Growing up my father rarely talked about his past and I really did not have much interest in asking him about it. He did say he was ransomed out of Germany during the Nazi reign of terror in the 1930's by a Hollywood producer and was a tutor to the producer's son teaching him Hebrew since in Germany he was a Hebrew teacher and a Cantor. My father passed away when I was 20 and my mother passed away when I was 37. She left a handwritten will, some financial documents and around 40 or so letters of my father written in German; all in an apparel box. Late 2010, 28 years after my mother passed away, I decided I would like to know more about my ancestry since it was of no concern to me in my youth. I looked into the apparel box and found my fathers letters. One stood out to me in particular, written in Dresden on July 1st, 1937 to Karl Laemmle, the Hollywood producer, in Karlsbad Hotel Imperial. I do not know why it was in my father's possession. I had it translated and found out that in the letter he agreed to come to America with him. After reading the letter I became intrigued and wanted to learn more about my father's past and my heritage. I searched the internet and found out more about Carl Laemmle and discovered an essay written in 1998 by Udo Bayer for the "Film History Journal" titled 'Laemmle's List.' It discussed among other things Carl Laemmle issuing affidavits to rescue German Jews from the oppression of the Nazi Regime of the 1930's. After reading the essay I realized my father was one of the affidavits on 'Laemmle's List.' This was a major revelation for me.

Udo Bayer (November 23rd, 1943 September 25th, 2015) was born in Hechingen-Hohenzollern, where he attended the local high school. A life-long artist since his childhood, Bayer studied history, political science and German literature in Tübingen, Munich and Berlin. In 1969, he began as a teacher in training at a high school in Laupheim, where he continued to teach until his retirement in 2008, serving as assistant director from 1989 on. He received his PhD in philosophy in 1975 under the supervision of Max Bense and Elisabeth Walther-Bense in Stuttgart, publishing numerous articles on Charles S. Peirces semiotics. His chief interest lay, until his death in 2015, in the city-history of Laupheim. In particular, it was the native Laupheimer, Carl Laemmle, whose success story and humanitarian engagement captivated Udo Bayers interest as a historian. Thanks to Bayers initiative, the local high school had its name changed to Carl-Laemmle High School in 1993, something which proved to be an important step in re-establishing trust in the Laemmle family. In addition, Udo Bayer was a founding father of the Society for History and Commemoration, whose involvement was important for the construction of a museum for Christians and Jews in Laupheim. His personal contact to the descendents of persecuted Jewish refugees made possible numerous publications in memory of the former Jewish community in Laupheim. This part of biography is basis of 25 years of meticulous research on Carl Laemmle, in particular, Bayers intensive personal exchange with the Laemmle family and their relatives, as well as research in various archives and his contact to historians in Germany, the USA, Israel and Japan.

My meeting with Sophie Nördlinger G. Bayer In the following few words, I would like to relay my meeting with the last, Jewish owner of the inn Die Ochsen (The Oxen) in 1989 in New York. Sophie Nördlinger knew Carl Laemmle personally from Laupheim and thus piqued our interest for our research on Carl Laemmle. Sophie Nödlinger, née Sänger, was born on April 4 th , 1989 as the only child of Albert (gestorben 1929) and Klara Sänger (née Einstein, 18651942). Sophie Nördlinger's grandfather, Benjamin Sänger, bought the Ochsen , known today as Zum Rothen Ochsen (To the Red Ox), in 1860. The building was built around the beginning of the 19 th century. In an age without television, radio and internet, the Jewish inn was a pivotal location for the small city of Laupheim's cultural and communal life into the 1930. It was a first-class house, as one can see in a comical advertisement by the choir group Frohsinn published in 1914. The popular inn had more to offer than just a kitchen and its specialty "sour tripe". For wedding and Purim parties, however, the larger Jewish inn Zum Kronprinzen (To the Crown Prince) was more popular. The reader familiar with the inn today, Zum Rothen Ochsen , may find the list of the many rooms amusing, even if the authors of the article meant to highlight this ironically. The painful fate of the emigrants Between 1987 and 2003, and together with my husband, Udo Bay- er, who passed away in 2015, I met a number of Jewish Americans of German descent, both in the US as well as here in Laupheim, all of whom were connected by their shared fate: due to the barbaric Nazi terror of the Hitler era, they were forced to find a new home- land. In the Hitler era, Jewish lives mattered little. Thus, as these emigrants saw it, they had survived by chance. Yet, when we met them, we sensed how much these events still pained them inside like a thorn. Many had long repressed their painful experiences. For some, it was the first time that they had opened themselves up to Germans of today's generation.

- Sandy Einstein from CA, USA, tells his story. His father, Hermann, was saved by an affidavit.- . Udo Bayer - CARL LAEMMLE1. Laemmle and Germany2. The American Policy of Immigration3. Laemmles correspondence in detail- Acknowledgements