Isidor and Ida Straus, the elderly couple depicted in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster, chose to stay aboard the sinking ship so that others may live. When he didn't follow, she was very concerned, and the ship's officer in charge of lowering that particular lifeboat said, 'Well, Mr. Straus, you're an elderly man and we all know who you are Of course you can enter the lifeboat with your wife,'" Kurzman told Today. Already a member? The Titanic's sinking happened in 1912, and the opening of the Federal Reserve happened in 1913. She was one of four women to die in First Class, the others being Edith Evans, Bess Allison, and Ann Isham . In 1854 he emigrated to the United States settling, with his family, in the town of Talbotton, Georgia. Idas body was never recovered. As final preparations are being made ahead of the reopening of Titanic Belfast on Saturday, details have been announced of some of the new artefacts that will go on display including an original deck chair from RMS Titanic and the world-famous violin belonging to the ship's hero musician, Wallace Hartley, which has been described as one of the rarest and most iconic objects of the 20th century. However, Abrahams sudden death led to a last-minute European vacation instead. As we have lived, so will we die, together, she promised. In the real 1912 sinking of the massive ocean liner, Isidor and Ida Straus decided to go down with the ship together. And visitors are still invited to form their own connections when each receives a boarding pass with the name of an actual Titanic passenger or crew member, discovering their fate at the end of the $4.5 million collection of artifacts. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. When the survivors of the disaster arrived in New York City aboard the RMSCarpathia, many including Ellen Bird told reporters of Mrs. Straus's loyalty and fidelity to her husband. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives. They settled first in Columbus, Georgia, and then lived in Talbotton, Georgia, where their house still exists today. The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial is located in, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 18:22. "And, my great-grandfather said, 'No. Experts widely agree the liner disaster, which killed more than 1,500 people (here), was an accident. He declined the office of Postmaster General which was offered him by U.S. President Grover Cleveland. Morgan did have a hand in the creation of the Federal Reserve, and it owned the International Mercantile Marine, which owned the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic. AS final preparations are being made ahead of the reopening of Titanic Belfast on Saturday, details have been announced of some of the new artefacts that will go on display, including an original deck chair from RMS Titanic and the world-famous violin belonging to the ship's hero musician, Wallace Hartley, which has been described as one of the rarest and most iconic objects of the 20 th . in HISTORY, NEWS. Straus, Isidor. Brett Gladstone poses in front of a statue on 106th Street and Broadway dedicated to his great-great-grandparents, Isidor and Ida Straus, who died when the Titanic sunk 100 years ago today. Isidors body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett and he was buried in New Yorks Woodlawn Cemetery. A White Star Line example of the Third Class Bill of Fare includes a statement that "Kosher meat" would be supplied and cooked for Jewish passengers as desired, according to "The Jews of the Titanic," written by Eli Moskowitz and published in March 2018 by Strauss Consultants of New York City. As the Titanic began sinking into the freezing ocean, women and children were ushered into lifeboats, as was the unwritten law of the sea. . Director James Cameron may have taken artistic liberties with his depiction of Isidor and Ida Straus, the elderly couple who held each other as the ship sank, in his 1997 blockbuster. John Farthing was lost with the ship and his body was never recovered. Even thoughColonel Gracie and other friends tried to persuade her, she refused, saying that she wont be separated from her husband. Mr and Mrs Straus went and sat together on a pair of deck chairs. Isidor and Ida Straus were both German immigrants born in the 1840s who later immigrated to the United States with their families. So far, so good the men were all real and wealthy. ins.style.display='block';ins.style.minWidth=container.attributes.ezaw.value+'px';ins.style.width='100%';ins.style.height=container.attributes.ezah.value+'px';container.appendChild(ins);(adsbygoogle=window.adsbygoogle||[]).push({});window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId,'stat_source_id',44);window.ezoSTPixelAdd(slotId,'adsensetype',1);var lo=new MutationObserver(window.ezaslEvent);lo.observe(document.getElementById(slotId+'-asloaded'),{attributes:true}); Mrs Straus almost entered Lifeboat 8, - then she turned back and rejoined her husband, she