Leon Leyson / Leib Lejzon (M / Poland, 1929-2013), Holocaust survivor

Leon Leyson / Leib Lejzon (M / Poland, 1929-2013), Holocaust survivor.

• A young survivor of the Schindler's List

• KEYWORDS : <Poland> <Krakow Ghetto> <Schindler's List> -- <United States>

• MEMOIRS : The Boy on the Wooden Box (2013)

Biography

• wikipedia.en -- [ wikipedia.it]

NOTES -- Leon Leyson was born on Sept 15, 1929 in Narewka, Poland. In the Liste von Schindlerjuden, he appears as "Leib Lejzon, Eisendrehergehilfe". He was one of the youngest survivors in the list. Moved to the United States after the war.

Book : The Boy on the Wooden Box (2013)

• The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible... on Schindler's List (New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013).

"The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child. Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow. Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, a man named Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson's life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory -- a list that became world renowned: Schindler's List."--Publisher description.

Article by Rebecca Snyder, University of Michigan (April 2020)

Leon Leyson was the youngest survivor of Schindler’s list. He found a special place in Oskar Schindler’s heart after he was given the nickname “Little Leyson” and learned to share his story after Schindler’s List was released because many people were interested. Until his death in January 2013, he was a dedicated husband and father to his wife, Liz, his son and daughter, and his three grandchildren.

Leon Leyson was born in 1929 in Narewka, Poland, approximately one hundred fifty miles northeast of Warsaw. Here, he was one of five children to Moshe, also known as Morris, and Chana Lejzon. Morris was a craftsman and provided his family with a modest living.

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Leon and his family were taken to Kracow’s ghetto. Once here, Leon describes that he had “lost [his] most basic rights. [He] was hungry all the time and frightened all the time.” The conditions in the ghetto were not like they had been promised by the Nazis: there was limited food, lots of sickness and constant fear about one’s safety. Leon spent most of his time in the ghetto searching for or stealing food for himself and his family. This was very dangerous to do because if anyone was caught smuggling food, they would often get shot on the spot. However, this was a risk Leon was willing to take for the sake of his life and his family’s lives.

In 1941, Leon’s older brother fled the ghetto to seek safety, but was unfortunately caught by the Nazis and killed. Although this was very hard on the family, one person gave them hope: Oskar Schindler. During this time, Leon’s father and other older brother were working for Schindler at Emalia, the same factory that Rena and her mother worked at. (Leon’s other brother had turned down Schindler’s offer to work for him because he did not want his girlfriend to die alone in the concentration camps. Both of them were murdered soon after.) Schindler was able to save his Jewish workers from death by bribing the Nazis and he allowed Leon’s father to bring food scraps back for his family. When Schindler increased his Jewish workforce, Leon’s father brought him to the factory to work as well. However, he was so small at the age of thirteen that he had to stand on an upside-down box to reach the handles of the machines to do his job. It was during this time that Schindler had developed a fondness for Leon and even gave him the nickname “Little Leyson.” Schindler would even transfer Leon to other departments within the factory when his got bored to improve his craftsmanship.

When Leon talked about his experience in the Holocaust, he often explains that Schindler was an amazing man who would provide companionship and comfort. “Occasionally, when [Leon] was by himself, [Schindler] would come and talk to [him].” Schindler would often order that Leon should get extra rations of food because he was so small and once, gave him an extra chunk of bread to share with his father and brother. In situations like this, Leon felt as though Schindler was his guardian angel because of the way he helped his family. One night, Leon saw Schindler comfort his father when he put his arm around his father’s shoulder and said, “It’s okay. Everything is going to be ok.”

In fact, Schindler had saved Leon’s family on multiple occasions. One time, Leon was in a line of men to be transported to a different camp and saw Schindler. As he knew he would be separated from his family and possibly killed if he got transported, he knew the only way to survive was to get Schindler’s attention. Leon decided to be disrespectful to a guard and when the guard eventually hit Leon with his rifle, throwing Leon on the ground, Schindler’s attention was grabbed. He immediately saw what was happening, searched for Leon’s father and brother, and reunited all of them. On another occasion, Leon’s mother and sister were on a train full of Schindler’s workers that was accidentally routed to Auschwitz. When they got off of the train, they were all herded to the gas chambers until suddenly, Schindler arrived at Auschwitz. He proceeded to save all of them by bribing the Nazis to retrieve all of the women on his list. All in all, Leon’s parents, brother, sister and Leon himself were all saved by Schindler.

Leon spent next three years following the war in a displaced persons camp in Frankfurt, Germany before moving to California in 1949. In America, Leon served in the Korean War, attended college in Los Angeles to become a teacher and taught industrial arts in high school for thirty-nine years. In this time, Leon did not talk about his experience in the Holocaust because he felt as though people would not be interested in his story. He was scared that he tragedies he endured would go unappreciated and unvalued by others. However, after Schindler’s List premiered, interest in his story skyrocketed. Leon found himself talking about his experiences with a variety of people in many high schools and crowded auditoriums.

Leon met Schindler again in 1972 and was afraid that Schindler wouldn’t recognize him, as so much time had passed. As soon as Leon walked up to him, Schindler said, “I know who you are. You are little Leyson.” This simple statement is a testament to how much Schindler cared about his workers and their safety. Leon often said that Schindler is the true definition of a hero as “a hero is an ordinary human being who does the best of things in the worst of times.”