Biography
Leah Fisher-Lee (born Leah Zynger) was born on January 10, 1926 in the town of Oszmiana, near Vilna, where her father was an accountant, and her mother, a wholesale food distributor. Leah had one brother, who was one year younger than herself. During the first years of the war, Oszmiana was under Soviet rule. Following the German takeover in July 1941, the Jewish men were rounded-up and deported. The remaining Jews were confined to a ghetto. Leah lived in the ghetto with her mother, brother and aunt until its liquidation in July, 1942. At this time they were all sent to Mielegjany, one of the Operation Todt labor camps, where they loaded gravel for road construction. After a few months they were transferred to the Kailis labor camp near Vilna, then to the Kaiserwald concentration camp in Riga, and then to the Vievis (Jewje) labor camp. In Vievis, Leah often sang for the prisoners, for which she and her family were excused from hard labor in the surrounding forests. At the beginning of 1944 the family was sent to Stutthof. During the 80 km. march to the camp, Leah managed to escape into the woods. She lost her way, however, and after walking in a big circle, rejoined the march without being discovered. After several months in Stutthof, Leah was selected for a transport to Bavaria. Her mother managed to get a place on the train by exchanging identities with another prisoner. Leah's brother and aunt remained in Stutthof. Both drowned in the Baltic during the evacuation of the camp by sea. Leah and her mother arrived at the Muehldorf camp (a sub-camp of Dachau) in August, 1944. There, they worked at a construction site fetching water for the laborers. Periodically, Leah was given the opportunity to sing for the prisoners. At Muehldorf, Leah met her future husband, Ladislas (Laco) Fischer, a dental technician from Czechoslovakia, who worked as an assistant to the camp's German dentist. In April, 1945, the German dentist gave Laco a gun and told him to escape. Unwilling to leave her mother, Leah did not go with him. Soon after, she and her mother were put on an evacuation transport, which was liberated by the Americans on May 2, 1945. Leah was reunited with Laco at the Feldafing displaced persons camp, where they were married in November, 1946. While in Feldafing, Laco taught dentistry at the ORT school and Leah performed with the Amcha theatre troupe. They left Germany for the United States on June 22, 1949, sailing aboard the SS General Holbroke.
