DAILY REPUBLIC
Schindler's List survivor to address Vaca audience
By Ian Thompson
March 2nd, 2010
VACAVILLE — Leon Leyson, the youngest survivor of Schindler's List, will talk on March 18 about his escape from the Nazi death camps and living in the fragile sanctuary of Oskar Schindler's factory.
Leyson, 80, now a member of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education Advisory Board at Chapman University, will speak at 7 p.m. at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theater at 1010 Ulatis Drive.
Leyson, then known as Leib Lejzon, was the youngest of five children whose parents lived in a town 150 miles northeast of Warsaw.
After the invasion of Poland in 1939, Leyson's family members were herded into the Kracow Ghetto. By 1941, his oldest brother had been killed, but his father and another brother were working in Schindler's factory near the ghetto.
Schindler's efforts to bribe and use his connections with Nazi officials to save as many Jews as possible from the death camps reunited the Leyson family.
In 1949, Leyson came to the U.S., joined the Army to fight in the Korean War and then taught high school industrial arts for 39 years until he retired.
Leyson now talks to school groups, universities and community organizations about the holocaust.
Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. To reserve tickets for the event, call the theater at 469-4013 or visit http://www.vpat.net For more information, call 592-5300 or visit http://JewishSolano.com
Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.