Leopold Rosner was a well-known accordionist. Before the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, he performed all over the country with his father and his four brothers. In March 1941 Rosner had to move into the Kraków ghetto. He played in various venues there, including Tadeusz Pankiewicz’s pharmacy.
In January 1943 he married Hela Haubenstock. Shortly after, the couple were both taken to Plaszow forced labor camp. Rosner had to work as a painter there, playing evening concerts with his brother Herman for the camp commandant Amon Göth. One frequent guest at Göth’s parties was Oskar Schindler, the owner of an enamelware factory where many camp inmates had to work. Schindler wanted to prevent Rosner being deported to Auschwitz. He therefore placed him and his wife Hela on his list of forced laborers to be transferred to his ammunition factory in Brünnlitz. Rosner arrived in Brünnlitz in October 1944. He was reunited with his wife shortly later, after she had initially been taken to Auschwitz. The couple were liberated in Brünnlitz in 1945.
After the war, Leopold Rosner went on working as a musician. The Rosners emigrated to Australia in 1949.