Saturday, April 26, 2025
Fred and Elaine Zeilberger were taken aback when fellow residents of the Bristal Assisted Living, in North Woodmere, threw them a surprise party on March 5, in honor of their 69th wedding anniversary.
The couple married in 1956, raised three children and lived in Cedarhurst for 64 years before moving to the Bristal in October 2024. Last week they were surprised with a live band, cake and the company of friends and family.
Fred Zeilberger, 95, grew up in Würzburg, Germany, where he survived the Holocaust. Before the celebration, he reflected on his life’s journey, saying he made it well into his 90s by believing in God and doing the best he could.
“I’m very excited. We do the best we can, and I’m happy to be here with my wife, because she makes it easy,” Zeilberger said. “We lived together in the same house for 64 years. We had a place in Florida, the girls lived a good life, and this country has been very good to us.”
At age 9, Zeilberger was forced to relocate to a Jewish ghetto after his father’s tailor shop was destroyed during Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” attacks orchestrated by the Nazis against Jewish communities in Germany and Austria on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938.
Three years later, Zeilberger and his family were sent to Latvia and placed in what would be the first of five concentration camps he would endure over the following four years. He was liberated by the Russians in 1945, when he was 15, and returned to Würzburg, hoping to find surviving family members. Instead, he found his home destroyed, and no family members alive.
He moved to the United States as a war orphan in 1947, where relatives of his late father took him in until he was drafted into the Army to serve in the Korean War in 1951. After his discharge, a friend of his father’s gave him the phone numbers of two girls, hoping he would find love. His first call was to Elaine Goldschmidt, and the rest is history.
Zeilberger, who made a career in the wholesale meat industry, said he didn’t like to share his experiences for many years because the memories were so painful. Over the past 20 years, however, he has told his story at local yeshivas, in the belief that it is essential to educate members of younger generations.
“There aren’t many Holocaust survivors left,” Zeilberger said. “We hope it will never happen again. There are a lot of people who don’t know much about the Holocaust at all.”
Robin Burns, one of the couple’s daughters, said that while her father rarely spoke about his past, it never cast a shadow over their home.
“I always knew he was a Holocaust survivor. I knew a little, but it wasn’t something he wanted to discuss,” Burns said. “He was just my dad. He went to work every day. We didn’t talk about it, but it wasn’t looming over our home — we had a great childhood.”
Burns has a sister, Linda, and a brother, Jay. The Zeilbergers also have three grandchildren, Jenna, Rachel and Zane.
Elaine Zeilberger, 89, grew up in Washington Heights, and graduated from Long Island City High School.
She reflected on her life with Fred, recalling their first date, at the Copacabana in Manhattan. He arrived in style, she recounted.
“He came and picked me up in a pink convertible,” Elaine said. “I had told him I had to be home early, so during the date, I couldn’t tell him I could stay out later. But it ended up working out — he returned soon after, and again and again.”
They were married at the Empire Hotel.
She talked about the longevity of her marriage, saying that everything fell into place for them, and that she was extremely proud to be married to her husband for so long.
“Everything just fell into place, even to this day,” Elaine said. “Everything was very good with being married to him, and it feels wonderful that we are still together. I thank God that he is still well.”
Amid their friends and family members at the Bristal, the couple shared a dance, a kiss and a toast to mark their anniversary.