had made up her mind: "We have lived together for many years. INFO titanicbranson.com They seemed to enjoy each others company more than anything in the world. (Courtesy Photo). which Mr. Straus was connected, has a farm. He died with his wife Ida in the sinking of the RMS Titanic . In the real 1912 sinking of the massive ocean liner, Isidor and Ida Straus decided to go down with the ship together. Isidor Straus in 1903. Decline all Cookies (not recommended) Kellogg is both a detective and a storyteller by nature, and the idea for the tribute was born about three years ago, when she became aware the Titanic had had a kosher kitchen with its own chef. "The Irish, children, the 712 survivors, all the outstanding women, the suffragettes on board, the eight musicians, the eight clergymen -- even the 10 dogs. It featured the black-and-white image of three men and the Titanic. Historians have debated several reasons for Morgan to cancel his trip, but noneisrelated totheFederal Reserve. The Strauses are remembered in the current tribute to Jewish passengers at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson. They were two among the 69 known Jewish people aboard the ship and two of the 39 who perished. Isidor Straus later went to Europe to set up a blockade-running company, but the company never got off the ground and Straus was stranded in Europe with $1200. "But I was surprised by the connections with the Holocaust.". The memorial fountain was dedicated on April 15, 1915. Traveling back from a winter in Europe, mostly spent at Cape Martin in southern France, Isidor and his wife were passengers on the RMS Titanic when, at about 11:40p.m. on April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg. According to the exhibition notes, Amnon Weinstein has spent the past two decades locating and restoring violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Investigations located the kosher kitchen -- near the Third Class galley on F deck -- and revealed that the chef slept just off the Third Class dining hall, sharing a room with four Second Class cooks, three Third Class cooks, one Scandinavian interpreter and two other crew members. Independently published by the Straus Historical Society, 2011. p. 175-176, List of Jewish members of the United States Congress, "STRAUS, Isidor - Biographical Information", "Reminiscences of Jacob Greenebaum, Sr. - Written for his Children in 1859 Volume 2 Number 1", The Encyclopedia Americana: A universal reference library , Volume 14 1905, Jewish Encyclopedia Isidor Straus; for details of his brief service see Kurt Stone's "The Jews of Capital Hill.."(p.54), "Stuart Scheftel, 83; Executive Took Part In Many Civic Posts", "King Princess on reappropriating White Stripes and her "extra as hell" family history", "Our Campaigns - NY District 15 Special Race - Jan 30, 1894", "Great-grandson of elderly 'Titanic' couple shares their real story", "Inside a Divided Upper East Side Public School: Whites in the front door, blacks in the back door", Encyclopedia Titanica Biography of Isidor Strauss, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isidor_Straus&oldid=1138244668, Clarence Elias Straus (18741876), who died in infancy, Percy Selden Straus (18761944), who married Edith Abraham (18821957), daughter of, Herbert Nathan Straus (18811933), who married Therese Kuhn in 1907 (18841977). "My great-grandmother Ida stepped into the lifeboat expecting that her husband would follow. Ida gave her maid her fur coat and insisted she get into a lifeboat. "Visitors can touch finely carved wooden inlays, grasp the wheel on the captain's bridge, tap out messages on the ship's wireless, feel an iceberg's chill, stroll decks and galleries and listen to stories told by real survivors. It then headed full speed into a known iceberg-field, with less than half the required lifeboats, no red signal flares, no Rothschild or Rockefeller on board, and sank to the bottom of the northAtlantic Ocean. Isidor was a co-owner of Macy's department store in New York and one of the wealthiest men on-board the Titanic. The couple married in 1871. [1], Rosalie Ida Blun was born in 1849 in Worms, Germany, to Nathan Blun (18151879) and his wife Wilhelmine "Mindel" (ne Freudenberg; 18141868). The kind of exploration undertaken for the tribute was not new for the Titanic museum. Straus helped Frank get Anne's diary published in the United States in 1952, even asking Eleanor Roosevelt to write the forward. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. . 8 in the company of Mrs. Straus's maid, Ellen Bird. According to some accounts, Ismay's last words were "Good-bye, old girl" as he stepped into a lifeboat before the Titanic sank. via Giphy Isidor, 67, was a co-owner of Macy's and a . Titanic. Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 - April 15, 1912), a Jewish-German-American, was co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. NotesSome sources indicate that Straus was initially buried at Beth-El Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY. In 1862, the Straus family moved to Columbus and Lazarus Straus opened another dry-goods business. The Straus memorial statue in New York City. Before he sailed for Europe Mr. Straus. and Isidor is listed in the 1860 census as being a clerk at this store. (Courtesy Photo), Anne Frank is connected to the Titanic through a friendship between her father, Otto Frank, and Nathan Straus Jr., the nephew of Isidor and Ida Straus. Were Isidor and Ida Straus really on the Olympic when she collided with the Hawke? Ida's body was never found. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Unforgettable and heartbreaking in Titanic is the elderly, first-class couple who stayed on the ship and embraced in bed as their room filled with water. After evacuations began on that fateful night of April 15, 1912, Ida Straus and her husband were standing on the deck by Lifeboat 8. Wikimedia Commons Isidor and Ida Straus on their wedding day in 1871. On any other year, the pair would be vacationing in southern California with Isidors business partner, A. Abraham. Wikimedia CommonsDrawing by Paul Thiriat, published in the French daily Excelsior in April 1912, depicting the last moments of Ida and Isidor Straus as the Titanic sank. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. Ida Straus was both a housewife and a very busy mother, as the couple had seven children together. Hearing that, Ida stepped out of the lifeboat and remained with Isidor, a moment shown in one of the film's deleted scenes. As they belonged to the elite class, Isidor was offered a seat in the same lifeboat, next to his wife but he refused to made an exception. He died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, along with his wife Ida. One of the most tragic scenes from the 1997 movie Titanic depicts an elderly couple who quietly tuck themselves into bed and wait for death together as the ship begins to flood. And then Ida stepped back onto the Titanic to spend the rest of her life with her husband of 40 years. An All Thats Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. Secondly, GeorgeBehetold Reuters he was unable to find any documents in his 45 years of researching the Titanic that proved the three men opposed the Federal Reserve. In 1854 he and his family immigrated to the United States, following his father, Lazarus, who immigrated two years before. As we know, that voyage brought tragedy instead of excitement. The story fascinated Kurzman as a boy, but as he grew older, his great-grandparents' bravery and devotion made him feel "very honored and very respectful and very proud. Photo taken by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, February 2007. The meme was postedto Facebookon March 1 and has been shared more than 600 times (here). Though the Strauss usually travelled on German vessels, the lure of the newly-commissioned Titanic and all the luxury she could offer probably proved too much of a temptation for the journey home. The old couple's scene was roughly based on old married couple, Ida and Isidor Straus' story of unyielding love for each other. After a visit to their native Germany, Isidor and Ida were travelling back to the United States with Idas recently-appointed maid, Ellen Bird, and Isidors manservant, John Farthing. He worked hard, eventually all the way up to being a co-owner of the entire Macys chain. Straus was born into a Jewish family in Otterberg in the former Palatinate, then ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria. [4] In 1861, he was elected an officer in a Confederate military unit but was not allowed to serve because of his youth; in 1863, he went to England to secure ships for blockade running. We will not leave one another after our long and wonderful marriage together,'" Kurzman told Today. (Ida's body was never found. Although a moment like this may seem too cinematic to be true, it was in fact based on the story of a real-life couple named Isidor and Ida Straus and the film actually gets the spirit of their story correct. "I want to share as closely as possible with guests what Titanic's actual passengers and crew experienced aboard ship," the museum founder John Joselyn has been quoted as saying. Each guest is assigned a boarding pass when he enters the museum and finds out at the conclusion of the tour whether that passenger survived. Examples of his work are part of the current tribute to Jewish passengers on the Titanic at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson. As we have lived, so will we die, together." A nationwide survey in 2020 showed 1 in 10 respondents did not recall ever having heard the word Holocaust before. Isidor Straus was a first-class passenger and the millionaire founder of the Macy's department store chain. He won a special election in January 1894[12] to complete the term of Ashbel P. Fitch, who had resigned to become New York City Comptroller. One artifact that's been lost with the ages? 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