Frederick Lubcher (Fred, 1931-2020) was born Ephraim Lubczer on 28 January 1931 in Lesko, Poland to Jacob and Rose Lubczer. He had two brothers: Herman (born Hersch Lubczer, 1925-1998) and Bernard (born Benjamin Lubczer, 1927-1990). His father Jacob (1896-1940) was born in Lesko to Hersch and Freida (née Salzman) Lubczer. He had three brothers: Moishe, Kalman, and Benny. Fred’s mother Rose (née Reizia Szatan or Schatten, 1898-1992) was born in Łomna, Poland to Josef Szatan and Hude Rosner. Jacob and Rose had an arranged marriage. They spoke Yiddish at home and kept kosher. Jacob and his brothers all worked as butchers. The family moved to Vienna, Austria shortly after Fred was born. Prior to the war, Jacob’s brother Moishe lived in Lesko, Kalman in Vienna, and Benny in the United States. After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Jacob began to have difficulties with his business, including the unavailability of kosher meat. His brother Kalman and his family fled to Italy and immigrated to the United States. Jacob was told he would be arrested if he did not emigrate from Austria by 30 September 1939. The Gestapo ransacked their apartment and Jacob was arrested on 13 October 1939 and deported to Buchenwald. He perished in the camp on 16 January 1940. Kalman sponsored Fred’s family to immigrate to the United States, and they received their visas in January 1940, shortly before Jacob’s death. They emigrated from Austria via Genoa, Italy aboard the SS Rex to the United States in March 1940. The family briefly lived with Jacob’s brother Benny before moving to Bedford-Stuyvesant. Rose worked as a cook for a hotel, and the family learned English. Fred worked part-time delivering groceries, and his brother Herman worked in his cousin’s butcher shop until he entered the Army. Bernard enlisted in the Navy. Fred married Shirley Greenberger (1929-2021) in 1953. He received his law degree from New York University in 1955 and later specialized in trusts and estates as a partner of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP. He was also the president of the Myron M. Studner Foundation. Fred and Shirley had two children: Jeremy and Howard. Rose remarried in 1950 to Jacob Feldman.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
folders oversize folders 7 2
Folder 1 of 7, OS 1. Biographical material, 1935-1996 Folder 2 of 7. Correspondence, 1939-1962 Folder 3 of 7. Immigration to United States, 1938-1956 Folder 4 of 7. Passports (Fremden Pass), 1939 Folder 5 of 7, OS 2. Photographs, circa 1930-2018 Folder 6 of 7. Publication: Recorder, Boys High School, 1948 Folder 7 of 7. Report cards, 1932-1937
The collection documents the Holocaust-era experiences of Fred Lubcher, his parents Jacob and Rose Lubczer, and his brothers Herman and Bernard, including pre-war life in Vienna, Austria, his father Jacob’s arrest and death at Buchenwald in 1940, and the family’s immigration to the United States in March 1940. Included are biographical material, immigration paperwork, correspondence, German passports (Fremden Pass), photographs, report cards, and a high school magazine essay authored by Fred describing his experiences in Vienna. Biographical material includes birth and death certificates; a ketubah for Rose Szatan and her second husband Jacob Feldman, 1950; a 1938 letter from the Ministry of the Interior, Warsaw depriving Jacob Lubczer of Polish citizenship; and honorable discharge papers for Herman Lubcher. Correspondence includes two postcards from Jacob to his wife, written from Vienna Stadium in September 1939, where he was likely detained before deportation to Buchenwald; two wartime postcards to Rose in Brooklyn, New York from her father Jozef Szatan in Olszanica, Ukraine; and a 1962 letter regarding restitution. Immigration paperwork includes the family’s ticket for passage on the SS Rex, which departed from Genoa, Italy on 5 March 1940 for the United States; and naturalization certificates for Fred and Rose. Photographs include pre-war depictions of the Lubcher family in Vienna, and a 2018 photograph of Jacob Lubcher’s grave in Vienna, erected after the war by Fred.
Fred Lubcher papers