A Montreal man approaching his 100th birthday makes this milestone special not only because he survived the Holocaust, but because of how he survived. I say that.
Roman Lesniak was a German industrialist Oscar during World War II. He is one of the
"He saved my life, his brother's life and his 1,200 lives," Lesniak told Global His News from his penthouse apartment in Côtes-Saint-Luc. rice field.
Lesniak still remembers growing up in Krakow, Poland in the 1930s, and he said he enjoyed being part of the Jewish community.
Then in 1939, when he was 17, the Nazis invaded Germany.
"Everything exploded," he said of his happy life in Poland. "It ended on September 1.
Story Continues Under Advertisement
He said the Jewish community had suddenly become a target. , synagogues were looted, people were pushed into the streets, thousands were rounded up.
"They took them to concentration camps and then to the gas chambers. I went," he recalled.
Rezniak said that he and his brother Stefan were unlucky enough to escape the gas chambers because their names were on the list of Jews in the concentration camp requested by Schindler.
"My number is 545 and my brother is his number 548," he said, adding that they and others had been sent to work at a munitions factory owned by Schindler. .
Read more: New Holocaust Museum to open in Montreal in 2025
claims to be If Schindler was a Nazi, he believes Schindler was more of an opportunist and profiteer than a true Nazi. emphasized. "He was a Nazi in his pocket."
According to his grandson Michael Rezniak, the survivors of Schindler's List initially never told these stories. did.
"When the film on Schinler's List came out, he slowly started talking about it," said Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation of Côte Saint-Luc. At a party held for his grandfather, his grandson said, "One thing that has had a big effect on him is that you never know what will happen in life."
The story continues under the advertisement
Family and friends at the party realize that the reason the Holocaust survivor lived the way he did might be when he was younger. I don't live to see another day that I believe in my body.
After the war, Lesniak went to Israel and fought in the First Arab-Israeli War, known to the Israeli people as the War of Independence.
He then moved to Montreal and ran his construction business successfully.
Party people state that despite his age, he is the center of social gatherings.
"He got into tennis in his 70s and started playing golf in his 80s," laughs his only surviving son, Erwin Resniak.
Susan Lesniak Irwin's wife agrees to explain that her father-in-law has rules.
"You have to work hard and play hard. He's playing really hard," she laughed.
Lesniak still credits Schindler and says the former German businessman will return Schindler's name and honor.
Related News