Rudolf Leiser

Name at birth

Rudolf Leiser

Date of birth

04/04/1914

Where were you born?

Breslau Germany

Where did you grow up?

Breslau Germany

Name of father, occupation

Sigfried Leiser, Tailor

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Rosa Wolff, Homemaker, (killed in Auschwitz)

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents and seven children: Walter, Edith, Arthur, Gertrude, Wilhelm (Willi), Paula, Karl; nephew Hans Roesler, son of Edith

How many in entire extended family?

Approximately 15

Who survived the Holocaust?

Rudolf, Arthur, Walter (stayed in Germany after the war)

Rudolf could see what was happening to him and his family around him. He was in a program to learn farming in order to immigrate to Palestine. This program was discontinued by Hitler.

My father then left Germany with a friend for Czechoslovakia. When there, he was supposed to register but he didn't have a passport. So they returned to Germany; they were caught at the border.

My father was arrested and imprisoned for approximately four months. The Gestapo gave his mother a choice of sending him to Shanghai, China or to a concentration camp.

The choice was Shanghai. His mother stayed in Germany, thinking it would not get so bad.

This was before Kristallnacht. After Kristallnacht, there probably would not have been a choice.

Other siblings tried to leave Germany after Kristallnacht, but were caught in Holland and sent to their deaths.

He left Germany in September, 1938 for Shanghai.

Where did you go after being liberated?

In 1947, to Montevideo, Uruguay via San Francisco

When did you come to the United States?

1948

Where did you settle?

Detroit, Michigan

How is it that you came to Michigan?

Rudolf was sponsored by Karl Bach. There was a choice of coming to St. Louis or Detroit. Rudolf had an aunt, uncle, and cousin residing in Detroit, so Detroit was chosen.

Occupation after the war

Barber

When and where were you married?

1953, Toledo Ohio

Spouse

Bessie Leiser

Children

Rosalind Leiser

What do you think helped you to survive?

I am surmising that it was hoping to be reunited with his family as well as the new and lifelong friendships that he made in Shanghai.