Background
Mrs. Leitner was born in Kisvárda, Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg, Hungary, on May 28, 1924.
On May 28, 1944, Mrs. Leitner, her mother, four sisters, brother, and other Jews from Kisvarda were taken by cattle car to Auschwitz southern Poland, site of the largest Nazi death camp during World War II. Though Leitner was not chosen for execution, her youngest sister and her mother were murdered on the day of arrival, and her e,dest sister later died after an attempted escape.
Isabella Leitner and her two surviving sisters escaped during a death march to Bergen-Belsen and were liberated by Russian soldiers. The three sisters were the first survivors of Auschwitz to reach the United States, arriving on May 8, 1945, the very day the war in Europe ended. They were reunited with their father, who had come across at the outbreak of World War II in an successful attempt to obtain exit visas for his family and also received word that their brother had survived.
