Sigmund Weiser was born in 1908 in Kolomyja, Poland. He and his wife, Eva, were citizens of Italy in the 1930s. They had both received doctorates in pharmacy from Italy’s University of Modena. Being in Italy, they were relatively safe from the Nazis at first. But in 1939, they returned to Poland to attend Eva’s father’s funeral but were trapped by the Nazi invasion of Poland.
Through connections in Italy- among them the Grand Duke, nephew of King Vittorio Emanuel- they escaped on the last Italian Red Cross train leaving Poland. They hid in Genoa until an informer told police their whereabouts. They were arrested and sent to Ferramonti Di Tarsia internment camp near Cosenza, in the south of Italy. It was one of fifteen internment camps established by Mussolini in 1940.
Being in the south saved their lives, as Hitler was demanding that Jewish inmates of Northern Italy be sent to the death camps in Poland. While in Ferramonti, Sigmund worked in the pharmacy, and Eva worked in the prison hospital. The commandant liked and respected Sigmund. Knowing that the Weisers would remain safest in the Italian prison, he gave Sigmund a ring and a safety pass to ensure their safety should they be arrested by the Nazis.
After liberation, Eva and Sigmund became active with the Haganah, procuring boats to smuggle Jews into Palestine. They also returned to their work as pharmacists. Eventually, they moved to El Paso to join Sigmund’s cousins, the Rosens. Sigmund went to work in one of the Rosens’ retail stores, and Eva became a full-time housewife. Eva passed away in El Paso on June 12, 1992, and Sigmund passed away on February 16, 1999.