Joe Sattler likes to say his father Wolf was a tough man.
That might be an understatement.
Wolf Sattler, who died Dec. 15 in his San Francisco home at 87 years of age, escaped from two Nazi concentration camps and survived a third — Auschwitz.
“He was a very sweet man, very caring, but always a survivor,” Joe said. “What you call a survivor, he was a survivor.”
Wolf was born in Krakow, Poland. In the early days of the war, he was sent to a labor camp. He escaped. The Nazis found him and sent him to another labor camp, which he again escaped from.
The Nazis found him hiding in the forest and as punishment sent him to Auschwitz. He survived several years in the camp, Joe said.
Wolf spoke infrequently about what he experienced during the Holocaust, and never spoke to schools because, Joe said, he couldn’t stomach it.
“He wanted sometimes to forget, but not entirely,” he said. “He wanted the world to know what the Jews went through.”
After Auschwitz was liberated, Wolf moved to Germany, where he met his first wife, Sonya. He had lost his entire family in the war, except for one uncle, who had moved to Brazil in 1920. Wolf wrote to his uncle, who replied and encouraged the young married couple to go.
Sonya and Wolf moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1945. Sonya opened a kosher Jewish Hungarian/Polish restaurant out of their home, and Joseph worked as a tailor, also out of their home. Both businesses were very successful, Joe said.
In 1967, Wolf, Sonya and Joe moved to San Francisco to be closer to Sonya’s children from a previous marriage.
Wolf found a job at Brooks Brothers in Union Square, where he worked as a tailor for nearly 20 years.
“He was very funny person; the war did not destroy him,” Joe said. “It didn’t make him an angry person. He was always joking, usually in Yiddish. He could have been a standup comedian with no problem.”
Wolf spoke Portuguese, Yiddish, English, German, Russian and Polish. He liked to read newspapers. He regularly attended synagogue, first at Congregation Anshey Sfard, and then at Congregation Beth Sholom. He laid tefillin everyday in his home.
His favorite spot in the city, Joe said, was a section of Golden Gate Park near Spreckels Lake, where he used to bring his son and grandchildren, and also played dominoes with Russian immigrants.
“He was very amiable, jovial and happy,” said Anna Sattler, Wolf’s granddaughter. “He was very easy-going, and he never complained. He was always in a good mood.”
Wolf Sattler is survived by his son Joseph Sattler and daughter-in-law Juana Sattler; second wife Yefgenia; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
In his memory, donations may be made to the Jewish Federation of San Francisco or the Jewish Home in San Francisco.