Siegfried (Sigi) Stadermann

Siegfried (Sigi) Stadermann’s story tells a different tale of rescue – that of emigration to Palestine. Sigi grew up in a middle-class family in Chemnitz. His father, Otto, was a musician in the symphony orchestra and a Christian; his mother, Else, was Jewish. The family lived in Chemnitz-Gablenz. Siegfried took piano lessons and devoted himself to music. The family led a largely non-denominational life and celebrated Christmas rather than Hanukkah. Yet their Jewish identity was also nurtured, and Sigi and his schoolmate Karl Joachim joined the Jewish Scout Association Makkabi Hazair (Hebrew: Young Maccabees).

In 1936, Karl Joachim joined a Hachshara camp (Hebrew for ‘preparation’) run by the Scout Association. The camps were designed to prepare young Jews for emigration to Palestine – through courses in agriculture, horticulture and Hebrew. In 1939, he travelled to Sweden with other young people; in 1941, he reached Haifa in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. There he met Sigi, who had already arrived in Palestine in November 1939. In 1941, the brothers joined the British Army. Siegfried took part in the liberation of Italy and was stationed in Florence for a time. After the war ended, he travelled to Chemnitz and was reunited with his parents. Elsa Stadermann had been deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in February 1945 and was liberated in May. Together with Sigi, the parents travelled to Italy and later went to Israel.

Sigi studied music in Israel and became a conductor. He lived in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, conducted various orchestras and directed the Abu Ghosh Vocal Music Festival. In the 1970s, he emigrated to the USA and died in New York in 2011.