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Key points
- Born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928 and survived Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Immigrated to Toronto in 1948 and became an engineer
- Served 15 years on the International Council of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum
- Appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2025
For decades, Nate Leipciger has stood in front of students and told them what happened to him as a boy. A Holocaust survivor who rebuilt his life in Toronto, he has made education his life’s work, and in early November 2026 the Toronto Holocaust Museum marked Holocaust Education Week with an event highlighting his work.
A childhood taken
Leipciger was born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928. He was 11 when Germany occupied Poland. Over the years that followed he was taken through ghettos and concentration camps, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. His memoir describes how he survived with remarkable strength of character, how he grew closer to his father, and how he held on to the hope of a free future.
A new life in Canada
In 1948, Leipciger immigrated to Toronto. He went on to earn a university degree in engineering and built a new life here. He has said of those years: “I had been given another chance for life and believed I should live it as fully as possible.”
Living fully, for him, came to include telling his story so that others would understand where hatred can lead.
Decades of teaching
Leipciger has given much of his life to Holocaust education. He served for 15 years on the International Council of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, and he has spent many years as an educator with March of the Living, travelling with students to the places where the Holocaust happened so they can learn there in person.
On November 3, 2026, as part of Neuberger Holocaust Education Week, the Toronto Holocaust Museum hosted “In Conversation with Nate Leipciger.” The event offered a special tour of the museum highlighting him as a survivor educator, followed by a conversation about his life before, during and after the Holocaust and his decades-long commitment to education. It was presented with March of the Living Canada and the Azrieli Foundation’s Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program.
Honours
Leipciger’s work has been widely recognized. In 2019 the University of Toronto awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws. In June 2025, at 95, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours.
Those honours reflect something simple: years of showing up, in classrooms, museums and on trips with students, to share a story that is painful to tell so that it will not be repeated.
Read his story
Leipciger’s memoir, The Weight of Freedom, was published in 2015 in the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs, with an introduction by historian Debórah Dwork. It is recommended for readers 16 and up, and the Azrieli Foundation offers related classroom materials. You can find it on the Azrieli Foundation’s memoirs site, and you can learn more about survivor programs at the Toronto Holocaust Museum.
Questions and answers
Who is Nate Leipciger?
Nate Leipciger is a Holocaust survivor born in Chorzów, Poland, in 1928. He immigrated to Toronto in 1948, became an engineer and has spent decades as a Holocaust educator.
What book did Nate Leipciger write?
His memoir, The Weight of Freedom, was published in 2015 in the Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs, with an introduction by Debórah Dwork.
What honours has Nate Leipciger received?
He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Toronto in 2019 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2025.
