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Ladislav "Leslie" Reitman was born on 11 Sep 1914 in Slapy (Slapcany), Tábor, Bohemia to parents Gustav and Cecilia Reitman (d. 1937). Gustav was a grain dealer and his mother ran the household, including raising four boys.[1] While serving in the Czech Army, he was stationed in Komarno, Slovakia, and first met Clara Raab on 6 May 1937. His business experience and knowledge of mathematics allowed him to become the accountant for his infantry division. He became a prisoner in 1942 and was to be transported to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland, however, was saved by a childhood friend now a police officer, Shanya Urban.[1]
Leslie slipped into Hungary to avoid being sent to a concentration camp and hid in Budapest using false papers with his father Gustav and brother. However, a random police check still found him and he ended up at a detention camp that according to Polish prisoners meant certain death. His brother helped him escape and Leslie took a train back to Komarno. A Bulgarian family acquired new false papers for him and he worked in the fields for them. He became a member of the underground, bringing food to other Jews in hiding. Someone eventually betrayed him as the Hungarian Arrow Cross went asking about a jew on the host family's property. Once again, he escaped to another village and from January to March 1945, survived by living in straw bales in a friend's barn. On 27 Mar 1945, the Russian Army freed him.[1]
After the end of the war, he returned to Komarno and married Clara in 1945.[1]
They had a son, Ivan Reitman, born 27 Oct 1946 in Komarno.
Leslie started up a vinegar factory in town. Unfortunately, the Czech Communists rose to power and on 25 Feb 1948 took control of the factory. Imprisonment awaited him if his production levels were not met to their standards. Leslie, Clara, and little Ivan escaped Czechoslovakia via the cargo hold of a coal barge which traveled up the Danube and exited in Vienna after five days onboard. The family emigrated to Canada in 1951 now to escape Communism.[1]
Leslie passed away on 25 Mar 1993 in Dade County, Florida.[2] He was buried in Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park in Toronto.[3]
Research notes
Find a Grave claims Leslie died in Toronto, Canada on 26 Mar 1993.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Portraits of Survival - Leslie Reitman (z"l). Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara.
- ↑ Death: "Florida Death Index, 1877-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVHP-338 : 25 December 2014), Leslie Reitman, 25 Mar 1993; from "Florida Death Index, 1877-1998," index, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : 2004); citing vol. , certificate number 34937, Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Records, Jacksonville.
- ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/236743732/ladislav-reitman : accessed 17 February 2022), memorial page for Ladislav “Leslie” Reitman (11 Sep 1914–26 Mar 1993), Find a Grave Memorial ID 236743732, citing Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park, Toronto, Toronto Municipality, Ontario, Canada ; Maintained by Bradley M. (contributor 49065929).