Simon Pollack (1814–1885)

Simon Pollack was a Jewish merchant, banker, and civic leader in Görlitz during the nineteenth century. Born around 1814, he rose from the city’s commercial middle class to become one of its best-known financiers and community figures. His professional path—from Kaufmann (merchant) to Banquier (banker)—illustrates the social and economic advancement achieved by Görlitz’s Jewish bourgeoisie in the later nineteenth century.

His first wife, Lina Pollack, née Prausnitz, died in 1864 at the age of twenty-eight. He later married Emilie Pollack, née Meyer (b. 27 November 1842 – d. 26 December 1899). The couple lived at Grüner Graben 5, near the city center and synagogue, and had three children:

• Gertrud Pollack (b. 10 July 1867, Görlitz)
• Joseph Bruno Pollack (b. 24 October 1869, Görlitz)
• Ernst Simon Pollack (b. 12 February 1873, Görlitz)

Pollack was active not only in business but also in Görlitz’s civic and charitable life. He was an energetic member of the Görlitz Volksbildungsverein (People’s Education Association) and served as Deputy Chairman (stellvertretender Vorsitzender) of the Repräsentanten-Kollegium of the Görlitz synagogue community. His name appears repeatedly in community and city records as a respected voice in both Jewish and municipal affairs.

Following his sudden death on 12 November 1885, aged 71, the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums devoted a warm obituary to his memory, printed on 16 December 1885 under the heading Aus Schlesien:

„Am 12. v. M. starb plötzlich Banquier Simon Pollack in Görlitz, eine nicht nur in Bank- und Handelskreisen, sondern auch in der weiteren Bürgerschaft bekannte Persönlichkeit. Der Verstorbene hatte trotz seines Alters von 71 Jahren bis in die letzte Zeit regen Antheil an gemeinnützigen Bestrebungen. Insbesondere war er ein rühriges Mitglied des Görlitzer Volksbildungsvereins. Im Repräsentanten-Kollegium der dortigen Synagogengemeinde bekleidete er das Amt des stellvertretenden Vorsitzenden.“
 (Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, No. 50, 16 Dec 1885, p. 854.)

The obituary praised him as a man “well known not only in banking and trade circles, but also among the broader citizenry,” who “remained active in charitable and communal endeavors until the end of his life.” Such recognition in the leading Jewish newspaper of Central Europe underscores Pollack’s status as a model representative of the prosperous, civically engaged Jewish middle class of provincial Silesia.

His funeral took place on 15 November 1885, with a eulogy delivered in the family home. He is buried in Görlitz together with his second wife Emilie Pollack, née Meyer.

© Lauren Leiderman 2025