Deborah Katina collection

Deborah Katina was born as Dora Schwartz on May 16, 1927 in Chrzanow, Poland. Her father, Lev Schwartz, who was born in 1885, was a men’s clothing merchant and her mother, Rywka Regina Wasserteil Schwartz, who was born in 1900, took care of the children. Dora was the oldest of three daughters. Her twin sisters: Cesia and Andzia were born in 1929. The Schwartz family was traditional, kept kosher kitchen and observed Jewish holidays. Dora attended Polish public school in Chrzanow. Immediately after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 the anti - Jewish terror was initiated. In the first months of German occupation, about 300 Jews succeeded in leaving for Soviet - held territory. In January 1940 a ghetto was established, and 3,000 Jews were sent in the first deportation for forced labor at the end of the year. In June 1942 the Germans rounded up about 4,000 Jews for deportation to Auschwitz. The ghetto was then transformed into a slave labor camp, which was liquidated on Feb. 18, 1943, when all the remaining Jewish prisoners were deported to Auschwitz and murdered. Dora worked in a sewing factory in the ghetto, but during the liquidation she was transferred and imprisoned in the Dulag camp in Sosnowiec. Dora’s parents and two sisters were deported to Auschwitz. In June 1943 Dora was sent to the Neusaltz slave labor camp, where she worked in a thread factory. In January 1945 she was transferred to Flossenburg concentration camp and later to Bergen Belsen. Dora found out later that her father, Lev Schwartz, perished during a death march from Auschwitz to Markstadt. Her mother and sisters were murdered in Auschwitz. The British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945. On July 6, 1945 Dora was taken to Sweden to recuperate. Dora married a fellow survivor from Hungary and they currently reside in Malmo, Sweden.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Deborah Katina donated the Deborah Katina collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2001.