Stolpersteine in Chemnitz
Sally Spiro, Nina Spiro and Michael Spiro
Sally Spiro, Nina Spiro and Michael Spiro
Sally Spiro
Born: 5 November 1888
Died: 25 December 1959
Nina Spiro, née Beck
Born: 31 August 1898
Died: 1 December 1955
Michael Spiro
Born: 29 April 1929
Died: 5 October 2025
Location:
Stollberger Straße 38
Stolperstein laid on:
6 May 2026
Photos of the laying of the Stumbling Stones
Life Path
The merchant Sally Spiro was one of the people associated with the Schocken brothers. He was the eldest son of Georg Lewin Spiro from his second marriage. Like the Schocken brothers, he also came from Margonin (East Prussia).
Sally Spiro lived in Bremerhaven until April 1921, where there had also been a Schocken department stores' since 1903, which had been opened by Joseph Schocken and Jakob Spiro, Sally's uncle. It is not known how long Sally Spiro lived there. He registered at Chemnitz town hall on 7 May 1921. Sally Spiro supported the Schocken brothers in setting up a purchasing centre for the "wholesale trade in products from the Chemnitz industrial district". He was also given the task of finding a suitable building for the company's own hosiery production.
In June 1925, Sally Spiro left "Einkaufshaus Chemnitz GmbH", which had been founded in June 1920. The reason for this was the founding of her own hosiery factory. The company was entered in the Chemnitz commercial register on 29 August 1925 under the name "Brüder Spiro Strumpffabrik". The company founders listed "fantasy men's socks" as their speciality. The slogan "Exclusively fine coloured pattern socks" was used to advertise to the public. Once he had established himself in business, he was able to turn his attention to his personal happiness.
On 18 October 1927, Sally Spiro married Nina Beck, the entrepreneur's daughter, who was ten years his junior. The couple had a son: Werner Adolf Michael was born at the State Gynaecological Clinic in Chemnitz. After living for some time in the Marquardt house at the end of Heinrich-Beck-Straße, the couple moved to Stollberger Straße 38. Michael was taught by a Quaker woman. Dorothy England lived with the family as a subtenant.
Sally Spiro was not only an entrepreneur, but also a community functionary. From the beginning of 1934, he was a member of the cultural committee of the Jewish religious community. He was also head of the building committee of the Saxonia Lodge. On 29 August 1935, he took part in the founding of the Jewish Cultural Association in Chemnitz.
The establishment of Nazi rule also meant disenfranchisement and persecution for Sally Spiro and his family. As a result, he was forced to sell the factory property at Crusiusstrasse 5 to the banker Albert Weyhausen in Bremen in July 1938. This involved the transfer of the company to this businessman. His son took over the management of the factory on site.
The family decided to emigrate to New Zealand. They set off on the arduous journey on 19 May 1938. They arrived in Canada via England on 17 September 1938. The journey continued four weeks later, arriving in Christchurch (New Zealand) on 16 October 1938. The family then lived in the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand.</p
<p class="text-justify">Nina Spiro died on 1 December 1955 in Christchurch. Sally Spiro survived her by only a few years. He died on 25 December 1959 in the city of Nelson in the north of the South Island.
Michael Spiro later moved to London, where he lived until his death on 5 October 2025. In an obituary, Arthur Fleiss, a grandson of the lawyer Dr Arthur Weiner, who was murdered in April 1933, emphasised that the deceased had made great contributions to the field of physical chemistry at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.
Author: Dr Jürgen Nitsche