
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
. She and her husband Isidor
Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus —a German Jewish American—was co-owner of the Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served briefly as a member of the United States House of Representatives...
died on board the RMS Titanic.
Early life
Rosalie Ida Blun was born in 1849 in WormsWorms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to Nathan Blun (1815–1879) and his wife Wilhelmine "Mindel" Freudenberg (1814–1868). She was the fifth of seven children including Amanda (1839–1907), Elias Nathan (1842–1878), Louis (1843–1927), Augusta Carolina (1845–1905), Moritz (1850–1858) and Abraham Blun (1853–1881). She emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with her family.
In 1871, Ida Blun married Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus —a German Jewish American—was co-owner of the Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served briefly as a member of the United States House of Representatives...
(1845–1912), a German-American businessman. She and Isidor had seven children (one of whom died in infancy):
- Jesse Isidor Straus (1872–1936) who married Irma Nathan (1877–1970)
- Clarence Elias Straus (1874–1876) who died in infancy
- Percy Selden Straus (1876–1944) who married Edith Abraham (1882–1957)
- Sara Straus (1878 –1960) who married Dr. Alfred Fabian Hess (1875–1933)
- Minnie Straus (1880–1940) who married Dr. Richard Weil (1876–1917)
- Herbert Nathan Straus (1881–1933) who married Therese Kuhn (1884–1977)
- Vivian Straus (1886–1974) who married Dr. Herbert Adolph Scheftel (1875–1914) and George Dixon, Jr. (1891–1956)
The couple was considered especially close by their friends and family; when Isidor was forced to travel as part of his duties as a U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for New York or as co-owner of Macy's, they exchanged letters daily.
Isidor and Ida Straus traveled with their fifteen-year-old granddaughter Beatrice Straus to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in early 1912 aboard the HAPAG
Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG, which in turn owns other subsidiaries such as Hapag-Lloyd Ships and a cruise line, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises which is now integrated into TUI AG, Hanover...
liner Amerika
USS America (ID-3006)
USS America was a troop transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was launched in 1905 as SS Amerika by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the Hamburg America Line of Germany. As a passenger liner, she sailed primarily between Hamburg and New York...
. The elder Strauses left their grandchild in Germany and, although they normally traveled aboard German ships only, fatally decided to make their return voyage to the United States on the newly commissioned RMS Titanic.
Death and legacy
When the survivors of the disaster arrived in New York City aboard the RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia
RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of after the latter ship hit an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912...
, many, including Ellen Bird, told reporters of Mrs. Straus's loyalty and fidelity to her husband. Her story struck a chord with the Jewish community. Many American and British newspapers emphasized the bravery of the well-to-do white Anglo-Saxon Christian men who had voluntarily remained on board while the women and children were put into lifeboats; some had labeled men who panicked or attempted to save their own lives as "Mediterraneans", "Italians", "Jews", or "foreigners", and misidentified Jewish victims who acted bravely (such as Benjamin Guggenheim
Benjamin Guggenheim
Benjamin Guggenheim was an American businessman. He died aboard when the ship sank near Cape Race, Newfoundland.-Early life:...
) as "Anglo-Saxons". Ida Straus's story was to the Jewish community not just a story of a brave woman but of a brave Jewish woman who refused to desert her husband even in the face of death. Rabbis spoke to their congregations about her sacrifice; articles in Yiddish and German-language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
newspapers extolled her courage; a popular song featuring the story of Ida Straus, "The Titanic's Disaster", became popular among Jewish-Americans.
Ida Straus's body was never recovered.
Portrayals
- Helen Van Tuyl (1953) (TitanicTitanic (1953 film)Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...
) - Helen Misener (1958) (A Night to Remember)
- Nancy Nevinson (1979) (S.O.S. TitanicS.O.S. TitanicS.O.S. Titanic is a 1979 television movie that depicts the doomed 1912 voyage from the perspective of three distinct groups of passengers in First, Second, and Third Class, and respectively in a historically accurate fashion...
) (Tv Movie) - Janie Woods-Morris (1996) (TitanicTitanic (TV miniseries)Titanic is a made-for-TV movie that premièred on CBS in 1996. Titanic follows several characters on board the RMS Titanic when she sinks on her maiden voyage in 1912. The miniseries was directed by Robert Lieberman. The original music score was composed by Lennie Niehaus...
) (Tv Miniseries) - Elsa RavenElsa RavenElsa Raven, formerly Elsa Rabinowitz is an American character actress, perhaps best known for her two years on the sitcom Amen and playing the mother of Vincent Terranova on the TV series Wiseguy....
(1997) (TitanicTitanic (1997 film)Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
) - Alma CuervoAlma CuervoAlma Cuervo is an American stage actress and singer, who has also performed in film and television. She holds an M.F.A. in acting from the Yale School of Drama, from which she graduated in 1976 alongside Meryl Streep. She starred in the role of Madame Morrible in the first national tour of Wicked....
(1997) (TitanicTitanic (musical)Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...
) (Broadway Musical) When Ida decided to stay with her husband, they sang the song "Still."
Memorials
- A memorial plaque was located on the main floor of Macy's Department Store in Manhattan until approximately 2005 when it was returned to living Straus family members when the area was remodeled.
- The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial is located in Straus ParkStraus ParkStraus Park is a small landscaped park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, at the intersection of Broadway, West End Avenue, and 106th Street....
at the intersection of BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
and West End AvenueWest End AvenueWest End Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, not far from the Hudson River.West End Avenue originates at West 59th Street; the continuation of the street below 59th Street is called Eleventh Avenue. It runs from 59th Street to its...
at W. 106th Street (Duke Ellington Boulevard) in Manhattan. - New York City public school P.S. 198 in ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
is also named after the Strauses. - Isidor Straus's remains were recovered by the CS Mackay-Bennett and were buried at Woodlawn CemeteryWoodlawn Cemetery, BronxWoodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and is a designated National Historic Landmark.A rural cemetery located in the Bronx, it opened in 1863, in what was then southern Westchester County, in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874.The cemetery covers more...
in the Bronx. His gravestone also serves as a cenotaphCenotaphA cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
for his wife.
External links and references
- Straus Memorial on Titanic-Titanic.com
- http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography.php?id=289Encyclopedia TitanicaEncyclopedia TitanicaEncyclopedia Titanica is an online reference work containing extensive and constantly-updated information on the . The website, a nonprofit endeavor, is a database of passenger and crew biographies, deck plans, and articles submitted by historians or Titanic enthusiasts...
Biography of Ida Straus] - Straus article at JewishEncyclopedia.com
- Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress - includes information on The Titanic's Disaster sheet music
- Straus Historical Society
- Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy, by John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas, W.W. Newton & Company, 2nd edition 1995 ISBN 0-393-03697-9