Nisen Leser, one of the last Brzesko-born Holocaust survivors, passed away on January 31, 2022.
Nisen Leser was born in Brzesko on November 6, 1923. He was the oldest of five children of Schulem and Freida Mindel Leser. Schulem Leser was born in Ciężkowice on September 3, 1901, and moved to Brzesko after marrying Freidel Mindel Goldblum/Lipschitz. Nisen Leser’s maternal ancestors had lived in Brzesko for many generations. His grandparents, Isumer Goldblum (born in 1863) and Nissel Lipschitz (1870-1916), had 14 children, eight of whom died in infancy, and of the remaining six, only one son survived the Holocaust:
Isucher Mendel, born on September 3, 1889; lived in Mielec with his wife and four children, murdered in Bełżec;
Abraham Isaak, born on August 31, 1896, lived in Myślenice with his wife and four children, murdered;
Freidel Mindel, born on June 8, 1900, lived in Brzesko with her husband Schulem Leser and five children, murdered together with her husband
Marjem, born on January 28, 1904, lived in Brzesko with her husband and three children; murdered in Bełżec with her children Nisan (born in 1930) and Sara (born in 1933);
Kalman Mosze, born on September 4, 1906, lived in Bielsko with his wife and two children; murdered in Kraków in 1943;
Jechiel, born on October 7, 1907; lived in Brzesko, later in Nowy Sącz with his wife and two children. He was in the camps in Płaszów and Mauthausen. He was the only one of his family to survive the war
Matzevot of two ancestors of this family have survived in the Brzesko Jewish cemetery, those of Nisen Leser’s great-grandfather, Moses Josef Lipschitz (1834-1926) and grandmother Nissel Goldblum, née Lipschitz (1870-1916).
Here lies
our teacher, Mr
Moshe Yosef Lipschitz
Son of Mr Tzvi Hirsh the Kohen
Deceased on 16 Sivan 5686 [May 29, 1926]
May his soul be bound in the bundle of life
An innocent and honest man, died
In old age and earned
His living by hard labour
Here lies
A modest woman
Who has always been devout to the commandments of God,
She walked at the straight path until her death
At the age of 46 she returned to ashes
Mrs. Nisel, daughter of Mr Moshe Yosef the Kohen
Deceased on 18 Adar II, 5676 [March 23, 1916]. May her soul be bound in the bundle of life
But let’s get back to the family of Schulem and Freida Mindel Leser. As I’ve mentioned, the couple had five children; the four oldest attended primary school on Głowackiego Street in Brzesko:
Nisen, on born November 6, 1923, primary school student from 1930 to 1937
Rachela, on born December 19, 1924, primary school student from 1931 to 1938
Sara Itta, on born October 7, 1926, primary school student from 1933 to 1939
Izak, born on November 4, 1928, primary school student from 1935 to 1939
Jonasz, born on March 24, 1935
The parents Schulem and Freida Mindel Leser and their children Sara Itta, Izak, and Jonasz were murdered in the Holocaust. I don’t know what happened to Rachel.
Nisen Leser was first in the Brzesko and Bochnia ghettos, from where he was sent together with his father Schulim and brother Isaak to the labour camp in Szebnie. Later there were other camps: Auschwitz, Monowitz (Auschwitz sub-camp where prisoners were employed in the construction of a synthetic rubber factory), Mittelbau-Dora (German concentration camp established near Nordhausen to provide slave labour for the nearby Mittelwerk underground arms factory); death march to the Bergen Belsen camp. It was from this last camp that he was liberated.
Here you can find a testimony of Nisen Leser (in Yidish):
Mr. Nisen Leser was a Hasidic Jew, he lived in the USA. I learned about his death from a descendant of another Brzesko Jewish family. Apparently, in the last few years he hardly spoke to anyone, but every day went to the synagogue to pray. I guess, by then he was only speaking to God. I was deeply moved by these photos. A piece of life that can no longer be found in Poland.
May the memory of reb Nisen Leser be an eternal blessing
© Anna Brzyska, 2025