Welcome to The "1939" Club  

The Legacy of Leopold Page 

In March 2001, The “1939” Club mourned the loss of  Leopold Page, one of the Club’s founding members and a past president. Page, born in Cracow in 1913, was 87 at the time of his death.

          Leopold Page (Poldek Pfefferberg) was Schindler’s List survivor No. 173. He never forgot his debt to Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who plucked him from a concentration camp and protected him, his wife Ludmilla and 1,300 other Jews in his factory for the duration of the war. 

After coming to California in 1950, Page helped to found The “1939” Club. He also pleaded with countless authors who entered his leather goods store in Beverly Hills to tell Oskar Schindler’s complex story. No one responded until October 1980, when Australian writer Thomas Keneally stepped into the shop in search of a new briefcase. Hours later, Keneally left committed to writing a book about Schindler. 

Keneally’s prize-winning Schindler’s List became a best seller. He dedicated it to the memory of Oskar Schindler and to Leopold Pfefferberg, “who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written.”  Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film based on the book received seven Academy Awards, including best motion picture and best director.

Steven Spielberg generously donated his portion of the film's profits to establish the Righteous Persons Foundation, which gives grants to many causes, including programs that promote tolerance and inter-group relations. Recently, the Righteous Persons Foundation funded a new, multi-year lecture series to honor the memory of the late Poldek Page. Continuing a partnership that links the generations in understanding the Holocaust, Chapman University and The “1939” Club will inaugurate this new public lecture series on the Chapman University campus, beginning October 4, 2001.

           Upon learning of the establishment of the lecture series, Page’s widow, Mila, said, “My family and I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Steven Spielberg and the Righteous Persons Foundation for funding the lecture series at Chapman University, honoring the memory of my husband. My husband would have been very pleased to know that the lecture series will perpetuate the memory of our beloved Oskar Schindler, as well as all those other individuals, who risked their lives, trying to save our people during World War II.”

          The lecture series is entitled “The ‘1939’ Club’s Leopold Page Righteous Rescuers Lecture Series” and will honor individuals whose actions saved lives during the Holocaust. Lectures will be held on Chapman’s campus in Orange and will feature survivors, author, rescuers or their families, and scholars. The series is free and open to the public.

          “As the last of the Holocaust survivors reach the end of their lives, it is more important than ever to hear as many first-hand accounts as possible of this horrific period in world history,” explained Chapman’s Marilyn Harran, Stern professor of Holocaust Education and director of the university’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education.

“What kept Holocaust victims motivated to live?” Harran continued. “What motivated the rescuers? This significant grant helps assure that these kinds of questions will be answered, with the hope of creating a world free from hate and intolerance. This lecture series honors a survivor who was relentless for 40 years in bringing to light Holocaust tragedies and triumphs.”

          Our William Elperin, explained, “This is a most fitting tribute to Paul Page, who championed the cause of Righteous Rescuers, particularly Oskar Schindler, his entire post-Holocaust life. We are proud to continue our partnership with Chapman University which started with The "1939" Lecture Series and the annual Holocaust Writing Contest. We are grateful to Steven Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation for recognizing the contribution of  Leopold Page to Holocaust history.”

           The Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education at Chapman University is dedicated to educating and preparing young people to become knowledgeable and inspiring witnesses of the Holocaust to new generations.

      The lecture series begins October 4, 2001.  For more information, please contact The Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, Chapman University, at (714) 628-7377 or log onto their website, www.chapman.edu/holocaust.