Frances Spiegel (z”l)
April 14, 1926 – November 12, 2021
Frances Spiegel was born on April 14, 1926 in Chrzanow, Poland. Her birth name was Faiga Singerz.
Frances was 13 years old when the war broke out in Poland. She and her family were soon forced into a ghetto after the Nazi invasion. She remained in the ghetto until 1942 when she and one of her sisters were placed on a cattle car and transported to a sub-camp of Gross Rosen, known as Ober Alstadt. They remained in the camp for 3 years and 4 months. Frances recalled that everyone there knew when Josef Mengele would come to the camp and select people to take to Auschwitz.
Just a few weeks shy of liberation, her sister lost her leg in a train accident, but never let this stop her from doing anything in her life. They were liberated by the Russians on May 9th, 1945. Afterwards, Frances contracted Typhus and was placed in quarantine, but eventually recovered. Their parents, youngest sister, grandparents, and many other family members had been killed in the Holocaust.
Frances knew her husband for two years before they got married and had two children while still in Germany. Eventually they were sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh to immigrate to the United States, along with her sister.
Frances passed away on November 12, 2021.