The last rabbi of Memel / Klaipeda, Dr Simon Schlesinger (1893–1959), arrived in the town from Cologne in 1932. He had extensive experience in education and founded a Jewish school in the town in 1935. In the spring of 1939, he fled with his wife Paula and their children Sarah Judith and Isaak, first to Kazlu Ruda (Lithuania) and from there, in August 1939, via Gdynia to London. In the spring of 1940, the family continued their flight to Palestine via Marseille.    

 Text: Prof. Dr. Ruth Leiserowitz, ruth@leiserowitz.de

More photos of people in the city will soon be on display in the LEON exhibition