My friend Siegfried Mittelmann

Siegfried Mittelmann (b. 1917) and Siegfried Podolanski (b. 1918) were friends. The two met at the Carlebach School. After 1931, the Podolanski family, with their five children, moved from Sangerhausen to Leipzig. The Mittelmann photo archive contains ten photographs taken in a private setting. They show that the two families knew each other well. The siblings Ella (b. 1911) and Arnold (b. 1912) were photographed by Mittelmann. The eldest brother, Julius (b. 1905), also had his picture taken during a stroll through town. A lively snapshot brings the two families together.

Julius was a physicist on Werner Heisenberg’s research team at the University of Leipzig. His academic career came to an end after 1933. He secured a position at Leiden University in the Netherlands. With the onset of deportations of the Jewish population, Julius went into hiding in 1942. He was eventually rescued and went to England. 

The eldest sister, Marie (born 1908), was a teacher and worked at the Carlebach School until she fled to England in 1939. Ella and Arnold also managed to escape. Siegfried was able to be brought to Palestine in 1937 with the help of a Jewish youth organization. This severed his connection to his friend Sigi. 

After their father Hermann died at the Eitingon Hospital as early as 1937, Spintza was left alone. The children were unable to bring their mother out of Germany. On May 10, 1942, she was deported to the Bełźyce ghetto.