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The famous Israeli artist took part in the revolt in Treblinka.
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On this day, February 19, 2016, the world lost writer and artist Samuel Willenberg, a Holocaust survivor of Polish descent who served as a Sonderkommando at Treblinka and took part in its revolt in August 1943.
Willenberg was born in Częstochowa, Poland. In response to the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939, Willenberg fled to Lublin and enlisted as a volunteer in the Polish Army. On September 25th Willenberg was badly wounded following a confrontation with the Red Army close to Chelm in eastern Poland and was subsequently captured. He escaped captivity, fleeing the hospital where he was recovering for three months, to reunite with his family
On October 20th 1942, Willenberg and 6,500 others were forced on a train bound for Treblinka. His official duties within the camp began with his assignment to the Kommando Rot. He had to unpack and sort prisoner possessions of camp inmates. He identified his sisters’ clothing, an observation which confirmed their deaths.
Willenberg took part in the famous Sonderkommando revolt at Treblinka on August 2, 1943 with 200-300 of his colleagues. Given the scale of death and human destruction at Treblinka, Willenberg made it out relatively unscathed, with only a wounded leg.
After the war, Willenberg served as a lieutenant in the Polish Army from 1945-1946. In 1947 he assisted a Jewish organization in Poland, searching for Jewish children who had previously been sheltered and kept safe by families of Polish gentiles.
Willenberg, along with his wife and mother, moved to Israel in 1950. After retiring as Chief Measurer at the Ministry of Reconstruction, working as an engineer surveyor, Willenberg graduated from Hebrew University with a degree in fine arts, specializing in sculpture. He made a name for himself sculpting figures which represented past memories from his time at Treblinka.
