Judith Maro (born Ida Yehudit Anastasia Grossman; 24 November 1919 – 16 November 2011) was an Israeli-Welsh writer who published her works in English and Welsh. She was born in Dnepropetrovsk, and raised in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. She was educated at the Hebrew Reali School, and joined both the paramilitary organization

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

and the political organization

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

in her youth. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Maro joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Maro served as an officer in the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

during the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, before moving to the United Kingdom in 1947. She moved to Wales in 1949 and became immersed in its culture. During her career, Maro published an autobiography, wrote novels and made a compilation of a number of English and Welsh Publications. She also worked for the British printed press, and for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

Early life

She was born Ida Yehudit Anastasia Grossman on 24 November 1919 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. She was raised in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

and in a non-religious family; she was encouraged to read the Bible to learn about the history of her people. Her father was professor of mathematics at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. She spoke five languages and read the works of

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...

and

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...

by the age of seven.

Military service

Attending the Hebrew Reali School, in the montessori education system, Maro found and read documents relating to the paramilitary organisation

and was subsequently sworn as a member of them. She learnt

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

during the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, later known as The Great Revolt (''al-Thawra al- Kubra'') or The Great Palestinian Revolt (''Thawrat Filastin al-Kubra''), was a popular nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine a ...

and taught the language to others to defend themselves against the Kaukaji. Maro joined the Marxist youth movement

at age 16 and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She enrolled on a law course at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

before switching to Eastern Studies. After the War, she was dismissed from the ATS and helped to bring Jews who had fled from

Nazi camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

to her homeland. At Mount Carmel College of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Maro met the Welsh soldier and sculptor Jonah Jones and the two married without official permission in 1946. They would go on to have three children and multiple grandchildren. In the meantime, she served as an officer in the

(Haganah's commando wing) in the

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

during the

. Maro's time in the ATS, marriage to a British Army soldier and racial conflict prompted her and her husband to leave for the United Kingdom in June 1947.

Career

The couple lived on

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

, before moving to the Llŷn Peninsula in

North West Wales North West Wales ( cy, Gogledd-Orllewin Cymru) refers to an area or region of Wales, commonly defined as a grouping of the principal areas of Conwy County Borough, Gwynedd and the Isle of Anglesey in the north-west of the country. These princip ...

in 1949. She taught Hebrew to immigrants in the early years of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

during the early 1950s. In Wales, Maro embraced herself in the country's culture and identified with it, and learnt Welsh. She found the landscape of

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

similar to that of her homeland in Biblical toponymy. She assumed the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Judith Maro and converted to the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith. She began writing in Welsh and insisted that all of her works must be translated into the language before appearing in English. In 1971, she wrote about Hebrew in ''Adfer yr Hebraeg'' (The Revival of Hebrew). Maro wrote her autobiography ''Atgofion Haganah'' (English: Haganah Memories) in 1972, and remembered her experiences of Wales in the novel ''Y Porth nid ''n Angof'' (later republished as ''The Remembered Gate'') in 1974. That same year, Maro published a collection of English publications and Welsh periodicals from 1959 to 1974 on the similarities between Israel and Wales and called it ''Hen Wlad Newydd.'' She also wrote articles and reviews for '' Jewish Quarterly'', worked with various broadsheet newspapers published in the United Kingdom and broadcast for the

. In 1986, Maro wrote the novel ''Y Carlwm'', which was translated into English as ''The Stoat'' by Y Lolfa in 2009, in response to the Gaza War. The novel was positively received by WalesOnline. Extracts from her work were published in an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

called ''The Chosen People: Wales and the Jews'' that was compiled by

Grahame Davies Grahame Davies LVO (born 1964) is a poet, author, editor, librettist, literary critic and former journalist. He was brought up in the former coal mining village of Coedpoeth near Wrexham in north east Wales. Education After gaining a degree i ...

in 2002.

Death

Maro died on 16 November 2011 in Swansea. Her husband predeceased her in 2004; Maro was given a funeral at Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church in Mumbles on 1 December.

Personality

According to Meic Stephens in her obituary in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', Maro was "a restless, vivacious woman who liked nothing better than an argument" and someone who liked to discuss Israeli and Welsh politics. A committed

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

, she thought independently and challenged and questioned spirit. Maro's fluency in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

caused her to feel an affinity with minority languages such as Welsh. She said that it would be "monstrous for me to see the old language disappear to the modern age's bowels of uniformity."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maro, Judith 1919 births 2011 deaths 20th-century British Jews 20th-century Welsh novelists 21st-century Welsh writers 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers Writers from Dnipro Writers from Haifa Jews in Mandatory Palestine Hebrew Reali School alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Palmach members Auxiliary Territorial Service officers Hashomer Hatzair members Jewish women writers Welsh-language writers Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Welsh people of Jewish descent Welsh Jews Welsh Roman Catholics British Zionists British people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jews of World War II Israeli people of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Mandatory Palestine emigrants to the United Kingdom Welsh autobiographers Women autobiographers Welsh women novelists BBC people Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine