"We lived together - and together we will die": an invented love story from the sunken "Titanic"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Ida and Isidor Strauss lived in perfect harmony, and even when they were not together, they wrote letters to each other every day. Their last photo together was taken on the deck of the Titanic, which they boarded to travel home from Europe. And when the liner was already submerged under the water, they could not part and stayed together on board the sinking ship …

This couple was wealthy and could afford to travel on a super-modern liner across the ocean in a first class cabin. Isidore Strauss (Isidor Straus) was a business man and also a co-owner of the largest American department store chain "Macy's", so at the time of his death, at 67, he was a millionaire.

Ida met Isidore when she was 22 years old, they had seven children in their marriage, one of whom died as a child. There are very few facts about their life together: only that they truly loved each other and, even when circumstances separated them, they wrote letters to each other every day, talking about the past day, as if they were having an evening conversation with each other. during the dinner.

On April 3, 1912, Ida and Isidore boarded the Titanic together. They had at their disposal a luxurious first-class cabin, besides, they had a maid who made their life easier. At the beginning of their journey, the couple decided to take a photo as a souvenir. Literally three days before the disaster, the photographer went ashore in Queenstown, and the Starus couple continued their journey on board the liner.

The crew decided to evacuate primarily women and children. Ida had a seat in boat number 8, along with the rest of the first class passengers. Realizing that her husband would not be allowed to join the women, Ida refused to leave the ship. Colonel Archibald Gracie, who managed to survive and who witnessed this scene, advised Isidore to turn to the captain so that both of them could be saved. "I will not do this," said the 67-year-old millionaire. "I will not get into the boat before the rest of the people are saved."

At the same time, Ida realized that their maid was still with them, who, due to the fact that she was not a first-class passenger, was not allowed a seat. Ida threw an expensive fur coat over her shoulders and with the words "I won't need it any more anyway" she insisted that the girl take a place in the boat instead of Ida herself. The maid later said that the last thing she heard from Ida Strauss was: "I will not be separated from my husband. We lived together - and we will die together."

The couple was last seen on the deck of a sinking ship - they stood huddled together and held hands. One of the passengers who managed to be rescued described this scene as "the most expressive expression of love and devotion." Ida and Isidore died together when the ship sank completely under the water. Later, rescuers managed to find Isidore's body. He was recognized by his expensive clothes, gold personalized watches and several precious accessories. His wife's body was never found.

The six children of the Strauss couple transported the body of Isidore to the family crypt in a cemetery in New York, and on a commemorative plaque they wrote a quote from the book "Songs of Solomon": "Great waters cannot extinguish love, and rivers will not flood it."

Later, James Cameron portrayed the Strauss couple in his legendary film - in the director's version, an elderly couple died hugging together in their cabin.

One of the survivors of this shipwreck was Violet Constance Jessop - and she could rightfully be called the lucky one if after that she did not get a job for the Britannica, which also went down. Read about her story in our review " The luckiest unlucky women: 5 women who survived disasters".