When the elite of the Polish state in 1936 joined a collection for the National Defence Fund, which aimed to obtain extra funds for the rearmament of the military, Leopold Spira was one of those Jewish veterans of the struggle for independence who first signed up to such a call.

In 1939, a campaign was underway to mobilise the Polish public to donate to the National Defence Fund (FON), which strengthened the military potential of the Polish army.

Collections were conducted in various milieus, including circles of veterans of Jewish nationality. 12 May 1939, the Union of Jewish Participants in Combat for Independence, whose Spira was a vice-president, issued a call to its members to support the FON. It contained the significant words: “The defence of the Independent Republic is the highest imperative and the most sacred duty (…) The free and independent existence of the Republic guarantees the political freedom of the whole Nation, and thus of the whole Jewish population in Poland”. Further words urged members to make financial donations: “Colleagues! It is not enough to declare our readiness for sacrifice and militant alertness. Before we are called up to the ranks, we should give proof with our monetary sacrifice”. One of the signatories of this call was Leopold Spira, who in his youth served in the Second Brigade of the Polish Legions. He was wounded twice in battles in the Carpathian Mountains and Bukovina, for which he was awarded the Virtuti Militari. In the Second Polish Republic, he was also active in the Legionnaires’ Association. After leaving the army, he became director of the Municipal Market Fund in Kraków in the 1930s.

As for his further fate, it is only known that he was imprisoned by the Soviets in the occupied Lwów (today’s Lviv). There the trail ends…