Camera

Frederick Lubcher (Fred, 1931-2020) was born Ephraim Lubczer on 28 January 1931 in Lesko, Poland to Jacob and Rose Lubczer. He had two brothers: Herman (born Hersch Lubczer, 1925-1998) and Bernard (born Benjamin Lubczer, 1927-1990). His father Jacob (1896-1940) was born in Lesko to Hersch and Freida (née Salzman) Lubczer. He had three brothers: Moishe, Kalman, and Benny. Fred’s mother Rose (née Reizia Szatan or Schatten, 1898-1992) was born in Łomna, Poland to Josef Szatan and Hude Rosner. Jacob and Rose had an arranged marriage. They spoke Yiddish at home and kept kosher. Jacob and his brothers all worked as butchers. The family moved to Vienna, Austria shortly after Fred was born. Prior to the war, Jacob’s brother Moishe lived in Lesko, Kalman in Vienna, and Benny in the United States. After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Jacob began to have difficulties with his business, including the unavailability of kosher meat. His brother Kalman and his family fled to Italy and immigrated to the United States. Jacob was told he would be arrested if he did not emigrate from Austria by 30 September 1939. The Gestapo ransacked their apartment and Jacob was arrested on 13 October 1939 and deported to Buchenwald. He perished in the camp on 16 January 1940. Kalman sponsored Fred’s family to immigrate to the United States, and they received their visas in January 1940, shortly before Jacob’s death. They emigrated from Austria via Genoa, Italy aboard the SS Rex to the United States in March 1940. The family briefly lived with Jacob’s brother Benny before moving to Bedford-Stuyvesant. Rose worked as a cook for a hotel, and the family learned English. Fred worked part-time delivering groceries, and his brother Herman worked in his cousin’s butcher shop until he entered the Army. Bernard enlisted in the Navy. Fred married Shirley Greenberger (1929-2021) in 1953. He received his law degree from New York University in 1955 and later specialized in trusts and estates as a partner of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP. He was also the president of the Myron M. Studner Foundation. Fred and Shirley had two children: Jeremy and Howard. Rose remarried in 1950 to Jacob Feldman.

The camera was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2021 by Howard and Jeremy Lubcher, sons of Fred Lubcher.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Howard and Jeremy Lubcher