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Former Atlantan Now Corona Mayor;
Recalls Fleeing Nazis At Age 13
by VIDA GOLDGAR
Flora Hirech was 13 when she
was put in charge of 52 younger
children fleeing from Nazi Ger
many into France.
Today Flora Hirach Spiegel is
50, and has been "put in charge”
of a city of over 30,000 people.
The former Atlantan was
elected mayor of Corona, Calif.,
on March 9. After popular elec
tion last year to the five-man
City Council, she was chosen by
fellow Council members to serve
as mayor.
Last week, Mrs. Speigel.and
Herb Spiegel, her husband of 25
years, were in Atlanta, osten
sibly for a seminar for electrical
contractors. The icing on the
cake was a chance to visit family
and friends.
Sister Sara . . . Mrs. Harry
Shartar . . . and brothers Ben
and Jack Hirsch all live in Atlan
ta. Another brother, Asher, lives
in New York.
There’s a long way — in miles
— in years — and in enuTWVis —
between Frankfurt, Germany, of
the 30’s and 40’s, and Corona,
Calif., in the 70’s.
The Hirsch children’s father
had been rounded up after
Krystalnacht and put into a con
centration camp. When Flora,
her sister and three brothers
were sent to France for safety,
Mrs. Hirsch and the three
youngest of eight children,
remained in Germany. All died
in concentration camps there.
Flora and the four other
Mayor Spiegel
children lived with relatives in
France until April of 1941. This
time, Flora was in charge of 250
youngsters who made the 12-day
sea journey to New York.
From New York, the children
were sent to other cities, with ef
fort being made to keep families
together. The Hirsch children
were met in New York and
brought to Atlanta by Mrs. Weil
of the Hebrew Orphans
Home/Jewish Children’s Ser
vice. The girls first lived with
the late Mr. and Mrs. Abe
Wolbe, while the Sam Bregmans
took in the three boys.
Other families opened their
homes to the children. The last
family with whom Flora lived
was the Al Bogart family. She
feels like another daughter, and
looked forward to a visit with
the Bogarts while in Atlanta.
The teenager’s graduation
from Commercial High School
was her third. She had
graduated in both Germany and
France. She worked for a time
for Joseph B. Wolf, then ex
ecutive secretary of Gate City
Lodge, and also for Herschel
Fabrics.
During this period, the
qualities of leadership, first
demonstrated at 13, were evi
dent. She became a young
Judaea leader and was president
of Junior Hadassah.
“By virtue of being the oldest
in the family," she says, people
look upon you as somewhat of a
ieader, whether you are one by
accident or one by design.
"I think every experience in a
person’s life helps to formulate
the ultimate goal in his or her
life.” She gave an example.
The local ZOA sent Flora to
Brandeis Camp Institute in New
York in 1948 as a reward for her
work with Young Judaea. “It
opened up an entirely different
area of service,” she says now. I
learned that “things don’t just
revolve around self. There are
other people’s needs to be con
sidered before your own.”
She feels now that this ex
perience may have been the
beginning of her wanting to be
involved in community affairs ..
. an interest that led to her pre
sent post as mayor of Riverside
County's second largest city.
Eventually, Flora left Atlanta
to work in New York. Soon after,
she waa invited to join a group
of young people on a skiing
weekend. Herbert Spiegel was
there too hoping to “meet some
nice Jewish girl.” They were
married in 1951 and went to live
in Kodiak, Alaska, where he was
a civilian employee of the U.S.
Navy, working as an electrician.
The following year, Herb
Spiegel opened his own electrical
service in Kodiak, where they
stayed until 1956. After two
years in Albany, N.Y., the
Spiegels purchased Corona In
dustrial Electric.
They have three sons, Sam, 23;
Bob, 20, and Mark, 11.
During the family’s 18 years
in Corona (“Chai,” she says with
a smile), Herb and Flora have
been active in community life.
They belong to two con
gregations, one a Reform temple
in a neighboring town, which
they helped build. Later, they
helped start a Conservative con
gregation in Corona.
She is active in B’nai B’rith
Women and Hadassah and the
two Sisterhoods, as well as
Soroptimists, Women’s Im
provement Club, Women in
Construction and the Corona
Chamber of Commerce.
While the mayor’s post is
largely honorary — “While
everybody else is asleep on Sun
day morning, I get to break
ground for new churches,” —
Mrs. Spiegel’s dedication to good
government is dead serious. Her
background makes her par
ticularly sensitive to — and
angry about — apathy.
People who don’t -bother to
vote earn Mayor Spiegel’s par
ticular ire. If you consider that
60 percent are eligible to vote, Jp
she says, and that only 30 per*
cent of those eligible do vote,
then you have everything being “
decided by 15 percent of our pop- d
ulation. Yet, “If the right to vote w
were ever taken away, (those gc
who don’t vote) would be the®
first ones to scream to highS
heaven.” she said. S
The mayor sees her ability to %
communicate and empathize 5
with certain minority groups in *-
her constituency as a definite »
plus. •' ■ g
“A lot of the young people in £2
the ghettos and barrios think ^
they are the first ones, the only W
ones, who have been dis- >
criminated against.They don’t ^
look into history books or get to *
know about some of the*
atrocities within our lifetime.”
Her stated goal is to establish e>
a sense of pride ... to encourage
people to take pride in doing
their share for the city.
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