Deborah Markowitz Shiffner
Deborah Markowitz Shiffner is a second generation Holocaust survivor born in Brooklyn NY who has lived in Buffalo since 1973. She is married, has 2 adult children and is a grandmother of 2. Her mother Regina (Kremer) Markowitz and father Frank Markowitz are both survivors of the Holocaust. Deborah worked for the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities for over 30 years. She has been active in the community throughout her life. Her current activities include Volunteer Coordinator for Naturalization Services on behalf of League of Women Voters, a board member of the League of Women Voters, a Meals on Wheels volunteer, a docent at The Martin House and an active member of the Holocaust Education Resource Organization.
Summary of Presentation
Regina Markowitz’s story is a story of survival and luck. She left her family at 13 years old when her small town of Slatfina, Czechoslovakia was given to the Hungary in 1938. With little food or opportunity and seeing the cruelty of the Hungarian occupiers, she left her family and home. She traveled alone from place to place looking for work and food before finding herself in Budapest. From Budapest, she was deported to Concentration Camp Bergen Belsen. Next she was sent to Dessau Germany where she performed slave labor, and finally sent to Theresienstadt where she was liberated. She survived indescribable cruelty, and death of much of her family. Deborah’s father was member of the Czech army and fought in the underground after the fall of Czechosovakia. His first wife and 4-year child were murdered in Auschwitz. Theirs is a story of courage and determination and how they survived to create a new life in the United States.
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