Leo Holzer

Leo Holzer (1902 – January 1989) was an Austrian-Czech firefighter and Holocaust survivor best known for leading the fire brigade inside Theresienstadt concentration camp, which he used as a cover for resistance activities.

After the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Holzer managed to hide his Jewish heritage for some time,[2] despite the fact that he was religious,[4] because his business partner did not betray him.

After the business partner was decapitated by a wire laid by Czech resistance operatives in 1940, Holzer went into hiding, but was eventually discovered and deported as part of the Aufbaukommando to Theresienstadt concentration camp in late 1941, becoming the head of the firefighting and air raid department.

Lederer was eventually deported to Auschwitz in December 1943,[5]: 161–162  but escaped the following April in order to warn the population of Theresienstadt that deportees faced mass murder in gas chambers.

Unusually, Holzer was not subject to strict travel restrictions that the Communist regime imposed on most of its citizens and frequently visited Western Europe.