Finding peace from Hitler’s army in a vat of chocolate

Leon Prochnik holds a photo of himself as a 6-year-old child in Krakow, Poland, at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Leon had just spoken to students from Fillmore High School and Fillmore Middle School about how his family fled when the Nazis invaded.

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

July 21, 2013 9:03 PM PT

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Leon Prochnik was 6 when his family fled Poland as Hitler’s army invaded the country. As they were smuggled out of the country, the family left behind a luxurious life made possible by the family’s Krakow chocolate-making company.

Students from Fillmore in Ventura County listen to Leon Prochnik recount his tale of escaping the Nazis and leaving the family’s chocolate factory behind. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Aiyanna Pillado, 13, looks at a photograph of Leon Prochnik. “The tub of chocolate was his happy place,” she says of Prochnik. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)