El Paso’s last living Holocaust survivor opens up about his life under Nazi occupation

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- April 18, 2023 marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It's a time to honor the memories of the 6 million Jews -- and 5 million Romany (Gypsies), Polish and Russian people, gays, those with different political and religious beliefs as well as physically and mentally disabled people -- who were murdered by Nazis in camps and ghettos across Europe from 1933 to 1945.

It's also a time when those who survived and escaped Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" say, "never again."

El Paso's last living Holocaust survivor, Tibor Schaechner, is opening up to ABC-7 about what he endured as a teen during World War II.

"I was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1928," Schaechner said. "Budapest at that time had 250,000 Jews in one city. Could you believe the kind of Jewish life they had there?" 

For Schaechner, he has memories of Budapest before WWII. He was 15 years old when the Nazis arrived in Hungary. He clearly recalls German occupation, which began on March 19, 1944.

"I remember the tanks," Schaechner said. "We all had to put on yellow stars. On our house, when we owned our house, they had to put a big yellow star on the front door."

The Nazis forced the Jewish people to wear a yellow, six-pointed Star of David on their clothing. The symbol served as a label to ostracize the Jews and make them targets. History shows us, this wasn't the depths of Nazi depravity. They were operating labor and concentration camps across Europe as early as 1933, months after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany.

"(Men aged) 18 to 60 had to report to a, a place," Schaechner said. "They were all sent out of the country- to German-occupied Poland. My father was involved there. And he never came back," he added, his face solemn. "What happened to him? We know what happened."

At 15, Schaechner was bused to the outskirts of Budapest with scores of other boys to dig ditches. The ditches were intended to thwart Russian tanks. One morning, he overslept and missed the army bus, he said. 

It turned out to be a life-changing mistake.

"I took the city bus," Schaechner said. "When we got to the Budapest border, the driver called me to the front and he says, 'Young man, I'll slow the bus. You better get off because the Hungarian army is at the border. They're taking all the boys from the buses.'"

Schaechner said he didn't have time to think before he hopped off the bus and began to run home.

"179 boys were there, and they were all sent to Auschwitz," he told ABC-7. "This bus driver saved my life. I wouldn't be sitting here if not for the bus driver."

Schaechner said this wasn't the only time he managed to survive.

Shortly after Germany occupied Hungary, he and his family were pulled from their home and, with dozens of other Jews in their neighborhood, they were kept at a racetrack for days.

"(There were) no toilets," Schaechner said, stone-faced. "Nothing. It was awful."

They were allowed to return to their homes, Schaechner said, because the Hungarian army, "had no experience with how to deal with the Jews."

Schaechner, his mother and his 10-year-old sister ended up in a Budapest ghetto in Dec. 1944.

It was liberated by Russian bombs weeks later. But Schaechner's freedom also came with devastating loss.

"Some small plane dropped a bomb on the building. And there were five people of my family who died in that building, including my 10-year-old sister. And that was just a few days before we got liberated," he said. "We found her body in a place where they took the Hungarians (who had died). We went to the cemetery and we buried them ourselves. But after the liberation, we had the rabbi and the regular funeral."

When Schaechner talked about the time he visited her headstone, he got choked up. It was the only time during the entire conversation his eyes filled with tears.

"I can't talk about it. I have a hard time talking about it," he said. But he continued. "Her headstone says, 'She's an innocent daughter of the Jews.'"

In the years after liberation, Schaechner emigrated across Europe, eventually ending up in Montreal, where he met his first wife. They moved to New York, but ended up in El Paso, her hometown, in 1960.

More than 6,000 miles from Budapest, Schaechner started a new life, eventually becoming an executive buyer at The Popular department store, which was owned by his father-in-law. He also was integral to the creation of the El Paso Holocaust Museum.

Schaechner is El Paso's last living Holocaust survivor. The thought of losing his link to history motivates the Holocaust Museum to help him share his story.

"We know from studying the Holocaust the dangers of any type of hate gone unchecked," said Jamie Flores. Flores is the executive director of the museum. "What is our responsibility today to take what we have learned from the Holocaust, and apply it to what's happening currently with intolerance, (or) with discrimination against any group of people for any reason?"

The Anti-Defamation League just released its annual report, which audits antisemitic incidents across the U.S.

According to the ADL, harassment, vandalism and assault targeting Jews went up 36 percent from 2021 to 2022.

3,697 incidents were reported to the ADL last year. It's the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

"That should alarm every single one of us because hate is hate and it affects every single person," Flores said.

Texas ranked in the top five states, with 211 incidents. New York, California, New Jersey and Florida topped the list.

"Antisemitism exists everywhere," Flores said. "There are cases where antisemitism has happened here in El Paso. Maybe they're considered smaller incidents, more micro-aggressions. ... If antisemitism is spreading across the country and in Texas, it will make its way to El Paso."

Schaechner worked as a Holocaust Museum tour guide after retiring from The Popular. But he retired a few years ago. He couldn't handle standing for long periods any longer, he said, gesturing to his walker.

But he hopes the lessons taught to the dozens of visitors don't fade as more years separate us from the past.

"Never again. That's the main thing."

At the peak, there were 80 holocaust survivors living in El Paso.

You can hear many of their stories and see the exhibits at the El Paso Holocaust Museum.