Birth:

On the basis of the register of Jews living in County Pless it is herewith certified that to the --- (illegible) Abraham Silbermann and his wife Lore nee Loebel from Kopcziowitz on the 18 (eighteenth) July 1845 (eightennhundredfortyfive) a son was born who received the first name Siegmund.

Pless March 27, 1917

the Royal Landrat (title) J.V.

[This birth certificate was copied in 1917 from the old "Register of Jews"]

Dad's Memoirs:

The second recollection belongs into the following year (1919) My paternal grandfather had taken me out for a walk. People were milling about in the street quite close to our house. They were watching a band of ragged-looking soldiers marching down the street. They had rifles slung over their shoulders with muzzles pointing to the ground, not up as I had seen soldiers carry their rifles on other occasions. My grandfather told me that these were “Spartakisten" (members of the extremist left Spartacus organization). At my age - 4 years - I had obviously no knowledge of politics and. so for some time thereafter " Spartakisten " were men with rifles slung upside down - a notion which would have jolted Karl Liebknecht, the famous German socialist and founder of the Spartacus League. A few months later, in July 1919, while we were vacationing in the mountains not far from Breslau, my grandfather died suddenly. I have a very hazy recollection of my father leaving us in the resort while he returned hone for the funeral. If I remember right, grandfather died in a summer resort. Somehow I overheard that he had fallen off a kitchen chair and confusing cause and effect I developed respect for kitchen chairs and even feared their power. I was 4 years old when he died, and my memories are very dim. He must have stayed with us for a while, but I think that he had a room or small apartment somewhere else in Breslau. I seem to recall that he was very fond of stuffed cabbage ( which I dislike ) and did not care for potatoes. I never knew my paternal grandmother [1] who had died in 1902, long before my parents' marriage. She had the reputation of a Saint in the family, and I have been told that my father was very close to her. My grandfather was retired by the time I knew him. I am not quite sure what he had done for a living, but seem to remember that he sold mirrors, but he is referred to as bookseller[2] in the document.

Notes:

1. Coelestine Silbermann nee Bartenstein. According to JRI-Poland information, she was born October 30, 1839 in Raciborz to Samuel Bartenstein (a "Pferdehändler" -- horse trader) and Charlotte nee Sonnenfeld.

2. Haven't found the document that Dad refers to, but I did find the notices above in the Reichsanzeiger newspaper. The first clearly identifies him as a bookdealer. The latter just indicates that a business was removed; presumably the same one, as I haven't found another listing inbetween 1869 and 1895.