Holocaust Remembrance
Fritz Lebrecht was born in Germany. When war broke out his parents wanted to save the family. However, they only had enough money to pay for one child to be sent on the Kindertransport from Germany to England. His parents decided to send Fritz on Kindertransport from Frankfurt Station on March, 15 1939. Fritz along with 28 boys and two girls and their wardens, Hugo and Lily Steinhardt traveled to England. Sadly, his sister Theresa was not able to join him on the Kindertransport.
After arriving in England on the Kindertransport, Fritz went to the grounds of the Rothchild home called Waddesdon. Waddesdon was a large house near Aylesbury that was built in 1874 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, It took him 15 years to build Waddesdon. The house became an astonishing example of ‘le style Rothschild’ which influenced the great American collectors of the late 19th and 20th century, such as Morgan, Frick, Vanderbilt, Huntington and Astor.
Ferdinand was active in the Anglo-Jewish community. He was treasurer to the Board of Guardians of the Jewish Poor from 1868-75, Warden at the Central Synagogue in Great Portland Street, laid the foundation stone in 1864 at the North London Synagogue and funded a technical scholarship at Stepney Jewish School in the East End. After just a year of marriage to his cousin Evelina, Ferdinand tragically lost his young wife during childbirth. As Ferdinand never remarried and had no children, he passed the estate to his sister Alice, who in turn left it to her great-nephew James de Rothschild.
James, known as Jimmy, married British-born Dorothy Pinto in 1913 when he was thirty-five and she just seventeen. Jimmy was brought up by his father, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, as a passionate believer in a Jewish homeland and of the importance of Jewish values. Jimmy and Dorothy were very active members of the Jewish community. The couple helped to establish Norwood, the Jewish Free School. Jimmy was half blind, having lost an eye playing golf, and became very involved with the Jewish Blind Society — which subsequently merged into Jewish Care. Jimmy and Dorothy were close friends of Chaim Weizmann and when James was recovering from his war injuries, his young wife forged important contacts for Weizmann and his circle with key members of the British establishment.
Dorothy and James remained childless, despite their affection and warmth towards children. Starting in 1922, Jimmy and Dorothy began to live at Waddesdon all year round.
During World War II they gave Waddesdon to orphanages in London that needed to find refuge. Once they learned about the Kindertransport they immediately sponsored thirty boys from a school in Frankfurt to come to England, including Fritz. When Hans Hellman, one of the boys Fritz arrived with saw the home he later recalled:
When we got to the Cedars Lodge, the first thing we did was throw a soccer ball on the lawn and kick it around. The local boys came to see what was all of a sudden being brought into their village. They said, “We’ll see you tomorrw.” I was absolutely excuberant. I ran to my house mother and told her, “Somebody who is not Jewish wants to see us tomorrow.”
Dorothy and Jimmy found a house in the village, called Cedar House, where the boys could stay and in a sense the Cedar boys became her children — they became known as the Cedar Boys and Dorothy followed their lives as they grew up and lived across the world. The nickname Cedar boys – was named after the two stately trees that marked the large house they lived in.
During his time as a Cedar boy, Fritz learned skills on how to be a baker. Eventually, he went into the merchant marines in England. At the age of eighteen, he made his way to Canada. He met his wife Elayne Rockman in Montreal. Elayne’s family worked in trucking. Elayne and Fritz first lived in Montreal and then moved to Toronto where they remained until they each passed away. Fritz became a stockbroker in Canada. Frtiz and his wife eventually gave birth to two boys- Terry (named after his sister Theresa) and David Sean. Fritz kept in touch with the Rothchild family and the Cedar boys. In 1983, a reunion was held at Waddesdon to thank Dorothy de Rothschild.
Fritz was the father (and father in law) of Congregant Terry Leighton and his wife Marissa, and grandfather of Hannah, Avery, and Miles Leighton. Avery is named after Fritz as his Hebrew name was Zachariah and Avery was named Zahava in his memory.
Fred Leighton with sons Sean and Terry
Dorothy and Jimmy de Rothschild
After arriving in England on the Kindertransport, Fred went to the grounds of the Rothchild home called Waddesdon
(Click on the picture above to learn more about Waddesdon)
