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On October 25th, 1895, Frida Singer went to the Civil Registry Office in Kowary to report that her younger brother had passed away the day before. Fritz Singer, the son of Julius and Amalie Singer (née Peter), was just six years and two months old. His tombstone is one of the few that remain in the Jewish cemetery in Jelenia Góra.
Photo of Fritz Singer’s tombstone, Jelenia Góra, 2012 / Source: Fotopolska.eu
Fritz Singer was born on November 25th, 1888, in Kowary, which was then called Schmiedeberg and is located less than twenty kilometers from Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg). Kowary, like other nearby towns, was part of the Jewish community of Jelenia Góra. Fritz was the youngest of nine children born to Julius and Amalie Singer.
The family lived in a tenement at Markt 10, now ul. 1 Maja 19. Julius Singer was an enterprising man—he ran the inn “Under the Golden Lion” (Zum Goldenen Löwen) in the same building, reminders of which can still be seen in the form of the decorative lion heads on the doors. He also owned a local distillery and a fruit juice factory, which was said to produce the best mountain raspberry juice in the area.
The building where the Singer family lived / Photos by Jowita Selewska
Advertisement from 1884
Julius Singer was born on February 6th, 1849, in Kluczbork (Kreuzburg), the son of Samuel Singer, a horse dealer from Krasków (Kraskau), and Friederike, née Wendriner. On April 19th, 1876, he married Amalie Peter in Trzciel (Tirschtiegel), the daughter of Lewin Louis Peter and Seraphine, née Kirsch. Within a year, they moved to Kowary, where their first child, Alphons, was born on July 26th, 1877. The family faced difficulties—Alphons died after just six months, and their next son, Bernhard, passed away shortly after birth on May 13th, 1878. The family later had Max, Elfriede, and Hans—who lived only a year—followed by Willy, Elsbeth, Martha, and finally Fritz, through whom we learn about the Singer family’s story.
Amalie Singer passed away prematurely on February 26th, 1891, at just under 39 years old, leaving her husband with six children. Less than a year later, Julius decided to marry Minna Rothenberg from Rawicz (Rawitsch), the daughter of merchant Selig Rothenberg and Pauline, née Birnbaum. The wedding took place on February 2nd, 1892, in Wrocław (Breslau), where Julius would start his business ventures in the 1920s.
Death certificate of Fritz Singer / Source: The State Archive in Wrocław, Jelenia Góra branch
As early as 1912, Julius Singer is listed in the address books at Gartenstrasse 63 (now Piłsudskiego Street, near the Capitol Musical Theater) as a distiller. Later, the address book for the Jewish community in Breslau also includes his youngest and only son from his second marriage, Siegmund Singer, and his wife Erna, née Kohn, at the same address. Julius likely passed away in 1932 and was buried in the new Jewish cemetery on Lotnicza Street in Wrocław. His wife Minna probably died earlier, as she does not appear on the address list of community members.
Julius Singer in the address book of the Jewish community in Breslau (Wrocław)
Siegmund lived at Gartenstrasse 63 until the start of the war. He managed to escape to Shanghai and then arrived in San Francisco on September 17th, 1946, aboard the USS General W. H. Gordon. At fifty-one, he came to the United States to start a new life. According to the 1950 census, he settled in Milwaukee with his second wife, Sara, who was from Poland, and went into the antiques business. He passed away on December 18th, 1968.
It’s not known what happened to the rest of Fritz’s siblings.
Passenger list with the name Sigmund Singer
I’d like to thank Jowita Selewska for her help in finding the current address in Kowary.
The text appeared in the magazine Chidusz, issue 3/2023.
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