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, LEAP INTO DARKNESS: 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 Vienna, Austria, 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 Germany in 1938; he traveled by rail to Trier, a
city in western Germany, and swam across the Sauer River to Luxembourg
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 France; he entered Switzerland in 1942 but was
returned to France and ultimately to the Drancy transit camp northeast
of Paris, 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 Baltimore 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.