Youngest survivor to speak here

Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who ran enamelware and ammunitions factories in the 1930s and 1940s. The industrialist initially employed Jews because their labor was cheap. He is remembered for saving about 1,200 Jews from the Nazi genocide.

One of them was Leon Leyson, who was 13 when his father introduced him to Schindler. The factory owner called the boy "Little Leyson" and showed him kindness, according to Chabad of Charleston and the Low Country, which is organizing a special Dec. 2 reception and lecture featuring Leyson.

Leyson, now 80, was born in Poland as Leib Lejzon. When the Nazis occupied Poland in 1939, Leyson and his family moved to the Krakow Jewish Ghetto. His father worked for Schindler, who became protective of his many Jewish employees.

"I knew the people who worked for me," Schindler was quoted as saying in David M. Crowe's biography. "When you know people, you have to behave toward them like human beings."

Little Leyson reportedly was the youngest person saved by Schindler. He appears on screen at the end of Steven Spielberg's movie, "Schindler's List."

After the war, Leyson spent three years in a displaced persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany. He came to the U.S. in 1949, served in the U.S. Army and became a high school teacher.

He will speak of his experiences at the Riviera Theater, 225 King St., at 7 p.m. Dec. 2. Admission is free. Sponsorship costs $180 and includes access to a private reception at 6:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust.

To RSVP, or for more information, e-mail info@southernspirit.org or call 884-2323.