In Memory of
Abraham Fridlich
 (1923-2006)

Born in Belchatow, Poland in 1923, Abe Fridlich grew up with 3 brothers – Lazer, Hiel, and Strulick – and one sister, Sylvia. He and Strulick were the only remaining family members who survived the Holocaust death camps. According to his son, Steve, Abe "did the rounds in the concentration camps." From one of them, the Germans took Abe and a few others as slave laborers to the underground factory in Mathaussen, where they made parts for the V2 rockets, which, ironically, were sent over London where his future wife hid from them.

In 1949, four years after Liberation and speaking only Yiddish, German, and Polish, Abe immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a grocery delivery boy in the Bronx. He soon was fixed up with a beautiful English girl visiting from London (who survived the V2 rockets), and they fell in love and married. They brought up their two children, a son and a daughter, in New York City, moved to Rockland County, and retired to Hollywood, Florida.

In his eulogy at Abe's funeral, his son, Steve, described his father as follows:

"My Dad was everything, and did everything: salesman of furniture (aka "casa Fred"), delivery person, beer and soda manager, including delivery, wall paperer, carpet and tile installer, window and door installer, plumber, electrician, cook, restaurateur, car shuttle driver, and, not to mention, painter (not pictures, either). In fact, as everyone knows, he was happy to do things for anyone, always a busy-cate, running in all directions. And then came Hurricane Wilma (2005). Rosie: "Abe, maybe you should go down and move the car before the storm." "Ach! what you talkin'!" A few hours later, the tree fell on the car. He loved his Olds Bravada, he told me as we removed the license plate in the wrecking yard from the mangled remains. He was quite a guy."

Abe & Rose Fridlich with Roni Seibel Liebowitz
at the Hazkarah luncheon September 1, 2002