Biography
Judith Hartman (born Judith Scharf) is the daughter of Herman Scharf (b. 1887 Verestzke Carpatho-Russia) and Rosa Steiger (b. 1888 in Berezna). Judith was born on Dec. 15, 1921 in Kisvarda, Hungary where her family owned a grocery and beverage store. The family was Orthodox but not Hasidic. There were eight children in the family: Helen, Alex, Zippora (Magda), Esther, Mishka (Moshe), Judith (Yehudit), Lili (b. Dec. 29, 1926) and Bondy (Yitzhack). In 1934 /35/36 Alex, Esther and Zippora immigrated respectively to Palestine. Following the German occupation of Hungary in spring 1944, Judith's parents together with Lili and her younger brother Bondy were sent to the ghetto in Kisvarda after Passover. About a month later, after the Shavuot holiday, they were deported to Auschwitz. Her parents were gassed upon arrival. Judith had written to her family in the ghetto to that say that she was going to Palestine. Therefore Lili was amazed to find her in Auschwitz when she arrived. Judith had been active in the Youth movement and together with Esther Vardi was caught, sent to prison and then to Auschwitz. From Auschwitz Judith was sent to Weisskirchen concentration camp where she worked for half a year in the arms factory until liberation in May 1945. She immigrated legally to Palestine from Romania with Hashomer Hatzair on October 29, 1945 on the "Transylvania." After going on Hachshara they founded Kibbutz Yechiam and then Vav Artzi and finally moved to HaOgen.
Lili was sparated from Judith in Auschwitz and sent to concentration camp Birnbaumel bei Trachenberg where she dug anti-tank canals (moats). She was then sent on the death march to Bergen-Belsen . After liberation she remained in Bergen-Belsen where she worked as a typist and was active in Hashomer Hatzair. Lili tried to immigrate to Palestine. Unsuccessful the first time, she was sent back to Dusseldorf from Belgium. She then went to Italy and finally arrived in the newly declared State of Israel on the ship Moledet on June 6, 1948.
Judith's brother Mishka (Moshe) was shot and killed while in a Hungarian labor battalion in the Ukraine and their younger brother Bondy died in Dachau.
