Zsigmond Weinberger

Zsigmond Weinberger was a timber merchant in Gyor, Hungary, but was originally from Austria. He raised his two daughters to value education and ensured, inasmuch as he was able, that they were fluent in many languages. German was the language at the dinner table at which they discussed music, the arts and literature. His daughter Judith’s fluency in German, Hungarian, French and English helped to ensure their survival and indeed led to Judith becoming an interpreter for the allied forces following liberation. 

His wisdom and understanding of the way Germans thought was passed down to his children on the transport to Auschwitz and unquestionably saved their lives at the selection when they arrived at Auschwitz and in the labour camps which followed. His wife and two daughters survived, with Judith meeting the love of her life, Lieutenant Harold Rosenberg from Glasgow, when she was an interpreter for the allies. Judith was Scotland’s last camp survivor who sadly passed away on 22 January 2021 before completing a book about finding true love in the wake of the devastation of Auschwitz. 

This tribute has been prepared by Judith’s friend Ethne Woldman MBE as Judith had no blood relatives to perpetuate the memory of her beloved Father, Zsigmond Weinberger and other members of the Weinberger, Herzfeld and Adler families who perished in the Holocaust.