Man was forced to care for Nazis' horses

When Joseph Alexander Pindel was forced to work for the Nazis during World War II in occupied Poland, he always feared for his life.

Pindel was a teenager when the Nazis made him care for some wealthy party members' horses.

For four years, he was responsible for feeding them, grooming them and riding them daily. He did this, all while surviving on one small meal a day and sleeping in the barn with the horses, said his daughter Angela Pindel.

"He said he was considered subhuman; he was not considered human enough to sleep with the families," she said.

Pindel, a Marengo resident, died Thursday at Centegra Hospital in Woodstock after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 86.

Pindel, born Dec. 18, 1922 in a town just outside Krakow, was just 16 when the Nazis knocked on his family's door and presented him with order papers, giving him a week to get his affairs in order before reporting for duty at a local barn to tend to the horses.

He never saw his parents again. The Nazis wouldn't let him attend his mother's funeral, and he never did find out what happened to his father, family members said.

Although Pindel knew the ultimate penalty for stepping out of line included death, it didn't stop him from stealing an egg to supplement his meager meal or smoking a cigarette, an offense for which the Gestapo almost shot him, family members said.

"God must have been watching over him because there were a few times he could have been killed," said his daughter, Angela Pindel of Schaumburg.

Pindel left Poland in 1949, after a stepbrother living in Chicago sponsored him to come to the United States. He settled on the city's South Side until he met his future bride, Angeline Ruth Pindel, at a dance hall on the city's Northwest Side.

The two married Nov. 25, 1950 at Maternity BVM Church and relocated to the Northwest side, becoming parishioners at St. Philomena Catholic Church.

The couple had six children and Pindel supported his growing family by working two and three jobs at times; he tried to finish his education, but only made it to his second year of high school before withdrawing to support his family.

He was a factory worker for what was the Curtiss Candy Company in Chicago and eventually retired from National Metal Fabricators in Elk Grove Village as a sheet metal worker after 39 years of service.

"He was totally caring and unselfish," Angela Pindel said. "I mean, he cared about his wife and his children I think more than anything. He was always concerned that we had enough money, that we were doing well and had jobs, that sort of stuff."

Pindel, who became a citizen after waiting seven years, did not talk about his life in wartime Poland until the 1970s and in his later years, the family videotaped him discussing it.

"He was a survivor," said Lake in the Hills resident Jay Barker, Pindel's son-in-law.

Pindel was devoted to the Catholic Church, becoming a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Marengo and its Knights of Columbus.

He also was an active member of the Moose Lodge in Batavia, the American Legion in Marengo and frequently attended VFW functions in Chicago,

In his later years, he passed the time by watching the Chicago Cubs play, gardening and going on fishing trips with his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Angeline, his daughters Jo-Ann (Jay) Barker, Angela Pindel, and Helen (Kent) Bjorklund, grandchildren and a host of other relatives. He is preceded in death by three children, John Alexander Pindel, Mary Ruth Pindel-Doyle and Joseph Michael Pindel. Services will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 21 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Marengo. Interment is private.