Leo Zimmermann was born on 20 February 1883 in the village of Todtmoos in the Black Forest, Germany, the son of Joseph Zimmermann, a sales agent, and Ludwina Wasmer. He was one of ten children — five boys and four girls — and worked as a farmer in the countryside around Todtmoos.
Life was hard for the family: in 1900 their 150-year-old family home burned down completely, and five years later Leo’s mother Ludwina died. Seeking a better life in the New World, Leo decided to emigrate to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Canada, where his brothers Edwin and Arnold had already settled after leaving Germany via Antwerp in 1911.
To realise his plan, Leo bought Third Class ticket 315082 from the Swiss travel agency Kaiser & Cie in Zurich for 390 Swiss francs. He had originally been booked on the Titanic’s sister ship Olympic, but for reasons that remain unclear his name was crossed off that passenger list and he was transferred to the Titanic instead. He boarded at Southampton on 10 April 1912, sharing cabin E58 on F-Deck with fellow Swiss and German emigrants Anton Kink, Vincenz Kink, Josef Arnold, Albert Wirz and probably Wenzel Linhart.
When the Titanic struck the iceberg, the men of cabin E58 tried to make their way to the boat deck, but only Anton Kink managed to reach a lifeboat (Lifeboat 2). Leo Zimmermann and the others from the cabin did not survive; his body was never recovered.
The news of his death reached his father Joseph and brother Matthäus on 4 June 1912. The family’s claim for compensation — including a refund of the ticket price — was largely rejected; only Joseph Zimmermann eventually received a small settlement of 805 Reichsmark. In September 2020, on the initiative of the Swiss Titanic Society, Titanic historian Jens Ostrowski and the local community of Todtmoos, a memorial plaque was unveiled in Leo Zimmermann’s honour, ensuring that he is remembered in his home village more than a century after the disaster.
