What kind of person might one expect from the resumé of a person whose youth, beginning at age 13, was this:
Ghettoes: Andrychow, Poland, 1940-41; Wadowice, Poland, 1941; Andrychow, 1941.
Labor camps: Krulevka Huta, Poland, 1941; Karvina, Czechoslovakia, 1942; Markstädt, Germany, 1943-44.
Concentration camps: Gross-Rosen, Germany, 1942; Bunzlau, 1944; Kittlitztreben, 1944-45.
Liberated by Russian troops, February 10, 1945.
Just the barest data from this resumé would also include: the Nazis killed his father after he was forced to dig his own grave; his mother was gassed in Auschwitz.
What kind of a person might this 13-year-old, Leo Mittler — tattoo #35239 — turn out to be?
Just about the most settled, unruffled, friendly, understated yet always smiling person we have ever known.
Leo Mittler was one of those people you look forward to seeing, to speaking with, to sharing an observation with. He was sensible, professional, forthcoming and honest in a way that left you feeling good about yourself. His humanity was contagious.
These qualities are difficult enough for anyone to embody. They are rare. But from a survivor of ghettoes, labor camps and concentration camps? The question speaks for itself. This is the kind of person Leo Mittler was. This is the kind of chasm that his death leaves.
This is the kind of person whom the coming generations will know only indirectly, via descriptions such as this one. That special humanity carried to the US from Poland via hell is the privilege that those of us who knew Leo Mittler will always treasure.
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News
I wish I would have met him. He sounds like he was a very special man. Never to be forgotten!