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What Happened Next?
Written by Leslie's children
A few years after arriving in London, Leslie went on holiday to Paris and met an English girl who he married. They returned to London to find out that they lived round the corner from each other. Just five years after 'The Great Escape’, on 20th of October 1961, they married.
Leslie was a young and talented artist and designer. Whilst working for a fashion jewellery manufacturer, he completed night school at Central Saint Martins and became a jewellery designer and master pattern maker.
He had three children: a son and two daughters. In 1975, he established his own fashion jewellery design and manufacturing business, located in the East End of London.
The location of Leslie's business was used as a filming location for movies due to it being one of the few remaining quintessentially London cobbled streets. Before filming, people were asked to stay indoors. During one quiet Sunday in the 1970s, Leslie was at work and forgot that filming was taking place. He left the building in a hurry, right in the middle of a scene. As children, we were watching the action and saw the look on our father’s face as he barged on to set, when he realised the camera's were rolling.
In 1978, he moved to Israel and continued his career as a fashion jeweller and master pattern maker in Tel Aviv.
Our parents separated in 1980 and several years later our father relocated to South Africa and remarried, continuing his career in fashion jewellery until 1994 when he returned to London.
He eventually settled in Kingsbury, North West London, where he became a well-respected stalwart of the local Synagogue and active in Holocaust education.
Leslie Rubner passed away on 12 January 2019 (6 Shevat 5779). As a committed Zionist, he wished to be buried in Israel, close to his mother, brother and nephews. He is survived by his three children and five grandchildren.
Our Personal Memories
Our father seldom spoke to us about his early years. We knew that he was a child, in hiding in the ghetto in Budapest with his mother and younger brother, during the Nazi regime. We also knew that our grandfather was an inmate in a Slave Labour Camp and our grandmother was a heroine for saving, not just her children, but other people as well. Their descendants paid tribute to her when she passed away.
Leslie was a tall and extremely fit young man and an excellent competitive swimmer.
We remember him as being artistic and good at DIY. He enjoyed listening to classical music whilst relaxing on the sofa, smoking his long ‘Sunday pipe’, filled with ‘Clan’ tobacco on a Sunday afternoon at home. This was his routine, when we were not visiting our grandparents or being taken ‘out for a drive’. He used his short pipe for other occasions!
After retirement, Leslie took up writing and became active in Holocaust education in his local borough. He was a literate and a keen researcher, concerned about factual accuracy. He researched and wrote about obscure Jewish communities and other Jewish themes. He also became adept at drawing cartoons and unbeknown to us until after his passing, he wrote essays about his early life. This inspired us to create this website in commemoration of the life and times of the talented, interesting and hardworking Leslie (Laszlo, Menachem Zvi, Hershi) Rubner.
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