Tracing My Great-Grandfather, Emil Singer: An Orthopedist in Vienna In the first half of the 20th century
When I first began searching for information about my great-grandfather, Emil Singer, who lived about a century ago in Vienna, Austria, I ran into a challenge. Another man with the exact same name lived and worked in Vienna during those very years.
That Emil Singer became a famous printmaker and etcher, until he was tragically murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
(Image: Vienna: The "Graben" street. Etching by Emil Singer, early 20th century. Courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA).
Narrowing down the search for “my Emil Singer”—the father of my grandmother, Esther Sygmand—finally proved successful when I began searching Austrian archives by his birth year, combined with a variety of documents I discovered in my grandmother's estate. Esther Singer (Sygmand), the eldest daughter of Emil and Amalia (Esther’s mother, who passed away in 1921, after which Emil married Johanna), was born in 1912 in Vienna, which was then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Ever since my ד siblings and I were children, Esther used to tell us about the family's history and their lives in Austria and later in the State of Israel. As a meticulous Yekke (German-Jewish immigrant), she preserved important certificates, documents, photographs, and various other family valuables.
(Image: Emil Singer's certification certificate as a manufacturer of bandages and orthopedic appliances, 1901-1904. This picture hung on the wall of my grandparents' home for many years.)
For instance, hanging on the wall at my grandmother and grandfather’s (Moshe) home was a certificate belonging to my great-grandfather Emil, testifying to his successful completion of an apprenticeship as a manufacturer of bandages and orthopedic appliances from 1904. In her memoirs, Grandma Esther notes that he was the only Jewish student among 40 apprentices. The certificate is signed by Josef Odelga, who was a supplier to the Imperial and Royal Court (k.u.k. Hoflieferant) in Vienna. By searching the internet and with the helpful assistance of the Vienna City Library staff, I found numerous references to Odelga and his prestigious status as a court supplier. You can read here about the building owned by Odelga, which functioned as a combined residential and business space. The structure served as the headquarters for "J. Odelga", a company that manufactured surgical and orthopedic instruments. Written records in German mention construction plans from 1898 to install a low-pressure steam heating system in the basement and semi-basement (Souterrain), indicating advanced industrial and logistical operations within the building itself.
(Image: Certificate of excellence as an apprentice at the Vienna Apprentice Work Exhibition, 1904.)
Another certificate shows that Emil Singer won second place in a professional exhibition in Vienna in 1904, which speaks to his exceptional talent even as an apprentice. This excellence, alongside his training under the prestigious court supplier Odelga, marked him as a promising and gifted craftsman in the field of medical and orthopedic devices. It undoubtedly helped build his reputation and attract clients to his business. His business card, which was also preserved by my grandmother, proudly mentions his award as an outstanding apprentice. The advertisement notes that Emil Singer was a specialist in the custom manufacturing of a wide range of orthopedic solutions, including abdominal belts, corsets, and support trusses of all kinds. Additionally, the business offered custom fittings for insoles, artificial limbs, and prosthetics, ensuring that all work in the field was executed to the highest professional standard, alongside rapid repairs. On the sides of the advertisement, an example of one of his orthopedic products is illustrated, and at the bottom of the card were his contact details: a phone number and the address of his business in Vienna’s 17th district: WIEN, XVII., VERONIKAGASSE 4.
.jpeg)
(Image: The business card of orthopedic product specialist Emil Singer.)
(Image: Examples of orthopedic products made by Emil, preserved within our family.)
In the following image, taken from the 1924 Vienna business directory (The Lehmann / "Yellow Pages"), I found Emil Singer’s name and shop address listed under the category of expert professionals for orthopedic products. No phone number is listed here, which leads me to assume that the business card shown above is from later years.
(Image: Great-grandfather Emil in the 1924 Vienna business directory.)
Other beautiful photographs that I remember from my grandparents' home are group portraits of the entire family. These were the days of World War I, a time when Jews felt deeply embedded in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As citizens with equal rights at the time, they felt a strong sense of patriotism, and many enlisted in the army (in hebrew: World War I - Jewish fighters in the Austro-Hungarian army). In one of the photos from Grandma Esther’s album, the parents of Amalia (Esther’s mother) are seated, while Emil Singer and four of Amalia’s brothers stand beside them, all dressed in Austrian military uniforms.
(Image: Soldiers in the service of Emperor Franz Joseph. The young man standing second from the left is my great-grandfather Emil.)
The "Golden Age" of Austrian Jewry, which began in the second half of the nineteenth century, began to fracture during the twentieth century and came to an end with the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany (the Anschluss) in March 1938. In the months that followed, the Jews of Vienna were forced to register with the emigration department of the Jewish Community (IKG) and fill out detailed questionnaires. While originally intended to facilitate escape from Nazi persecution, these questionnaires were also weaponized by the regime to systematically expropriate property and deport the population. Today, these "emigration questionnaires" constitute one of the most comprehensive documentary sources on Austrian Jewry, allowing future generations to trace their family's fate and the community's history on the eve of the war.
Great-grandfather Emil’s file, which includes details about the rest of the family, has also been scanned and uploaded online. It contains 20 scanned documents detailing various requests.
Immediately following Kristallnacht in November 1938, Emil Singer was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was held for several months. He was released, likely in early 1939, and ordered to leave Austria as soon as possible.
(Image: A page showing Grandma Esther's request to emigrate from Austria to England. Source: Collection of Emigration Applications from Vienna (1938-1939), MyHeritage / Archive of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG), Emil Singer file, item no. 250503-R12, page 19.)
Even before Kristallnacht, my grandmother Esther had submitted an application for a visa to England, intending to work there as a domestic maid. In her memoirs, she recounts how, following her father's arrest and the confiscation of the family's property, she had to beg for financial assistance to cover travel taxes, obtain a passport, and secure a work permit for England—funds she ultimately managed to raise. Esther left Austria for England via Belgium on December 30, 1938, while her father was still imprisoned in Dachau.
(Image: Postcard from Dachau, From the memoirs of Esther Sygmand.)
Emil Singer, his wife Johanna, and their youngest son Kurt attempted to escape Austria for Shanghai, China, but were unsuccessful. Kurt, who was seventeen at the time, eventually managed to leave through the Youth Aliyah and reach the Land of Israel. His immigration documents note that his older brother, Leopold (Poldi), was living in Kiryat Bialik, a detail that may have helped him secure his travel authorization. Ultimately, Emil and Johanna fled to Italy, where their paths diverged. Throughout the war years, they lived in Italy without knowing each other's fate, until they were reunited after the war and immigrated to Israel (where Poldi, Kurt, and Esther—who arrived in 1947—were already living). In Esther's memoirs, there is a photograph of Emil with Aharon Avni (Fritz Steiner), a distant relative who served in the Jewish Brigade. In Aharon Avni’s informational profile on the World War II Jewish Soldiers Museum website (in hebrow), he recounts his emotional encounters with Jewish refugees in Italy.
(Image:Emil with Aharon Avni (Fritz Steiner), From the memoirs of Esther Sygmand.)
My grandmother Esther returned to visit Austria and Vienna in 1970. She met surviving family members and was deeply moved. At the same time, she felt a profound sense of alienation and carried painful memories of her departure 32 years prior. Esther describes going to visit the family's former home; she knocked on the door, and the woman who answered looked at her in astonishment and said, "You're still alive?!" Other neighbors were more welcoming, inviting Esther into their homes, giving her gifts, and describing how they had helped Jews during the war.
Throughout her life, Grandma Esther maintained close ties with the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin and the Central Committee of Jews from Austria in Israel. In the late 1990s, my brother Shimon and I had the privilege of going on a roots trip to Austria—a fascinating and moving tour alongside young Israelis whose families originally came from Austria, organized in collaboration with Austrian youths of our own age.
(Image: The house at Veronikagasse 4. Screenshot from Google Maps.)
Grandma Esther used to keep the samples of the orthopedic products inside beautiful Sachertorte boxes that we received once a year from Austria from Franzl, a close friend of Esther and Moshe. This particular box is from a cake we received from the Imperial Hotel confectionery in Vienna, and we also have preserved cake boxes from the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, where, as the story goes, this famous cake was originally invented…
 |
| Some of the boxes in which the cakes were sent are still kept by my family. |
Source Citation:
"Emil Singer in Austria, Vienna, Jewish Emigrant Applications," historical record page for Emil Singer, database, MyHeritage (
* The original post was initially written in Hebrew
* Writing and translating this post involved quite a bit of help from Gemini AI (for text understanding and web links) and Google Lens. I apologize in advance for any typos or inaccuracies. (-:
תגובות
הוסף רשומת תגובה