A Snapshot of the Fred Solberg Near-Century
by Enid Kumin, from the Temple B'nai Brith Shofar
Freddie Solberg and family (his wife, Janet, and their sons, Kent and Andrew) were a vital part of TBB for many years. Fred died just this past March at the age of 91. Among his volunteer duties at the synagogue, Fred kept track of TBB cemetery matters. For this reason, among others, the Cemetery Committee contacted one of Fred's sons, Andy, to ask a few questions in hopes of writing a short piece about Fred for the newsletter. In the process, we learned not only about Fred and his family but about TBB and the Jewish community in Somerville in the decades before and the half-century following WWII.
Beginnings
Fred was born in Medford on February 19, 1919 into a large family that hailed from the German part of Prussia. No one is quite sure how it happened, but the family name became Solberg somewhere in the course of travel from Europe to Ellis Island. The Solberg family was not particularly observant (Fred, for instance, was never sent to Hebrew School) but looked for a temple to join nonetheless. There was no temple in Medford, so they became members of Temple B'nai Brith in nearby Somerville. Medford did have social organizations for Jewish young people, however. Fred became an active member of the Medford AZA chapter, which held many of its functions at TBB. Andy reports that Fred became quite loyal to TBB, even as a teenager. After graduating from Medford High School, Fred got a job at Harry's Hardware. He also took night courses in accounting at some point, but it was the work in the hardware store that appealed to him. He stuck with it.
The War Intervenes
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Fred and two brothers, Merrill and Joe, served during the war. Fred enlisted in the Army Air Force on January 19, 1942. He trained as a bombardier, but became a gunner with the 9th Air Force's 98th Bomb Group, flying 34 missions (one could go home after flying 35). On his 34th mission, Fred's plane was shot down. The date was February 19th, 1943, his 24th birthday. Captured, Fred spent three months in an Italian POW camp (Camp 59). He escaped and, staying in caves and barns, spent more than three months hiding in the Italian mountains until his recapture by the Germans. The Germans sent him to Stalag 17, where he languished for almost two years. Fred was discharged in September 1945. Andy notes that several articles and even a You Tube interview about Fred's WWII experience are available online. Links are provided below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVy5VFGP-hwhttp://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/27/silent_for_six_decades_veterans_tell_their_stories/ http://camp59survivors.wordpress.com/2010/03/ http://insidemedford.com/?p=329 http://mysticriverjews.jcam.org/Pages/Somerville/index.htm (great old pictures of TBB, including one of my young dad and his brother) "http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2009/11/where-its-veterans-day-all-year-long.html (just a mention)
Homecoming
Fred came back home to his family in Medford and his job at Harry's Hardware. He gave most of the pay coming to him to his parents so they could buy a house. Fred so suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder that the army wanted to send him to Utah for treatment. Fred refused to go. Instead, he spent hours at TBB talking with Rabbi Shubow, whom he credited with helping him overcome his "nervousness" (as post-traumatic stress was then called). Did Fred ever speak to others connected with the shul about WWII combat? Andy reported that he did not. In fact, his dad did not talk about his war experience for 40 years. The family knew that Fred had been a POW, but not from anything he had said. As Andy tells it, "Dad had a box of his old war stuff in the basement of our house on School Street, and, as kids, we would rummage through it. In 1987, a year after my mother died, I was visiting my dad...and we were flipping through the TV channels. I stopped at the movie Stalag 17 and started to watch it, just because it is a great movie. My dad said, 'You know, I was in Stalag 17.' It was the first time he ever mentioned it. Slowly the story came out. A year or so after that, his bomb squad was having a reunion in Tucson. My brother Kent lived in Tucson?, so my dad decided to visit Kent during the reunion. 'I might stop by the reunion. If I don't like it, I can always just go back to Kent's house,' he said. At the reunion, he reconnected with his two best friends from his bomb squad, both of whom were in the Italian POW camp with him, and one of whom was in Stalag 17 with him. They really resurrected their friendship, and my dad opened up completely about his war years. I think that they were all proud of their survival, and that made my dad proud."
