LEON KUSMIREK
Leon was born on the 8th January, 1926, in Zgierz, Poland. He was the oldest of two boys in his Jewish family, and attended both public and religious schools.
'On Friday, September 1, 1939, my mother had just returned from the market when we saw German planes. On Sunday they flew over again, lower, panicking the city. My father left to join the Polish army and we fled to a nearby town, but soon returned. We were home one hour when we heard shooting--the Germans had entered Zgierz. My father returned when Poland was defeated. Then the Germans expelled Zgierz's Jews; we went to Lodz.
I was 14 when the Germans set up a ghetto for Jews in Lodz and my family was moved to Mlynarska Street in the ghetto. Through contacts at his job in the ghetto hospital, my father managed to get me work as a courier. A job was vital since weekly food rations were only a piece of bread and a few grams of potatoes; the only way to get more food was at work. There I was given soup twice a day. In 1941 conditions worsened when Germany invaded the USSR. People were deported every day.' 1
When he was 18, Leon was deported from the Lodz ghetto to the Kielce labor camp, before being moved to several other camps. When he was being transported to Germany in 1945, he escaped, and survived the war.
'On Friday, September 1, 1939, my mother had just returned from the market when we saw German planes. On Sunday they flew over again, lower, panicking the city. My father left to join the Polish army and we fled to a nearby town, but soon returned. We were home one hour when we heard shooting--the Germans had entered Zgierz. My father returned when Poland was defeated. Then the Germans expelled Zgierz's Jews; we went to Lodz.
I was 14 when the Germans set up a ghetto for Jews in Lodz and my family was moved to Mlynarska Street in the ghetto. Through contacts at his job in the ghetto hospital, my father managed to get me work as a courier. A job was vital since weekly food rations were only a piece of bread and a few grams of potatoes; the only way to get more food was at work. There I was given soup twice a day. In 1941 conditions worsened when Germany invaded the USSR. People were deported every day.' 1
When he was 18, Leon was deported from the Lodz ghetto to the Kielce labor camp, before being moved to several other camps. When he was being transported to Germany in 1945, he escaped, and survived the war.
1 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Leon Kusmirek.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/idcard.php?ModuleId=10006668. Accessed on 13/09/14.
2 Portrait of Leon Kusmirek. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2 Portrait of Leon Kusmirek. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.