Meet
BARBARA MITCHELL
RUTH THORNTON
H EADLINES
Holocaust Survivor Built
Family, Told Her Story
O B I T UARY
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
Educators THEY’VE CALLED SIMPSON HOUSE HOME SINCE 2018
Barbara served as one of the very first Peace Corps Volunteers,
going on to publish a children’s novel titled Let’s Go to the Peace
Corps. Ruth retired as chair of the biochemistry department
at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. They
have been together for 40 years now. Their tips for aging well
include ensuring that you have a purpose and “staying
involved and informed.”
Call us today at 267-485-6052 or visit SimpsonHouse.org/JE-BMRT
to see for yourself why Barbara, Ruth, and other multi-
faceted women choose Simpson House for retirement living.

2101 Belmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
SimpsonHouse.org/JE-BMRT • 267-485-6052
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6 AUGUST 19, 2021
NATALIE SCHARF OF
Northeast Philadelphia, who
survived the Holocaust, died
on Aug. 1. She was 95.

Th e Holocaust “decimated
her family,” as her parents,
Yitzhak and Rasel, and three
sisters, Chava, Rivka and
Sarah, did not survive.

But Scharf did.

Aft er the war, she married
Bernard Scharf and had two
children: son, Jeff rey, and
daughter, Andie. She also had
fi ve grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren. Scharf never stopped
thinking about the Holocaust,
guilting her children about how
ungrateful they were to be in
the U.S., and dreaming about
her parents — and sometimes
waking up screaming.

She also wrote notes on
pictures of happy memories,
though tinged with residue of
the horrors she endured. One
said, “Here’s the family enjoying
a seder. Who knows when the
next one will be?” Another:
“Here we are sitting on the
balcony in Miami. Who knows
when we’ll be here again?”
“There was doubt to
whatever she was enjoying,”
Jeff rey Scharf said.

In her later years, Scharf
got an iPad. According to her
son, she primarily used it to
research the Holocaust. One
time, she even cursed out a
Holocaust denier on Facebook.

“She was afraid everybody
would forget,” Jeff rey Scharf said.

Scharf’s fear drove her to
become a primary source for
an upcoming documentary,
“My Underground Mother,”
about the Gabersdorf labor
camp for teenage girls.

Th e journalist behind the
documentary, Marisa Fox,
placed an ad in Th e Canadian
JEWISH EXPONENT
Natalie Scharf, sitting in the middle of the front row, surrounded by family
on Mother’s Day 2021
Courtesy the Scharf family
Natalie Scharf and Bernard Scharf
Courtesy of the Scharf family
Jewish News in 2010 seeking
out survivors to share their
stories. Cara Scharf, Jeff rey
Scharf’s daughter, saw the ad
and told her grandmother.

Over the last decade of her
life, Scharf talked to Fox over
the phone, via email and in
person. Her memories will
help frame the movie, which is
expected to be released in the
next couple years.

“She remembered details
that others had not,” Fox
said. “She was touched that
somebody cared.”
Born Natalie Mehlman in
1925, she grew up in Jaworzno,
Poland, where her father
owned a grocery store.

“Th ey always had food on
the table,” Jeff rey Scharf said.

But in 1939, the Nazis
defeated the Polish Army and
started implementing ominous
laws. For instance, Jews weren’t
allowed to own stores, walk on
sidewalks or eat more than 900
See Survivor, Page 28
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM