Rabbi Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer

Rabbi Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer

This photo was taken in 1942, and shows my father, rabbi Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer.

The picture was taken by a Hungarian gendarme before the deportations in Samorin, in Hungarian Somorja.

That’s why my father looks so devastated and worried in it. It’s the last photo of him. He was killed in 1944 in a gas chamber at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Unfortunately, it’s the only photograph of my father that I have. I got it after the war, from the gendarme that took it.

My father's name was Jakub Singer, and was from a rabbinical family, which is why he himself later became a rabbi in Samorín.

His entire name was Abraham Jakob Koppel Singer, and his Jewish name was Abraham Jakov ben Jisrael. My father was one of four siblings.

He and his brother Chaim David were graduates of the world-renowned Talmudic school in Bratislava. The Sofer family also taught at this yeshivah.

The first one was Moshe Schreiber, known as Chatam Sofer [5].

Then, one after the other, his descendants taught there, it was always handed down from father to son, Ketab Sofer and Shevet Sofer. Shevet Sofer was also my father's teacher, and his son, Akiba Schreiber, was my father's classmate.

Before World War II, Akiba moved to the Palestine, where after the war he also moved the entire yeshivah. It's still active to this day, in the Mea Sherim quarter.

My father and David attended this school together with Akiba Scheriber. They were very good friends. Akiba later recommended my father for the position of rabbi in Samorin.

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