Leo was born in Krakow Poland on May 21, 1927.

He lived there and in the surrounding area until 1943, at which time Im not sure of his path of survival because the video ended. He currently lives in Cerritos California and appears to be in very good health for his age. Leos story was one of a young boy living in Poland with his family near a large Jewish community in the city of Krakow. Leos family seemed to be well established and prosperous. His father operated a very good business selling kosher meats out of two different store locations to the local Jewish community. They had a nice house which seemed to be very comfortable for the time period having both electricity and indoor plumbing. Before the war came to Poland in 1939 there was already an anti-Semitic feeling throughout a large portion of the population, but nothing that was life threatening. Leo recalled that sometimes some of his polish friends would say negative things like, Hitler will take care of you when he gets here, particularly after they had lost in a soccer game to Leo. There was also some disagreement about trivial Jewish issues within the political realms of Poland but nothing that wasnt able to be worked out between seated elected officials. After 1939 however things started to change very quickly. Within days of the invasion of Poland the Nazis already occupied Krakow. Almost immediately new laws started to be enforced which both identified those that were Jewish and limited their movements and amount of income. In March of 1941 the Krakow ghetto was formed and all Jewish residents were to relocate there. To avoid this Leos family bribed the local Polish authorities of a small rural community East of Krakow and moved there instead. In this move the family lost almost all that they had. They went from owning two prosperous businesses and a nice home to living in a one room apartment with no indoor utilities. This was still better than life in the ghetto and worked for them until August of 1942 when the final solution caught up with them. At this time they were moved to the village of Vagilika West of Krakow, which it turned out was just a holding pen for the death camps, surrounded by Nazi and Polish police. After several days Leo and his father were fortunate enough to be selected and put on a work truck but his mother, sister and younger brother could not go. The driver of their truck said he would return the next day for them, Leo said After this I never saw my mother or sister again. Leo and his father were delivered to the Krakow ghetto were they lived with an Aunt and Uncle that were already there. Leos brother arrived a few days later having escaped the holding pen of Vagiliska just in time to avoid be shipped off. Leo learned later that when the truck showed up at the holding pen of Vagiliska the next day there was a panic and a mob tried to get on the truck, his mother and sister did not make it out and were shipped to the death camps. Leo along with his father and brother were able to survive by finding their way to certain German work camps, escaping the liquidation of the ghetto. Testimony summaries