contemporary history US DE 1939 immigration and emigration

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. Peirce's 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 Bayer's interest as a historian. Thanks to Bayer's 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, Bayer's 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.