Holocaust survivors have volunteered at the Museum on a regular basis across the institution—engaging with visitors, sharing their personal histories, serving as tour guides, translating historic materials, and more, since the Museum opened. Their presence has been an invaluable asset, and their contributions vital to the Museum’s mission.
Learn about volunteering at the Museum.
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Gerald Schwab
Born: February 19, 1925, Freiburg, Germany Died: April 2, 2014, Annapolis, MarylandGerald was born to a conservative Jewish family in Freiburg, Germany. His father was a businessman. His company was based in Germany and the warehouse was located in Switzerland. His mother helped his father with the business.
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Livia Shacter
Born: April 2, 1917, Tacovo, Czechoslovakia Died: May 8, 2020, Ramat Bet Shemesh, IsraelIn August of 1944, Livia and her family were taken to Auschwitz. After four months in Auschwitz, she was deported and forced into slave labor at Fallersleben. In April of 1945, Livia was liberated and eventually came to the United States in 1947.
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Nat Shaffir
Born: December 26, 1936, Iasi, RomaniaNathan Spitzer (now Nat Shaffir) was born on December 26, 1936, in Iasi, Romania, to Anton and Fany Spitzer. In 1931, Anton and his new bride had moved from Transylvania to Bucium, a village near Iasi, along with Anton’s two brothers. The family owned a large dairy farm that supplied dairy products to the Romanian army. The Spitzers’ farm prospered, with many head of cattle. Fany managed the household and raised Nat and his two sisters, Sara and Lili.
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Flora Singer
Born: August 16, 1930, Berchem, Belgium Died: February 25, 2009Flora’s Romanian-born parents emigrated to Antwerp, Belgium, in the late 1920s to escape antisemitism. Flora’s father owned a furniture workshop. Antwerp had an active Jewish community. There were butcher shops, bakeries, and stores that sold foods which were prepared according to Jewish dietary laws. Flora was the oldest of three girls, and the family spoke Yiddish at home.
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Haim Solomon
Born: November 5, 1924, Bivolari, Romania Died: October 5, 2014, Silver Spring, MarylandHaim was the youngest of 5 children. His family lived in a small Jewish community in the village of Bivolari, where there were about 200 Jewish families. Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact in 1939; the Soviets ordered Haim and his family to leave Bivolari. They moved to the town of Iasi, some 50 km southwest of Bivolari.
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Regina Spiegel
Born: May 12, 1926, Radom, Poland Died: December 27, 2019, Columbia, MDRegina was born May 12, 1926 in Radom, Poland, a city with a vibrant Jewish community. Her father, Kadysh, worked as a leather cutter for a large shoe company and her mother, Brandla, took care of Regina and her five older siblings. The Gutmans were a very religious family and the children attended Hebrew school in the afternoons.
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Sam Spiegel
Born: August 23, 1922, Kozienice, Poland Died: December 12, 2016, Columbia, MDSam was the eldest of five children born to Jewish parents in Kozienice, a town in east central Poland. His father owned a shoe factory and his mother cared for the children and the home. Kozienice had a thriving Jewish community that made up about half of the town’s population.
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Rose-Helene Spreiregen
Born: March 6, 1931, Paris, FranceRose-Helene Spreiregen was born Rose-Helene Bester on March 6, 1931 in Paris, France. Rose-Helene was raised by her mother, Rivka Bester, and her grandmother, Sarah Bester. Both had immigrated to France from Warsaw, Poland in the late 1920s. Due to family hardships, five-year-old Rose-Helene was sent to live in a Jewish boarding house where she attended public school nearby. During her brief visits home, Rose-Helene often overheard her mother talking about the imminent war with Germany. Shortly before World War II began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Rose-Helene returned home to Paris.
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Esther Rosenfeld Starobin
Born: April 3, 1937, Adelsheim, GermanyEsther was born in Adelsheim, Germany on April 3, 1937. Adelsheim was a very small town, with only ten Jewish families living in the area. Her parents, Katie and Adolf Rosenfeld, had four other children — Bertl, Edith, Ruth and Herman. Esther’s father sold feed and other products for cattle, as well as occasionally arranging for the sale of cattle in the area. Her mother often helped him, as he had lost a leg in World War I. After they were no longer allowed to attend the local school, Esther’s three older sisters went to live with relatives, first in Heilbronn and then in Aachen. There the sisters attended a Jewish school.
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Charles Stein
Born: November 28, 1919, Vienna, Austria Died: August 28, 2020, Springfield, VACharles was born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. His father was a printer. When the Germans marched onto Austria and arrived in Vienna on March 13, 1938, Charles fled to Luxembourg. Soon he received the required Affidavit of Support which he immediately presented to the nearest American Consulate in Antwerp, Belgium. Charles got his visa on October 7, 1939 and arrived in New York on December 18, 1939.
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