Fritz Pisinger

Fritz Pisinger was born in Urfahr in 1892. His ancestors came from South Bohemia and were among the first Jewish families to settle in Linz after 1894. He and his older brother Ernst graduated from the Handelsakademie (Business Academy).

Pisinger was one of the last raw product merchants in Linz, a once common profession. He was an extremely dedicated Zionist in the Jewish community. He was a board member who was entrusted with aiding the poor and he even briefly served as its president.

In 1938, Pisinger was the only Linzer to receive a Refugee Certificate from the Palästina-Amt (Palestine Bureau) in Vienna. Once in Palestine, he tried everything he could to obtain a permit for his mother and brother as well. But he was unable to accomplish this, because the British Consulate had drastically reduced the number of entry permits it was issuing.

Aided by his wife Rosa and their son Paul Hartmann, Fritz Pisinger was able to keep the family afloat financially in Tel Aviv by mending clothing and trading in scrap iron until his premature death in 1944.