Date of birth

02/28/1925

Where were you born?

Makow, Poland

Makow, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Fischel, accountant, owned a children's wear store

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Johevet

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Five children - Leon was third born. One brother and two sisters. Fishel, Rivka, Chava

How many in entire extended family?

40-50 people

Who survived the Holocaust?

Leon and 2 cousins

Where were you in hiding?

Forests in Belarus, while there fighting with the Jewish partisans; later fighting with the Soviet Red Army.

What DP Camp were you after the war?

No

How is it that you came to Michigan?

In search of becoming an unskilled laborer for one of the automotive companies. At the time the highest paid unskilled workers, in the world, were working for the Michigan automative corporations He was able to secure a job with GM, which he later quit to successfully go into business for himself.

When and where were you married?

Brooklyn, NY 1953

Spouse

Esther, Homemaker

Children

Fred Salomon, podiatrist and teacher. Joyce Salomon, optometrist

Grandchildren

Two grandchildren - Jessica and Tara

What do you think helped you to survive?

Multiple things. Most importantly, the willingness to take chances and to “read” people and circumstances. He was with other Jews in a death march either to be shot by a ditch or to be transported to one of the camps. This occurred while being watched by the armed Nazis. No one knew for certain what our fate was. My father “smelled’ a rat. He ran away from the rest while I was being shot at and missed. He took the risk of being killed immediately. I ran to the nearby forest and hid. Revenge was a -verystrong factor or motivator. One of his beloved sisters told my father to take revenge

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

Interviewer:

Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archives, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Interview date:

06/18/1990