Ervin (Aaron) Abadi was born on 9 April 1918 in Budapest, where he had been studying painting when World War II broke out. In 1939/40 Jewish men were conscripted for forced labour; Abadi joined a Hungarian Army battalion sent to the Soviet front, escaped twice, and was finally deported to Bergen‑Belsen. Early April 1945 German guards evacuated about 2,000 inmates on a train that was halted by bombing and abandoned near Farsleben/Madgeburg; American troops found it on 13 April, and Abadi—then ill with typhus—was hospitalized at Hillersleben.

While interned he produced ink drawings and watercolours of his experiences. After liberation he returned to Budapest, gave illustrated talks, and published a collection (500 copies) in 1946, whose foreword thanked U.S. soldiers for aid at Zilitz. Disillusioned by Communist Hungary, he emigrated to Israel in 1947/48, adopted the name Aharon (Aaron), wrote fifteen books in Hebrew and Hungarian, and died in Tel Aviv in 1979.