In 1952 my mother gave birth prematurely to a baby girl in Hakirya Hospital, Tel Aviv. The baby was in good health for 8 days. On the ninth day, my father came to visit her and was then told that the baby had died.
My parents have never received a death certificate, a grave record or any other document confirming the baby’s decease. At the time, my father (Moshe "Pomi" Hadar), who was a screenwriter, novelist, journalist and editor of the Air Force Journal, as well as head of the Air Force public relations , wanted desperately to believe that the medical staff had told him the truth, and that the baby had indeed died.
Over the years, my father started to question the circumstances of the baby’s death, and to suspect that there was something amiss. He was unable to locate any information on the baby, which he affectionately called "Zelda".
I tried to research the subject as well, but I discovered nothing. My father, who passed away six months ago, was a native Israeli (His parents migrated from Poland and Ukraine), and my mother was born in Poland and immigrated here at age 5. Both my parents are of Ashkenazi descent, and they were both in an excellent health condition. My parents changed our family name to Hadar in 1955.
The baby was in good health for 8 days. On the ninth day, my father came to visit her and was then told that the baby had died. My parents never received a death certificate, a burial record or any other document that confirms the baby’s death.