JUNE 23 • 2022 | 25

raised for the $60,000 project, 
and additional sponsorship 
donor opportunities are avail-
able. For more information 
or to donate, contact Steven 
Moss, See Far’s board chair, 
at steven@moss.net.

ZIGGY’S STORY
Fred “Ziggy” Findling was 
born in 1930 as Siegfrieg 
Findling in Cologne, 
Germany.
During WWII, he and five 
of his siblings survived the war 
by being placed in orphan- 
ages and convents throughout 
Belgium, France and Spain. 
His mother was murdered in 
Auschwitz and his father killed 
in a massacre near Frystag, 
Poland. His entire story was 
documented in 2012 at the 
Zekelman Holocaust Center in 
Farmington Hills. 
It was first reported that 
the 1941 safe passage to the 
United States of Ziggy, his 
brothers and about 50 other 
orphans was sponsored by 

Eleanor Roosevelt and the 
Quakers. On the day the SS 
Serpa Pinto docked at Ellis 
Island, an Associated Press 
photographer caught Ziggy’s 
exuberant smile as he leaned 
over the boat’s deck to catch 
his first sight of the Statue 
of Liberty. A cutout of Ziggy 
from that historic photo was 
made part of the playground 
project’s logo and, according 
to his son, captures the spirit 
and the mission of the project 
of returning the spark of life 
to children who suffered from 
trauma with the joy of play. 
About eight years ago, 
Darren Findling became a 
JDC Interfaith Fellow. In this 
two-year position, he visit-
ed humanitarian projects in 
Haiti, Ukraine and Hungary 
that impacted both Jewish 
and non-Jewish populations. 
Meanwhile, in California, his 
brother-in-law worked with 
JDC to perpetuate and further 
efforts in Rwanda. 
It was during this time that 

Findling and Moss made a 
startling discovery. While 
poring through JDC archives, 
they learned the JDC played 
a crucial financial role in 
rescuing the orphans from 
Nazi-occupied Germany to 
the tune of $250,000 per child. 
Calculated to today’s dollar, 
that would amount to $5 mil-
lion per child. 
“There must have been a 
reason why we were drawn 
to getting involved with the 
JDC,” Findling said. “Behind 

the scenes, the JDC raised the 
money to purchase the boat 
on which my father and the 
other orphans traveled to the 
United States. We learned that 
American Jews who never met 
my father supported the res-
cue of him and many others. 
“My father had a deep faith 
in people and sympathy for 
the underdog. He welcomed 
into our home neighbors or 
children who were struggling. 
This was a constant part of his 
adult life.” 

Ziggy (wearing glasses) 
and other children arriv-
ing in the U.S. in 1941

An aerial view of a 
secton of Ziggy’s 
Playground

