Friendship Club
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Friendship Club was a social organization started by Jewish refugees from Central Europe who settled in the Pittsburgh area in 1930s and 1940s after fleeing Nazi persecution. The club arranged social events, cultural and educational opportunities, and religious services. It began in late 1935 and continued holding events into the mid-1970s.
The Friendship Club was founded by Frank Bader, Stanley Baer, Sig Levite, Ted Levite, Kurt Levy, and Frank Schwarz, as well as six additional non-founding members. The club legally incorporated in September 1951 with the following charter members: Ernest J. Nachman, Erwin Pollitzer, Bert Oppenheimer, Lotte Dicker, Alfred S. Markus, Nathan Kann, David Kluger, Arthur Adelsheimer, John H. Wurtenberg, and Rudolph Bauer.
The Friendship Club initially met at the Y.M.&W.H.A. building on Bellefield Avenue in Oakland, as well as the private homes of members. Throughout the years, it used various meeting spaces throughout Squirrel Hill, including the Council Lounge for Older People at 5824 Forbes Ave., the New Light Congregation synagogue at 1700 Beechwood Blvd., and a rented hall at 5857 Forbes Ave. The club was financially self sufficient and contributed to larger communal causes, especially through its Erwin Pollitzer Memorial Fund (1955).
Presidents included Fred Bader, Ted Levite, Kurt Levy, Richad Almasy, Ernest J. Nachman, Erwin Pollitzer, Harry Apt, Alfred S. Markus, Frank Buchwald, Karl Albert, Paul Green, Martin Stern, Anne Albert, Alfred S. Markus (second term), and Erna Green.
The Friendship Club held annual High Holiday services from 1943 until 1976. The Friendship Club also created a ladies auxiliary in 1943. The auxiliary planned events for the holidays Purim, Passover, and Chanukah; prepared packages for soldiers during World War II; and visited infirmed members of the club. The club created a “self-help” fund in 1953 to provide financial assistance to members who had lost loved ones.
The Friendship Club published a monthly newsletter, originally called “Gossip” and later renamed “The Friendship Club Recorder” to share news of the club and its members.
