Oscar Schindler
Leon Leyson
was just a skinny kid during World War II but he was
chosen to work for Oscar Schindler, though he was so
little that he couldn't reach the handles on the machine.
He used to stand on an upside-down box. Schindler
developed a fondness for him, nicknaming him little Leyson
and showing him many kindnesses. Leyson later
recalled: "Occasionally, when he was by himself, he
would come and talk to me. He ordered that I get extra
rations of food .."
When Leyson's vision began to blur from the factory work,
he was excused from the night shift. Schindler's most
important act was putting little Leyson on the final list.
His two eldest brothers did not survive the war, but he,
his parents and brother and sister were saved by
Schindler.
Leon Leyson met Oscar Schindler once after the war, in
1972, when a group of survivors invited Schindler to Los
Angeles. Leon was among those who welcomed him at the
airport. He wasn't sure Schindler would recognize him, but
no reminder proved necessary. "I know who you
are," said Oscar Schindler. "You are little
Leyson!"
Little Leyson's mother and sister were among the 300
Schindler-women, who were routed on a train to Auschwitz
by a mistake. Certain death awaited. When they were being
herded off toward the showers they did not know whether
this was going to be water or gas. Suddenly they heard a
voice: 'What are you doing with these people ? These are my
people.' Schindler! He had come to rescue them, bribing
the Nazis to retrieve the women on his list and bring them
back.
The women were released from Auschwitz - the only shipment
out of the death camp during World War 2.
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