Leon Gildesgame papers

Consists of a cover letter addressed to Meir Grossman of the American Jewish Conference by Leon Gildesgame and two original enclosures. The original enclosures include a typewritten account of SS-Unterscharführer Franz Xaver Sommerhoff articulating his participation in the killing of Jewish civilians and others, and a typewritten copy of First Army Special Report titled "It Happened in the Twentieth Century," detailing the interrogation of Dr. Gustav Wilhelm Schübbe. Schübbe, a medical doctor, admitted to the killings of thousands of Jews, Romani people, and others by morphine injection in German-occupied Kiev. Leon Gildesgame, who had lost loved ones during the Holocaust, forwarded these documents to the American Jewish Conference in the hope that the crimes articulated therein might be publicized. Leon Lazar Gildesgame (1894-1989) was born to Avraham and Devora (née Kotoski) Hildesheim in Sompolno, Poland, formerly imperial Russia. Leon was one of eight children born to Avraham and Devora. While some of the Hildesheim children were born in Europe others were born while the family resided in Palestine. While living in Palestine Leon volunteered with the Jewish Legion in WWI. Leon was a corporal in the Zion Mule Corps which saw action in the Gallipoli campaign. After his military service Leon relocated to England and became a naturalized British subject. It was at this time that he changed his surname to Gildesgame. With his brother Pierre, Leon became the proprietor of Gildesgame Brothers Ltd. and traveled frequently to the United States where he settled with his American born wife Ruth. throughout his life Leon was committed to philanthropic causes and he served on the Jewish Conciliation Board of America. During the Holocaust many of Leon's siblings were dispersed across the globe. One brother, Aron, was arrested in France in 1942 and deported to Auschwitz. A sister, Ala Brysz, and her daughter Yanina were killed in the Warsaw ghetto.