Family & Freddie's
The family is not sure how Janet and Fred Solberg met, but they offer a photo [see below] of Fred (in uniform) and Janet (to Fred's right) together shortly after his return from the war. The Solbergs married in 1945 and established a home in Somerville. From Andy again: "We were very family oriented. We visited grandparents every Sunday afternoon. My mother's sister and her family lived upstairs from us in our house on School Street. My parents first moved to Somerville so that they could be near Dad's job at Harry's Hardware. The first house, which they rented, was near Harry's. After they opened Freddie's Hardware, they rented an apartment in a house owned by Grace Price [a TBB member] on Edgar Terrace near the Healey School. Then they bought their own house on School Street, which was much closer to my dad's store. Kent was born in 1947, and I was born in 1951. My dad opened Freddie's Hardware and Paint Company on Broadway in 1951. Fred started the hardware store from scratch. Because he did not want anything to do with the military after the war, he didn't even apply for a VA loan (which he could have really used)." Fred worked long hours in the store to make ends meet. As store bookkeeper, Janet, too, was in the store some part of each day that it was open. Janet Solberg had been a jazz singer in clubs and on the radio, but the family had few records. Perhaps, Andy speculates, his mother was wistful for her singing days. The first and only phonograph in the household was purchased with S&H green stamps in the mid 1960s. Andy again: "My parents went out rarely, mainly because of the lack of money. Several times we did go to the WMEX studios, because my mom had had a jazz radio show on that station during the old days. Sometimes we went and sat in the audience of the Jerry Williams talk show. The only movies I remember them going to were kids' movies -- though even that was rare?. Periodically, we went to drive-in movies in the summer. I do remember that one time, some group (the Congregation?) organized a trip to the theater in Boston for the opening night of either The Ten Commandments or Exodus?. It was a big deal for my parents?. There were some times when we had babysitters, so they must have gone out, but it likely was to TBB functions. Dad did like to fish, and we often went fishing."
Beginnings
Fred was born in Medford on February 19, 1919 into a large family that hailed from the German part of Prussia. No one is quite sure how it happened, but the family name became Solberg somewhere in the course of travel from Europe to Ellis Island. The Solberg family was not particularly observant (Fred, for instance, was never sent to Hebrew School) but looked for a temple to join nonetheless. There was no temple in Medford, so they became members of Temple B'nai Brith in nearby Somerville. Medford did have social organizations for Jewish young people, however. Fred became an active member of the Medford AZA chapter, which held many of its functions at TBB. Andy reports that Fred became quite loyal to TBB, even as a teenager. After graduating from Medford High School, Fred got a job at Harry's Hardware. He also took night courses in accounting at some point, but it was the work in the hardware store that appealed to him. He stuck with it.
The War Intervenes
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Fred and two brothers, Merrill and Joe, served during the war. Fred enlisted in the Army Air Force on January 19, 1942. He trained as a bombardier, but became a gunner with the 9th Air Force's 98th Bomb Group, flying 34 missions (one could go home after flying 35). On his 34th mission, Fred's plane was shot down. The date was February 19th, 1943, his 24th birthday. Captured, Fred spent three months in an Italian POW camp (Camp 59). He escaped and, staying in caves and barns, spent more than three months hiding in the Italian mountains until his recapture by the Germans. The Germans sent him to Stalag 17, where he languished for almost two years. Fred was discharged in September 1945. Andy notes that several articles and even a You Tube interview about Fred's WWII experience are available online. Links are provided below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVy5VFGP-hwhttp://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/27/silent_for_six_decades_veterans_tell_their_stories/ http://camp59survivors.wordpress.com/2010/03/ http://insidemedford.com/?p=329 http://mysticriverjews.jcam.org/Pages/Somerville/index.htm (great old pictures of TBB, including one of my young dad and his brother) "http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/2009/11/where-its-veterans-day-all-year-long.html (just a mention)
Homecoming
Fred came back home to his family in Medford and his job at Harry's Hardware. He gave most of the pay coming to him to his parents so they could buy a house. Fred so suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder that the army wanted to send him to Utah for treatment. Fred refused to go. Instead, he spent hours at TBB talking with Rabbi Shubow, whom he credited with helping him overcome his "nervousness" (as post-traumatic stress was then called). Did Fred ever speak to others connected with the shul about WWII combat? Andy reported that he did not. In fact, his dad did not talk about his war experience for 40 years. The family knew that Fred had been a POW, but not from anything he had said. As Andy tells it, "Dad had a box of his old war stuff in the basement of our house on School Street, and, as kids, we would rummage through it. In 1987, a year after my mother died, I was visiting my dad...and we were flipping through the TV channels. I stopped at the movie Stalag 17 and started to watch it, just because it is a great movie. My dad said, 'You know, I was in Stalag 17.' It was the first time he ever mentioned it. Slowly the story came out. A year or so after that, his bomb squad was having a reunion in Tucson. My brother Kent lived in Tucson?, so my dad decided to visit Kent during the reunion. 'I might stop by the reunion. If I don't like it, I can always just go back to Kent's house,' he said. At the reunion, he reconnected with his two best friends from his bomb squad, both of whom were in the Italian POW camp with him, and one of whom was in Stalag 17 with him. They really resurrected their friendship, and my dad opened up completely about his war years. I think that they were all proud of their survival, and that made my dad proud."
