Leo Holzer

Leo Holzer (1902January 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 war, he remained in communist Czechoslovakia and became an advocate for Czech-German reconciliation.

Life Holzer was born into a Jewish family of Czech origin in Kobersdorf, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), in 1902. In 1919, following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Holzer elected to become a citizen of the new country of Czechoslovakia. He graduated with a degree in engineering, he moved to the town of Kolín and opened a firefighting business with a friend from Austria. After the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Holzer managed to hide his Jewish heritage for some time, 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.