He was a young man off the farm just a few miles west of New Prague. His mother was a German immigrant who watched her homeland plunged into the depths of war and her son save 166 of his comrades from execution at a notorious concentration camp.
Ben Scharf eventually came home to the United States after the war. He survived a hurricane and eventually settled in California. Like many of the veterans of his generation, he didn’t speak much of his life as a soldier during World War II. He spent the rest of his life as a hard-worker and a veteran who served his country.
Because Veterans Day is Saturday, Nov. 11, veterans like Ben Scharf will be honored today and tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 9 and Friday, Nov. 10, at area schools and the community veterans memorial. There will be a Mass for veterans Sunday, Nov. 12, 8:30 a.m., at St. Wenceslaus (not Friday as included in Nov. 9 print edition).
The history of Ben Scharf was researched with David Champion and written by Russ Meyer, Scharf’s greatnephew, and Champion, a researcher from Virginia. Champion was primarily interested in the final fates of the 166 men Scharf is credited with saving from execution by SS guards at Buchenwald, a concentration camp northwest of Weimar, Germany.
Barnard Scharf, known as Ben, was born Jan. 30, 1913, and raised on a farm two miles west of New Prague. He was the sixth of Bernard and Anna Scharf’s nine children. Anna came to the United States from Germany as a child.
War in Europe
When World War II broke out, Scharf entered the United States Army Air Force. After his training in Lubbock, Texas, Scharf was assigned to the...
To see more on this story pick up the November 9, 2023 print edition of The New Prague Times.
Son of German immigrant risked his life to save others
