Tzvi was one of the outstanding figures of the Zionist youth movements underground in Hungary. He came from an ultra-orthodox family and studied in a Heder and later in a Yeshiva. He joined the “Dror” movement. In 1942 Tzvi was sent by the movement to Slovakia in order to warn the Jews of what to expect from the fascists and to plan resistance and rescue operations. About a year later he moved to Hungary. In the Hungarian capital Tzvi operated under various fictitious identities, as a refugee from the Carpatho-Ruthenia region and as an Italian tourist. Owing to his personality and experience, he became the leader of the movement. Together with friends he smuggled Jews over the Romanian border within the framework of the tiyul, underwent weapons training, set up bunkers and liberated Jews from forced labor camps and prisons. Tzvi Goldfarb was one of the central figures in all these activities. He worked with his friend Neshka Szandel who was to become his wife. During one of the operations Tzvi, Neshka, Vili Eisikovics and other comrades were caught. They were imprisoned, brutally tortured and finally liberated by a daring operation of members of the Zionist youth movements underground from the main military prison on Margit Boulevard. After the liberation, Tzvi and Neshka devoted themselves to caring for the remaining refugees and the organization of orphanages and to taking children to Eretz Israel (Palestine). In 1949 they made aliya and were among the founders of Kibbutz Parod. Their son, Uri, was killed in the Yom Kippur War. Tzvi passed away four years later.
Yehudit Rotem has written Tzvi’s biography in Hebrew: Ish Asher Ruah Bo. Tzvi Goldfarb. Hayav (A Man in whom the Spirit.Tzvi Goldfarb His Life) Published in 2002 by ‘The Society for the Research of the History of the Zionist Youth Movement in Hungary’.
