Full name – Sigismund Stanislaw (spelt Zsigmond Stanslau on Roland's birth certificate (Hungarian spelling) and Sigmund on a later document. He was known as Sigi, and was German speaking of
Jewish background. He changed to his wife's religion and was baptised soon after marriage 'for the family's sake'. On Harry's birth certificate, Sigismund stated his religion as Lutheran. He had a Russian
passport until Latvian independence, then had a Latvian passport.
He was a very capable linguist, speaking German, Russian, Polish, French, English, Latvian and some Hungarian. He joined the
Moscow International and Commercial Bank on 15th
Dec 1899 and worked there until 1902. After a short time working in the grain business left for England. We do not know why he left Courland (Latvia). There was an uprising in Latvia against the authorities in 1905. This revolt was mainly nationalist and more vigorous than those elsewhere in the Russian empire. It is said that Sigismund and Sacha might have been involved in Latvian nationalist activities, Sigismund possibly as a student, as he left before the uprising. Certainly both brothers felt that they had no future in Courland.
1904 – joined Massey Harris on 24th October as a correspondent
1908 – traveller for Massey Harris in Russia
1909 – Assistant manager Moscow
He met Wally von Rode, who he had hired to
teach Russian to one of his employees. They were married in 1910.
1911 – moved to Hungary as Manager Budapest Branch
At the outbreak of WW1, the family was holidaying in Crikveniza on the Adriatic
coast of Serbia. They returned to Budapest. As he had a Russian passport, he was not allowed to leave. As he controlled valuable agricultural spares, he was allowed to live in a flat above the Massey
warehouse, but had to report regularly to the police. They had a summer house a tram ride outside of Budapest. All three children were born in Budapest. The children spoke German at home and learnt
Hungarian.
In 1920 moved to London as office manager export. Left the family in Lausanne (Ouchy?) for 6 months. Sigismund and Charles stayed with Sasha on arrival, before moving with the whole family to
Southfields (Wimbledon) in 1921. On arrival the children spoke no English, but rapidly learnt it at school and from Arthur. Initially in the school playground, Charles and Harry sometimes spoke in Hungarian,
if they wanted not to be understood.
He travelled extensively during this period. Sometime during this period he went to Moscow for six months with a member of the Harris family and another manager to try
to sell tractors and combine harvestors. 12 months after they left samples, the Russians started producing their own equipment, which were exact copies of the samples that they had left.
1928 - export
manager – Paris
1929 – at the start of the depression, returned to Budapest as manager for Central Europe
1931 – sales manager – Marquette Lez Lille (France)
1932 – manger central Europe
1938 –
assistant, then acting European General Manager
1939 – stayed in France. Was overtaken by the German advance. He was helped by Massey to move to Nantes. During this period he kept in touch with
his sons through various contacts. Massey worked hard to help him leave. In 1941 The Red Cross interviewed him and exit papers were arranged for himself and Wally at Marseilles. Through Massey Harris, the
Canadian Government agreed to accept them in Canada for the duration, and the Canadian officer in Lisbon was so advised. In addition the US state department cabled the American Consul in Nantes to issue them
a travel permit to Lisbon, which would enable them to secure the necessary Portuguese and Spanish visas. However, he was unable to leave the occupied part of France. He was subsequently detained by the
French at the Drancy concentration camp in Paris. A last letter was received sent by him dated 10th October 1942. He was shipped from Drancy on train convoy no. 45 on Nov 11th
1942. Of the 745 people who were on this train, 599 arrived and 145 were sent to work gangs, the remainder were presumably gassed on arrival. There is no record of Sigismund's fate. Wally, with the help of Massey Harris, subsequently was smuggled to Cahors where she spent the remainder of the war.
After the war a small memorial to those who died in the war, with Sigismund Voss at the head, was placed in the Massey Harris factory in Marquette. On the closure of the factory it was moved to the town
cemetery. In France, a Sunday at the end of April, has been designated as deportees day. On April 29th
2001, Harry, Chris, Rosy, Michael and Stephen attended the deportees day ceremony at the cemetery where wreaths were laid on this and other memorials.
