Fred Zeilberger

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Fred Zeilberger was born on 16 December 1929 in Würzburg, Germany, to Justin and Lilly Zeilberger. His father owned a tailoring business. During the November 1938 pogroms, known as Kristallnacht, Justin was arrested and imprisoned in Buchenwald for nine weeks. The destruction of Jewish businesses and synagogues marked a devastating escalation in the persecution surrounding Fred’s childhood.

On 27 November 1941, eleven-year-old Fred was deported with his parents and sister Ilse to Riga, German-occupied Latvia. He endured imprisonment in five camps, including Jungfernhof, Kaiserwald and Stutthof. Forced labour became essential to his survival. At Jungfernhof, he later recalled being compelled to stack the bodies of prisoners who had died during the winter because the frozen ground prevented their burial.

Fred survived until liberation in spring 1945, but his mother and sister were murdered, and his father died shortly after liberation. Returning to a devastated Würzburg, he faced life as the sole survivor of his immediate family. In 1947, he emigrated to the United States as a war orphan, initially receiving support from relatives while attending night school and learning the meat trade.

Drafted into the United States Army in 1951 during the Korean War, Fred served as a butcher. After his discharge, he established a wholesale meat business. He married Elaine in 1956, and they settled in Cedarhurst, Long Island, where they raised three children.

Fred died on 14 December 2025, two days before his ninety-sixth birthday.