Family & Freddie's
The family is not sure how Janet and Fred Solberg met, but they offer a photo [see below] of Fred (in uniform) and Janet (to Fred's right) together shortly after his return from the war. The Solbergs married in 1945 and established a home in Somerville. From Andy again: "We were very family oriented. We visited grandparents every Sunday afternoon. My mother's sister and her family lived upstairs from us in our house on School Street. My parents first moved to Somerville so that they could be near Dad's job at Harry's Hardware. The first house, which they rented, was near Harry's. After they opened Freddie's Hardware, they rented an apartment in a house owned by Grace Price [a TBB member] on Edgar Terrace near the Healey School. Then they bought their own house on School Street, which was much closer to my dad's store. Kent was born in 1947, and I was born in 1951. My dad opened Freddie's Hardware and Paint Company on Broadway in 1951. Fred started the hardware store from scratch. Because he did not want anything to do with the military after the war, he didn't even apply for a VA loan (which he could have really used)." Fred worked long hours in the store to make ends meet. As store bookkeeper, Janet, too, was in the store some part of each day that it was open. Janet Solberg had been a jazz singer in clubs and on the radio, but the family had few records. Perhaps, Andy speculates, his mother was wistful for her singing days. The first and only phonograph in the household was purchased with S&H green stamps in the mid 1960s. Andy again: "My parents went out rarely, mainly because of the lack of money. Several times we did go to the WMEX studios, because my mom had had a jazz radio show on that station during the old days. Sometimes we went and sat in the audience of the Jerry Williams talk show. The only movies I remember them going to were kids' movies -- though even that was rare?. Periodically, we went to drive-in movies in the summer. I do remember that one time, some group (the Congregation?) organized a trip to the theater in Boston for the opening night of either The Ten Commandments or Exodus?. It was a big deal for my parents?. There were some times when we had babysitters, so they must have gone out, but it likely was to TBB functions. Dad did like to fish, and we often went fishing."
TBB
Over the years, the Solberg family was very active in the TBB Congregation. Though she stopped performing elsewhere, Janet Solberg continued to sing at TBB functions. She also became the President of the Sisterhood. Fred's contributions to TBB were many and varied. He was, on the one hand, the person who kept track of the TBB cemetery plan and ownership of plots. On the other hand he often volunteered his construction skills for TBB projects. He was always an active participant in Brotherhood meetings and in due course became an officer of the Congregation. Both Kent and Andy attended and graduated from Hebrew School and Sunday School at TBB. They also attended, and often led, the weekly Saturday morning Junior Congregation services held in the small chapel in the basement. The boys, in true Solberg fashion, had many jobs at the synagogue - sending out the monthly newsletter, preparing the prayer books for Shabbat and holidays, checking coats at the Building Fund Dinner (an annual effort of the Sisterhood) and other Congregation events. Andy joined a TBB chapter of Young Judea. Both Kent and Andy were members of Cambridge-based Constitution AZA, which held many programs at TBB. Here was a second generation of TBB/AZA/Solberg programming.
Fewer and fewer students attended the TBB Hebrew School in the years after Kent and Andy graduated. The Congregation was aging. Fred, Janet, and others began talking about the future of the synagogue. Janet's health began to fail. She had a heart attack in 1972 and a hospitalization nearly every year after that until she died in 1986. Fred, through all, maintained his close relationship to TBB.
Waning of an Era
As time went on, and the community aged further, it became clear that TBB could no longer afford to maintain a rabbi. Fred was one of those asked by the Congregation to explore options with Rabbi Shubow, who retired not long afterwards. Andy remembers that this was very hard for his dad, who was always very grateful to Rabbi Shubow for helping him recover from the stresses of the war. Yet Fred saw the reality of the Congregation's expenses and realized that big changes had to come. It was a hard time for all those who remained at TBB. Fred and a few others began the search for new owners to take over the synagogue. They spoke to the Chavura, for example, for whom the temple was too big and traditional a space. A few (principally the Kleimans, Andy thinks) approached the Tufts community. Some of the older, more conservative members of TBB agreed to pass along the synagogue to new congregants only after considerable discussion - and the realization that closing TBB might be the only other alternative. Fred argued for handing the shul on. He met privately with some of the opposition to lobby them. Meanwhile, he continued to handle responsibilities for the TBB cemetery, prepared to serve until someone in the next wave of TBB membership could take over.
