100-year-old survived six concentration camps, says Mengele 'saved' him

David Scharf: From Antwerp to Jerusalem, 2017

By ALAN ROSENBAUM
BNEI AKIVA members present David Scharf with a plant, honoring him on Yom Haatzmaut. (photo credit: Courtesy)
BNEI AKIVA members present David Scharf with a plant, honoring him on Yom Haatzmaut.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
‘In two words, what do I do in Israel? I enjoy life.” While David Scharf’s response slightly exceeds his self-imposed word limitation, the message is clear. On the eve of his 100th birthday this coming October, having survived the horrors of six Nazi concentration camps, Scharf now lives in Jerusalem with his daughter and son-in-law, near his five grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren, and is content and happy.
Though Scharf is fluent in several languages – including Flemish, German and Yiddish – he does not speak English, so his daughter transcribed and translated his responses.
One of seven siblings, he grew up in the town of Mielec, in southeast Poland, where Jews had lived since the 17th century. Scharf’s parents had a leather manufacturing business in the city, selling all types of leather to shoemakers. Mielec was taken over by the Nazis on March 19, 1942, and its residents were deported. Most of its inhabitants – including Scharf’s parents and three siblings – were murdered in the concentration camps.
At the age of 21, Scharf survived a harrowing ordeal with Josef Mengele, the notorious doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“Dr. Mengele himself saved my life,” he recalls. “I was put in the line to be killed. He supervised the decisions that the physicians made about each person. As they put me in the death room, he asked them, ‘What illness does this boy have?’
They replied, ‘He is very sick. His entire belly is completely red.’”
Mengele examined him and said to the others, “You are idiots. These are first-degree burns from hot water that was thrown at him. Put him in the row of those to work. He is strong enough.”
The SS men asked him if he had any profession. Scharf told them that he was a carpenter, and he was sent to work in a wood factory. Somehow, though he had never worked with wood in his life, he managed to hold the job until the end of the war. Scharf is understandably reluctant to speak further about his experiences during World War II, as he says that it gives him nightmares.
After the war ended, Scharf decided to settle in Antwerp. Before moving to Belgium, he went to Israel in 1945 to see if it would be possible to live there. He remembers seeing many grasshoppers in Ra’anana, and just a few houses. He returned to Antwerp, where he joined his brother in the gold and diamond business.
In Antwerp, Scharf met his wife, Marscha, herself a survivor of Auschwitz and the Krakow Ghetto. They married in 1949 and raised a son and a daughter. Scharf worked long hours in gold and jewelry production but wasn’t deeply involved in Jewish community life.
“Jewish community life is all about politics anyhow,” he says, “which is not my cup of tea.”
Marscha passed away in 1989, and in 2017, Scharf decided to leave Antwerp and his son and daughter-in-law, and move to Israel and join his daughter and son-in-law in Jerusalem.
SCHARF ENJOYS living in Israel and treasures his visits with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“During the week,” he says, “I get great pleasure when my great-granddaughter Ronit comes, and we discuss Jewish history together.” He derives a similar level of enjoyment when his other granddaughter visits, particularly when her children play together quietly for hours without disturbing anyone.
Smiling, he says, “It’s what you call in Yiddish ‘hanooeh,’ or great pleasure.” An added benefit of Scharf’s interactions with his great-grandchildren has been an increase in his Hebrew language skills. In general, he says that he never had difficulty reading or understanding Hebrew, due to his lifelong study of Bible, Mishnah, Talmud and commentaries.
His son in Antwerp faithfully sends him the Yiddish newspaper each week, and he stays abreast of current events in Switzerland by reading the daily Swiss newspaper on his iPad. When he lived in Antwerp, he would go out early each morning to purchase the Flemish daily.
Scharf occasionally ventures out to a nearby Aroma café for a latte. He is also a devoted fan of La Vita in Diretta, an Italian TV quiz show that he watches for two hours each evening. He has been watching the program for some 20 years, dating back to when he lived in Antwerp. While he doesn’t speak Italian, he reads the questions that are displayed on the screen and can understand them.
“Nothing can stop from seeing this quiz show,” says his daughter. “When we have dinner, he eats very quickly and leaves the table to watch the program.”
His son-in-law reports that Scharf remains sharp, despite his advanced years. “Someone once asked him his age,” he says. ‘My father-in-law asked him, ‘How old do you think I am?’ The person answered, ‘I would say that you are in your early 80s.’ ‘You are correct,’ he responded. When I asked him why he gave that answer, he replied, ‘Had I told him my correct age, he would have immediately stopped talking to me.’”
While he acknowledges that the Internet and other technological advancements are part of everyday life, he complains that his grandchildren spend too much time on their phones.
“If they are together with friends, they are all reading WhatsApp, and not talking to each other. Thank God, we have Shabbat, so at least during this 24-hour period, they have to speak to each other.”
Scharf does not like Israeli politics. “The politicians look only after themselves,” he says, while noting that millions of people do not have enough money to feed their children, and many don’t have enough money to rent an apartment and are forced to live with their parents.
Scharf has managed to cope with the pandemic. His son-in-law reports that even during the lockdown, he left their apartment twice each day for brief walks. During one of his daily strolls, he was stopped by the police, who warned him that it was too dangerous to leave his home.
Scharf told the officers, “I survived six concentration camps. I will, God willing, also survive corona,” and went on his way.
As he approaches his 100th birthday, Scharf expresses the link between his ancestral home of Mielec and his life in Jerusalem.
“I was brought up in a ‘heimish’ [homey, or familiar] Jewish atmosphere in our shtetl of Mielec. I saw and see that my children are following in this way. I see also that all of my grandchildren are following the same way, and my great-grandchildren are also going in the same direction to build up their future. For me, this means that my late wife, Marscha, and I did a good job.”
The interview with David Scharf was conducted in mid-July. Mr. Scharf passed away suddenly, this past Tuesday, at the age of 99.


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Jozef Mengele