LOCAL SURVIVORS
Here is a small sample of some of the survivors that made the El Paso area their home.
Agnes (Klein) Schaechner
Agnes (Klein) Schaechner was born in 1930 in Debrecen, Hungary to an Orthodox Jewish family- parents Solomon and Lily Klein and twin brothers Otto and Ference. In 1944, they were forced into the ghetto then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Agnes was later sent to concentration camps and was liberated by the…
Arlene (Grunberger) Pergricht
Arlene (Grunberger) Pergricht was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1912 to David and Hannah Grunberger. Arlene had three older brothers and two sisters. She married in 1937 and became Arlene Shugart. Arlene was forced into the Budapest ghetto with her son Peter, nephew and mother in 1944. Arlene's mother was…
Bernard Pergricht
Bernard Pergricht was born on April 12, 1913 in Sosnowiec, Poland. He had five brothers and three sisters. Bernard worked at a lumber company until 1939. In 1941, his parents and young wife were deported and killed in Auschwitz. Bernard was sent to Blechhammer labor camp. January 1945 he was…
David Kaplan
David Kaplan was born in 1928 in Kaunas, Lithuania. In 1941, the Nazis occupied Lithuania, and David and his family were forced into the Slobodka Ghetto. In 1942, they were sent to Sanzai and then deported to Stutthof concentration camp. David's mother and sister perished in Majdanek, and David and…
Dr. Edith Eger
Edith Eger was born on September 29, 1927, in Kosice, Slovakia, where she lived with her parents and two sisters, Magda and Clara, until 1944 when the Nazis occupied Hungary and forced them into Kosice Ghetto. In May 1944, they were loaded onto cattle cars and sent to Auschwitz, where…
Dr. Larry Gladstone
Dr. Larry Gladstone was born in 1922 in Vishniak Chamenitza, Czechoslovakia. In 1943, Larry was forced into a labor battalion digging anti-tank ditches in Poland and Ukraine. In 1944, he was forced on death marches to Mauthausen then to Gunskirchen. Larry survived a deadly typhus epidemic and was liberated by…
Edith (Gluck) Kallman
Edith (Gluck) Kallman was born on July 5, 1924 in Czechoslovakia. In 1943, Edith and her family fled into Hungary where they were separated. Edith lived under the false name of Anika Braun until moving to Debrecen where she was caught in a roundup and sent to Auschwitz in 1944.…
Ferenc (Frank) Klein
Ferenc (Frank) Klein was born on June 7, 1932 in Hajduboszormeny, Hungary to an Orthodox Jewish family- parents Solomon and Lily, sister Agnes and twin brother Otto. In 1944, the Klein family was forced into the ghetto before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Frank and Otto were selected by Dr.…
Hannah (Schmidt) Burstein
Hannah (Schmidt) Burstein was born on January 8, 1922 in Tarnow, Poland to Mendle and Amalia Schmidt. She had four brothers and one sister. After the Nazi invasion, Hannah and her family were forced into the Tarnow Ghetto. From there Hannah was sent to Plaszow concentration camp with her father…
Henry Kellen
Henry Kellen was born in Lodz, Poland in 1915. His family- parents Moses and Helena, sister Sonia, and brother Moniek- moved to Lithuania while Henry earned his degree in France. In 1941, Lithuania was occupied, and Henry and his family were forced into the Kovno Ghetto. His father and brother…
Irene Osborne
Irene Osborne (Ingeborge Eichberg) was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1927. Her family- parents Joseph and Emmy Eichberg and sister, Ruth - were Orthodox Jews. After Kristallnacht and the arrest of Joseph, Emmy sent her daughters to France. Irene and Ruth lived as Protestants under false names with relatives in…
Itzhak Kotkowski
Itzhak Kotkowski was born on December 25, 1921 in Warsaw, Poland. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, Itzhak decided to leave Poland. He was arrested in 1940 by the Communists on suspicion of being an "enemy of the state" and was sent to Bialystok Prison. From there he was sentenced…
Lucie (Burian) Liebman
Lucie (Burian) Liebman was born in 1927 in Vienna, Austria. After the Nazi invasion in March 1938, Lucie, her brother Paul, and their parents moved to Czechoslovakia. Paul was sent to Scotland on the Kindertransport. Lucie joined the youth resistance movement, the Maccabeus, who conducted acts of sabotage. In 1941,…
Mark Kupfer
Mark Kupfer was born in November 1929 in Nowy Korczyn, Poland- the second youngest of nine children. During the Nazi invasion, the Kupfer family hid in a bunker to avoid the round-ups, but they were eventually sent to the ghetto. Mark, with his brother and sister, escaped and were on…
Neftali Frankel
Neftali Frankel was born on December 26, 1921 in Tarnow, Poland where he lived with his parents, sisters Gela and Tusia and brother Henrick until the Nazi invasion. The Frankel family was forced into the ghetto before being deported to Auschwitz where they were separated. Neftali was put into forced…
Olga (Steinberger) Bowman
Olga (Steinberger) Bowman was born on April 8, 1927 in Pacin, Hungary. She grew up in a Jewish home with her parents, older twin brothers and sister. In 1942, Olga left her family to go to school in Budapest. In 1944, she was forced into the Budapest ghetto. Along with…
Sara (Rozen) Hauptman
Sara (Rozen) Hauptman was born on August 15, 1918 in Laskarzew, Poland but grew up in Brussels, Belgium with her parents, eight brothers, and two sisters. Sara married Nathan Hauptman in 1938 and had her son Guy in 1939. After the Nazis invaded Belgium, Nathan was arrested, and Sara sent…
Thelma Krugman
Thelma Krugman was born on February 14, 1927 in Sowina, Poland to Abraham and Faiga Krieger. Thelma had six sisters and one brother. In 1939, the Krieger family was taken from their farm but allowed to live outside the ghetto. During the round-ups, they escaped and hid in fields and…
Tibor Schaechner
Tibor Schaechner was born in 1928 in Budapest, Hungary to Alexander and Sara Schaechner. In 1944, Hungary was occupied, and men were sent to forced labor. Tibor was assigned to the Shell Refinery where he narrowly escaped deportation to Auschwitz. Tibor, his mother, and younger sister were forced into the…