Leopold Pfefferberg

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Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg (born March 20, 1913 in Krakow ; † March 9, 2001 in Beverly Hills , Los Angeles ), also known under the name Leopold Page , was one of the Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivors who belonged to the so-called " Schindlerjuden " were counted. He was a consultant and initiator for both the novel Schindler's List (1982) and the Hollywood film Schindler's List (1993). In the film he was played by Jonathan Sagall .

Life

Born into a Jewish family in Krakow (then Austria-Hungary , now Poland ), Leopold Pfefferberg attended Jagiellonian University after completing his schooling and graduated as a teacher and in philosophy. He then worked as a sports teacher at a Jewish high school in Krakow. He practiced this profession until the beginning of the Second World War , when all Jewish schools were closed. In 1939 he joined the Polish army to fight against the Wehrmacht during the attack on Poland . Pfefferberg was wounded on the San River and taken to hospital.

As a prisoner in the Plaszow (Plaschau) concentration camp , he used forged papers to pretend to be German and thus to visit his wounded comrades and his mother in the hospital. There he also made the acquaintance of Oskar Schindler, who had just taken over a shabby enamel factory from Jews . Schindler hired Pfefferberg's mother, who was an interior designer, to renovate his apartment.

After the evacuation of the Krakow ghetto in March 1943, Pfefferberg was sent to the Plaszow forced labor camp , which was under the direction of Amon Göth . Through his connection with Schindler, he and his wife Ludmila Pfefferberg, with whom he had two children, were put on the list of those who were allowed to be transferred to the Moravian subcamp Brünnlitz . As a so-called Schindler Jew, Pfefferberg survived as one of the few of the three million Polish Jews. Pfefferberg described Schindler as a "modern Noah" .

After 1945

After the end of the Second World War, Pfefferberg moved to Budapest , later to Munich , where he founded a school for refugee children. In 1948 he emigrated to the USA , where he used the name "Leopold Page" . He lived with his wife Ludmila in Los Angeles , where they ran a leather goods store in Beverly Hills .

In 1980 he met the writer Thomas Keneally in his shop and showed him documents about Oskar Schindler. Keneally showed interest, and Pfefferberg became an advisor on Schindler's Ark . Pfefferberg explained the reasons for his efforts in the Schindler story: “Schindler saved my life and I am now trying to give him immortality”.

After "Schindler's Ark" was published in 1982 , Pfefferberg tried to persuade Steven Spielberg to make a film of Keneally's book. According to his own statements, Pfefferberg called Spielberg's office every week until he finally gave his approval after eleven years. Pfefferberg worked as a consultant for the 1993 Hollywood film Schindler's List and traveled with Spielberg to Krakow to visit the locations with him. Pfefferberg also has a say in the documentary Voices of People on the List , which is included on the Schindler List DVD .

Pfefferberg was the founder of the "Oskar Schindler Humanities Foundation". He justified this with the words: “Only when this organization is a reality will I have fulfilled my obligations. Because when I am no longer alive and the Schindler Jews have also died, this organization and its purpose will still exist ” .

Leopold Pfefferberg died on March 9, 2001 at the age of 87 at his Beverly Hills home.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nibis.de

literature

  • Leopold Pfefferberg Page, in: David M. Crowe: Oskar Schindler. Eine Biographie, Frankfurt / Main 2005, pp. 110–113
personal data
SURNAME Pfefferberg, Leopold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfefferberg, Poldek; Page, Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor who was counted among the "Schindler Jews"
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2001
Place of death Beverly Hills , Los Angeles