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 [2] 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[3] in the document. 

Notes:

1. There is no town called "Kopsdeowitz," so not sure where this is today; get various hints from searching, but nothing definitive.

2. Coelestine Silbermann nee Bartenstein.  According to JRI-Poland information, she was born October 30, 1839 (and, thus, almost six years older than Siegmund) in Raciborz to Samuel Bartenstein (a "Pferdehändler" -- horse trader) and Charlotte nee Sonnenfeld.

3. See separate page about his work in Cosel.

Geni data:

Gender: Male

Birth: July 18, 1845 Kopsdeowitz, Germany

Death: July 1919 (73-74) while on vacation

Immediate Family:

Son of Adolf Abraham Silbermann and Lore Silbermann
Husband of Coelestine Silbermann
Father of Vally Mayer; Eugen Silberman and Toni Rosenthal
Brother of Ludwig Silbermann