Fred closed his store and retired around 1991. He sold his Somerville house and moved to an apartment in Medford two years later. Through all these changes and in the ensuing years, though he could attend services less frequently, Fred kept his High Holiday seats and maintained his TBB ties. In July 2009, Fred had a minor stroke and moved to an assisted living facility in Malden. Later that year he was unable to accept his annual Rosh Hashanah aliyah from TBB. "That pretty much ended for my dad a relationship with the temple that went back to his youth," Andy commented. "He was 90 years old at this point. In February, on his 91st birthday, we learned that Dad had developed an aggressive form of multiple myeloma. I brought him down to Maryland to spend his last remaining time by us."
Fred Solberg passed away a month later, on March 10th, his wedding anniversary.
As Andy noted, "It is very strange to go to the TBB cemetery now because all the names come back to haunt me. I remember the Nobles, Goldmans, Mabels, Greeces, Adlers, Eisens, Zidels, Glazers, Shubows, Tribers, Kesslers, Nissenbaums, Kleimans, Allmans, Kahns, Andelmans, Kumins, etc."
We add the name of Fred Solberg to the list.
Over the years, the Solberg family was very active in the TBB Congregation. Though she stopped performing elsewhere, Janet Solberg continued to sing at TBB functions. She also became the President of the Sisterhood. Fred's contributions to TBB were many and varied. He was, on the one hand, the person who kept track of the TBB cemetery plan and ownership of plots. On the other hand he often volunteered his construction skills for TBB projects. He was always an active participant in Brotherhood meetings and in due course became an officer of the Congregation. Both Kent and Andy attended and graduated from Hebrew School and Sunday School at TBB. They also attended, and often led, the weekly Saturday morning Junior Congregation services held in the small chapel in the basement. The boys, in true Solberg fashion, had many jobs at the synagogue - sending out the monthly newsletter, preparing the prayer books for Shabbat and holidays, checking coats at the Building Fund Dinner (an annual effort of the Sisterhood) and other Congregation events. Andy joined a TBB chapter of Young Judea. Both Kent and Andy were members of Cambridge-based Constitution AZA, which held many programs at TBB. Here was a second generation of TBB/AZA/Solberg programming.
Fewer and fewer students attended the TBB Hebrew School in the years after Kent and Andy graduated. The Congregation was aging. Fred, Janet, and others began talking about the future of the synagogue. Janet's health began to fail. She had a heart attack in 1972 and a hospitalization nearly every year after that until she died in 1986. Fred, through all, maintained his close relationship to TBB.
Waning of an Era
As time went on, and the community aged further, it became clear that TBB could no longer afford to maintain a rabbi. Fred was one of those asked by the Congregation to explore options with Rabbi Shubow, who retired not long afterwards. Andy remembers that this was very hard for his dad, who was always very grateful to Rabbi Shubow for helping him recover from the stresses of the war. Yet Fred saw the reality of the Congregation's expenses and realized that big changes had to come. It was a hard time for all those who remained at TBB. Fred and a few others began the search for new owners to take over the synagogue. They spoke to the Chavura, for example, for whom the temple was too big and traditional a space. A few (principally the Kleimans, Andy thinks) approached the Tufts community. Some of the older, more conservative members of TBB agreed to pass along the synagogue to new congregants only after considerable discussion - and the realization that closing TBB might be the only other alternative. Fred argued for handing the shul on. He met privately with some of the opposition to lobby them. Meanwhile, he continued to handle responsibilities for the TBB cemetery, prepared to serve until someone in the next wave of TBB membership could take over.
Fred closed his store and retired around 1991. He sold his Somerville house and moved to an apartment in Medford two years later. Through all these changes and in the ensuing years, though he could attend services less frequently, Fred kept his High Holiday seats and maintained his TBB ties. In July 2009, Fred had a minor stroke and moved to an assisted living facility in Malden. Later that year he was unable to accept his annual Rosh Hashanah aliyah from TBB. "That pretty much ended for my dad a relationship with the temple that went back to his youth," Andy commented. "He was 90 years old at this point. In February, on his 91st birthday, we learned that Dad had developed an aggressive form of multiple myeloma. I brought him down to Maryland to spend his last remaining time by us."
Fred Solberg passed away a month later, on March 10th, his wedding anniversary.
As Andy noted, "It is very strange to go to the TBB cemetery now because all the names come back to haunt me. I remember the Nobles, Goldmans, Mabels, Greeces, Adlers, Eisens, Zidels, Glazers, Shubows, Tribers, Kesslers, Nissenbaums, Kleimans, Allmans, Kahns, Andelmans, Kumins, etc."
We add the name of Fred Solberg to the list.
