Born July 24, 1918   |   Wielun (Vielun), Poland 

Died May 18, 2012   |   Montreal, Canada

You have to get your feelings out. If you keep them inside, they will make you sick.

The eldest of six sons born to Esther and Favel Zelek Markowicz, Layzer was raised by his mother and stepfather after his father was killed in a trucking accident. As a teenager, Layzer worked in the family’s produce business. He stopped attending school when antisemitism there became intolerable. When Germany attacked Poland, Layzer climbed a tree to better see the bombs falling near his town. Young as he was, his hair turned white and then fell out. Leon’s family was forced into the Lodz Ghetto, where he met his future wife Rachela (Rachel).  He told her that if they survived, he would find and marry her. Layzer and his family remained in the ghetto even after it was liquidated. Their Soviet liberators found them hidden behind rabbit cages in a basement. 

After the war, Layzer worked as a guide, helping fellow survivors reach the Italian port where they boarded ships to Palestine. Hearing that Rachela had survived, Layzer rode his bicycle across borders to the place she had been seen and searched town by town until he found her. Married in a Displaced Persons camp in Zeilsheim, Germany, they immigrated to Canada in 1948 after the birth of their first son and later welcomed two more children. Leon—as he came to be known—worked as a tailor and then a grocer. His children later worked with him in his “Jewish style” restaurant until his retirement. Leon did not have much formal education, but he was clever. He took charge of any situation, from leading the bunny hop at a wedding, to running his bowling league, to becoming the president of his synagogue. After Rachel’s untimely passing, Leon married Hanka—also a Holocaust survivor. They spent two decades together until his passing.