The merchant Isfried found a home and a sense of belonging in football.
Born on 18 February 1907 in Fulda.
His father, Aron Goldschmidt, traded in cattle and horses and regularly sold them at the cattle market on Heinrich-von-Bibra-Platz. Isfried Goldschmidt actively helped him there and later pursued a career as a merchant himself.
Sporting Resistance
His great passion was soccer. After all Jews were expelled from German sports clubs in 1933, the Jewish gymnastics and sports club Bar Kochba was founded in Fulda on January 21, 1934.
Isfried was among the first 42 members and played with the team in the league of the German Maccabi District.
Addresses in Fulda:
Kapuzinerstr. 4
New Beginning in the USA
In the same year, Isfried received a visa for the USA. On October 10, 1934, he fled Hamburg for New York on the Washington. He became an American citizen on July 6, 1935. In the US, he adopted the name Fred Goldsmith, lived in Portland, and worked for the soap company “Mt. Hood Soap.” As a US citizen, he was able to sponsor his parents, enabling them to flee to the US with his support in 1938.
Isfried Goldschmidt died on February 12, 1972.
All depictions shown here have been reconstructed using artificial intelligence, based on the original photograph shown alongside.