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 Budapest Ghetto. His sister was killed during the Soviet invasion in 1945. Tibor was liberated by the Soviet Army on January 17, 1945. He came to the United States in 1949 and married survivor Agnes Klein in 1956. They had three daughters. After Agnes’ death, Tibor married Ann Goodman in 1999.
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 the run for two years. They were caught in 1941. Mark’s brother and sister were killed, and he was imprisoned, tortured then sent to concentration camps. He was liberated on a death march by the American Army on April 23, 1945. Mark immigrated to the United States in 1948. He married Rose Eisenberg, and they had four children.
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, her father was able to secure immigration papers to the United States. Lucie and her parents took a train to France, then to Spain, then a final harrowing train ride to Portugal. The Burians landed in Ellis Island, New York on May 1, 1941. Lucie married in 1950 and had five children.
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 to forced labor in Siberia but in 1941 was given amnesty in exchange for service in the Soviet Army until the end of the war. In 1946, Itzhak was reunited with his sister Anya. In 1948, Itzhak immigrated to Israel, and there he met and married Aviva. In 1957 they moved to Mexico and then to the United States in 1979. They had two sons.
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 La Bastide-des-Jourdans in Aix-en-Provence until the arrival of the American Army in France in 1944. In 1946 Irene immigrated to the United States where she married Herald Osborne (Hans Oppenheim) and had three children. Irene moved to El Paso after the death of her husband in 1992.
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 were killed shortly after. In 1944, Henry, his wife Julia, and his nephew Jerry escaped the ghetto and were hidden by a Lithuanian farmer until liberation by the Soviet Army in July 1944. Henry, Julia, and Jerry came to the United States in 1946. Henry is the founder of El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center.
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 who perished there. She was then sent to Auschwitz. Hannah was liberated from a labor camp in Czechoslovakia in May 1945. After the war, Hannah married Paul Burstein, and they had a son. They immigrated to El Paso, Texas. Hannah died in 1995.
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. Mengele for twin experimentation. They remained there until they were liberated in January 1945 at the age of 12. Otto was hospitalized in Switzerland to recover from tuberculosis and remained there. Frank immigrated to the United States, making his home in El Paso, Texas. Frank died in 1986.
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. Edith was then consigned to labor in Ravensbruck and Oranienberg. She was liberated on a death march by the Soviet Army in 1945. Edith was reunited with her brothers, Maurice and Alex, and her sister, Gizella, in Budapest. She immigrated to the United States in 1948. Edith married Irving Kallman in 1949 and had three children.
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 the American Army in May 1945. Larry learned that his sister Clara had perished in Auschwitz, but his sister Edith survived. In 1945, Larry went to Charles University then came to the United States in 1946. He attended medical school in El Paso then married Beatrice Marcus in 1953. They had three children.