Hands belong to daughter Marilyn Bercovich, who is wearing a replica of her father’s wedding ring.
Born June 28, 1927 | Nowe Miasto (Neishtat oif der Pilitza), Poland
Died December 25, 1976 | Hawaii, United States
Leon had an amazing zest for life, living it to its fullest.
Leon was the second youngest of seven children born to Gitele and Yochanan Krygier, middle-class tailors in Lodz, Poland. While their home was filled with music and joy, Leon was often beaten by antisemitic youth. When Germany attacked Poland in 1939, the family fled to Nowe Miasto, later arranging to be smuggled into Soviet-occupied Bialystok. Young as he was, Leon was instrumental in the family’s escape. When they refused Soviet citizenship, the Krygiers were declared enemies of the state and sent to Siberia. In 1941, when Russia joined the Allies, the family was freed and made their way to Turkistan, Kazakhstan. Leon helped support them by smuggling goods like nylons and cigarettes, which he sold on the black market, often with the authorities in hot pursuit.
After the war, Leon’s family briefly returned to Poland, discovering that only one uncle there had survived. With the help of the Bricha (Zionist underground), they were smuggled to Austria, spent seven months at a Displaced Persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany, and then moved to Paris. Leon’s father paid a woman to front a tailor shop where the family worked. Leon married Holocaust survivor Annette Groner in 1948. They settled in Calgary, where members of Annette’s family already lived; most of Leon’s family soon followed. Leon established his own dry cleaning and tailor shop—French Cleaners—and later built and operated the Airliner Hotel and the Majestic Inn. A curler, golfer and skier, he also loved singing in musicals staged by the Beth Israel Players. He generously supported the synagogue, Jewish Polish Loan Society and I.L. Peretz School, where his four children studied. Leon welcomed his first grandchild just before his untimely passing. His legacy grew to include nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
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The Here to Tell: Faces of Holocaust Survivors exhibit is at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton now through to February 9, 2025.
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