Youngest Schindler survivor speaks to Westlake audience

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers GRATITUDE—Leo Leyson, the youngest Schindler's list survivor, tells the story of how he survived Nazi-occupied Poland during the Holocaust. A large audience gathered at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza in Westlake Village to hear his fascinating tale. The youngest survivor of the Schindler Jews spoke at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza last week. Leon Leyson of Orange County described how he survived World War II thanks to businessman Oskar Schindler, whose story was told in the 1993 Academy Award winning film, "Schindler's List."

Leyson's talk was hosted by the Conejo Jewish Academy.

Schindler risked his life to save 1,200 Jews from Nazi death camps by employing them in his munitions factory. Those he saved include Leyson, his parents and two of his siblings.

"A lot of detractors say (Schindler) had his own interests, but none of that is true. He came to Poland to make his fortune and was faced with a situation that the people who worked for him were going to be murdered, and he used his fortune to save them," Leyson said.

Leyson worked a 12-hour night shift, standing on boxes to reach the controls of the machinery where he was stationed. Schindler often spoke with employees, including Leyson, who was 13 at the time of his imprisonment. Schindler provided extra food for Leyson and ordered that he be taken off the night shift.

"You could tell by looking at him and the way he talked to us that he wasn't a Nazi," Leyson said. "Schindler wasn't a perfect human being, but a decent human being. He was a genuine hero, and you don't have to be perfect to be a hero."

Happy childhood

Living in a small town in eastern Poland of 2,000 residents, Leyson led an idyllic childhood with his parents, four older siblings and nearby extended family. Half the town was Jewish.

"There was no indoor plumbing, no public transportation. People got around in horses and wagons," Leyson said. "Everyone knew everybody. It was like 'Fiddler on the Roof' without the Hollywood stuff."

When Leyson was 9, his family moved to the city of Krakow after his father was transferred by his company. The first year was exciting.

"It was like Disneyland every day for a young boy of 9, seeing streetcars, big stores, big windows, all the wondrous things you see in a big city," Leyson said.

Invasion changes everything

After the invasion of Poland Jews could only sit at the back of streetcars, then they weren't allowed on at all. Jewish children also were banned from school, and Leyson couldn't understand why.

"In retrospect we know what they were doing, trying to marginalize the Jewish people, but at the time nobody expected anything except a little inconvenience during wartime," Leyson said. "Everybody said, 'It's not going to last long. We'll go back to normal once the Nazis leave.'"

Leyson's father was arrested and beaten shortly after the invasion. Though he was eventually freed, he was left a broken man, Leyson said. Jewish homes and businesses were confiscated and given to young Germans. Among the businessmen who profiteered from the war was Oskar Schindler. Leyson's father was one of the first to be hired by Schindler, who needed craftsmen.

Leyson's extended family remained in their town on the Soviet border. But all were massacred, including Leyson's 21yearold brother, who had fled from Krakow when the Nazis invaded.

The Jewish ghetto

In Krakow, Jews were crowded into a ghetto with several families sharing a room, Leyson said. Working for Schindler was an advantage because Leyson's father could leave the ghetto for work and was able to smuggle food for the family. Leyson's brother was also hired by Schindler.

"My memory of the ghetto is that I was always hungry and always frightened because my life was in danger all the time," Leyson said.

The Germans began transporting Jews to death camps. Leyson's second-oldest brother was on one of the trains. Schindler wanted to take him off, but the 17-year-old declined to go because his girlfriend was with him and Schindler could not take both. The couple perished in a death camp.

"This brother was a talented young man, a great guy. I used to follow him around," Leyson said.

The Nazis closed the ghetto and transferred the remaining Jews to a concentration camp.

"It was like the end of the world. There were barracks as far as the eye could see, people yelling, dogs barking. The Nazis wandered around, beating people up and shooting them," Leyson said. "In the ghetto we had a little bit of hope that maybe we can survive, but here I knew I wouldn't last."

A series of incidents and close calls kept Leyson and his family alive. They eventually returned to Schindler, who had fought hard to get them out of the camp.

War is over

Layson and his parents spent three years in a displaced persons camp before moving to Los Angeles where relatives lived. The descendants of those relatives were in the Hyatt audience.

Leyson's surviving siblings moved to Israel.

"When I first stepped on the soil of this country I knew I was in a different place just from the attitude of people around me. People were friendly, generous, accepting," Leyson said.

Leyson later was drafted during the Korean War and spent two years in the Army. He attended Los Angeles colleges, earned a teaching credential and got a job as an industrial arts instructor at Huntington Park High School, where he worked for 39 years before retiring. He is married with two children and three grandchildren.

"That's the ripple from what Schindler did, and when you think of all the future generations yet to come, it's incalculable," Leyson said.

For 40 years Leyson remained quiet about the Holocaust.

"I didn't speak about my experience because I didn't think people would be interested," Leyson said. "I'm not a Holocaust scholar. I'm just somebody who lived it."

Although no country offered to take in Jews and help them escape, Leyson said he is not bitter.

"I don't hate anybody. My life is moving forward, not backward," Leyson said.