Sigmund Pick
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Sigmund Pick alias Abraham (born May 10, 1848 in Prague ; † October 4, 1922 there ) was a waiter, small trader and moneylender in the couleur student environment of Prague. Karl Hans Strobl immortalized him in his novel Die Vaclavbude .
Youth and education
As a child, Pick entered the silk shop of Zacharias Kuh, Egon Erwin Kisch's maternal grandfather and his brother Paul Kisch , in Bergmannsgasse (Havířská ul.) In Prague's old town . Like many other Jewish boys of the time, Pick learned the trade in everyday life. He worked as an apprentice and clerk in reputable trading houses . In his spare time he worked in the choral society of Holle Scholars joke with.
Employee in the Schipkapass tavern
As a married man, at the end of the 1870s he found a job in the Schipkapass tavern near Prague run by Oskar Milde . As a shepherd he drove Mild Cattle into the woods. As a waiter, the many weapons students among the regulars gave him a deep familiarity with color and student customs . He quickly became popular with the students who nicknamed him "Abraham"; his circle of friends and businesses grew steadily.
“He was a participant in the festivities of a high-spirited, hard-drinking youth, transported disabled people to the room provided for this purpose as a bed and, at the request of the host, climbed the hill above the adjacent forest to look for new guests. He combined the powers of a bar waiter with the position of a shop steward for the student guests frequenting there, who willingly brought tails and winter coats, watches and tobacco boxes as well as other valuables to the disposition office and also otherwise helped out with sums of money when room rents were due. In addition, for his master and employer, he took the at that time very cumbersome trip to the city of Prague several times a week in order to collect expiring amounts from debtors and to deal with other commercial matters related to 'moss'. Here Abraham laid the foundation for his later activity as a factotum and administrator of the German student body in Prague. "
Carer
Abraham later became self- employed as Pumpier and lived in the Winkelwerk in the Jewish town of Prague not far from the Vaclavbude inn . Every evening he gave audiences in the German House in Prague, in a niche in the old German room.
“He had no so-called occupation, and yet he was busy all day. He helped the students at Karl Ferdinand University in all matters. He rented furnished rooms in all price ranges, borrowed money and arranged exam appointments. ... He knew the addresses of all the Paukbaders by heart and knew the private affairs of the entire Prague student body. He had his clientele among the most stubborn Zionists and among the most furious anti-Semites. ... He was the perpetual motion machine, the eternal flowing between the rigid rocky cliffs of the jealous color associations. "
He always found money for students he trusted. He, who, according to the stories, never had more than a few guilders with him, handed over the requested sum the next day at 11 a.m. on the Graben or in the back building on Neupragergasse. He received a small profit on repayment. In the event of difficulties, he deferred the outstanding debts for months or years. There was never any talk of forcible collection. In 1914, almost 70 years old, he lost many debtors in the First World War. He became impoverished and had to eke out an improvised cigarette trade.
Sigmund Pick's business card had a small stamp in the upper left: a pump indicating pumping, money lending. When he died in the eighth decade of life and was buried, Paul Kisch and Franz Lucksch gave funeral orations. The Bohemia honored him in a larger article.
"The myth of old Abraham will be immortal, inextricably linked with the history of Prague like the figure of the Golem, the high Rabbi Löw and Johann von Nepomuks."
See also
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- History of the Jews in Prague
- List of student associations in Prague
- Prague Seniors' Convention
- Golem
- Judah Loew
- Johannes Nepomuk
literature
- P [aul] K [isch]: Abraham is moving! Greetings for your seventieth birthday . In: Bohemia, May 9, 1918, p. 5 (with biographical information)
- Paul Kisch : Obituary for Abraham . Deutsche Hochschulwarte, Volume II (1922), p. 109. Printed in Einst und Jetzt , yearbook of the Association for Corporate Student History Research , Vol. 32 (1987), pp. 183-186.
- Adolf Siegl : "Abraham" and "Osman" - two originals of the Prague German student body . Einst und Jetzt, Vol. 28 (1983), pp. 159-163.
- Karl Hans Strobl : The legend of Abraham . In: Bohemia, October 5, 1922, pp. 2–3 (obituary)
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Egon Erwin Kisch, The Adventures in Prague, (Vienna-Prague-Leipzig 1920), p. 24f.
- ^ Franz Lucksch, professor of medicine, was a member of the Arminia fraternity in Prague.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pick, Sigmund |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jewish moneylender in Prague |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1848 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 4, 1922 |
| Place of death | Prague |