LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION paying tribute to the life of Leo Bretholz, distinguished citizen, and devoted member of his community

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to the lives of those esteemed individuals of world renown who distinguished themselves through their life's work, and publicly acknowledge their endeavors which have enhanced the basic humanity among us all; and WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is proud to inscribe upon its records this memoriam for Leo Bretholz, author, Holocaust survivor, and advo- cate, who died on March 8, 2014, at the age of 93; and WHEREAS, Leo Bretholz will be long remembered for his daring escape from the Nazis by jumping off a moving train en route to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp; his 1998 memoir, : SEVEN YEARS ON THE RUN IN WARTIME EUROPE, chronicled his experiences; and WHEREAS, Leo Bretholz was also a major voice in the campaign to gain reparations from companies that transported victims to concentration camps during World War II; and WHEREAS, Leo Bretholz was born in , , on March 6, 1921, to Polish immigrants; his father, Max Bretholz, worked as a tailor and amateur Yiddish actor, and his mother, Dora (Fischmann) Bretholz worked as a seamstress; and WHEREAS, At his mother's insistence, Leo Bretholz fled Austria after it was annexed by Nazi in 1938; he traveled by rail to , a city in western Germany, and swam across the Sauer River to where he was met by refugee workers who smuggled him into Belgium; and WHEREAS, After the German invasion of that country in 1940, Leo Bretholz was deported to ; he entered Switzerland in 1942 but was returned to France and ultimately to the Drancy transit camp northeast of , from which he and thousands of others were sent east, on a train, bound for the death camp at Auschwitz, in what is now Poland; and WHEREAS, Leo Bretholz escaped from the train through a cattle car window on November 6, 1942; he and a friend removed articles of cloth- ing, soaked the clothing in human waste from the bucket and repeatedly wrung out the moisture to increase the fabric's strength, and then used the clothes to force open the bars and jump to freedom; and WHEREAS, Of 1,000 people on his train to Auschwitz, only five survived the war; many of Leo Bretholz' relatives also perished; and WHEREAS, This resourceful man ultimately joined the Jewish Resistance Group Compagnons De France, known as "La Sixieme," falsifying documents and scouting Germans, and later assisting refugees in France after the 1944 D-Day invasion; and WHEREAS, Leo Bretholz came to the United States in 1947, settled in the area and became a United States citizen; he worked for much of his career in textiles, and sales, and later managed bookstores; and WHEREAS, Remembering an elderly woman on his cattle car who asked that he tell others of their experience if he managed to escape, Leo Bretholz frequently recounted in speeches before lawmakers, schoolchildren and at many public events his story of persecution and survival; and WHEREAS, In recent years Leo Bretholz became a leader among activists who have called for reparations from governments and companies in Europe that aided the Nazi regime, a cause he fought for to his dying day; and WHEREAS, Predeceased by his wife of 57 years, the former Florine Cohen, Leo Bretholz is survived by his three children, Myron Bretholz, Denise Harris, and Edie Norton; a half-sister; and four grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is proud to recognize the life of Leo Bretholz for the courage and fortitude he displayed throughout his many years; his ceaseless work against hate and prejudice has benefited the world in immeasurable ways; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to pay tribute to the life of Leo Bretholz, noting his meritorious life and significant accomplishments; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran- smitted to the family of Leo Bretholz.