Regina Altars Behar, Holocaust Survivor

Regina Altars Behar was born in Skopje, Macedonia (then part of Yugoslavia) in April 1936. Together with her parents, she fled from the mountains to Italy, and later traveled by a small boat to a refugee camp. Approximately 200 people were housed there, where they were kept in a secured area for their protection until they were eventually released. 

 

In 1949, the authorities were uncertain about what to do with the refugees, so they began sending a few families to different countries. Regina’s family was sent to England because they knew a rabbi there who needed a minyan for his synagogue. They moved to England in 1949 and remained there until 1951, when they immigrated to the United States. Regina’s immediate family her mother, father, and brother were all saved. However, the rest of her extended family, including her uncles, aunts, and grandparents, were killed in a camp in Yugoslavia.