samuel willenberg

7/29/2019 Samuel Willenberg

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Samuel Willenberg 1

Samuel Willenberg

Samuel Willenberg

Samuel Willenberg at Treblinka,

August 2, 2013

Born February 16, 1923

Czstochowa, Poland

Nationality Polish, Israeli

Field Holocaust art

Movement Realism, post-expressionism

Samuel Willenberg nom de guerre Igo (born 16 February 1923) is an Israeli sculptor and painter originally from

Poland, former prisoner of Treblinka extermination camp, and the last surviving member of its perilous prisoner

revolt; a participant of the Warsaw Uprising, and recipient of the highest of Poland's orders including Commander's

Cross of the Order of Merit awarded by President Lech Kaczyski. He is the author of a memoir titled Revolt in

Treblinka published in Hebrew, Polish and English between 1986 and 1991. He lives with his wife in Tel Aviv.

Life

Samuel Willenberg was born in Czstochowa. His father, Perec Willenberg, was a teacher at a local Jewish school

before World War II; a talented painter and visual artist himself, who used to work on assignments decoratingsynagogues. His mother Maniefa ne Popov was an Orthodox Christian before converting to Judaism after their

wedding. The family lived in Czstochowa before relocating to Warsaw.

In the course of the Nazi German invasion of Poland, on September 6th, 1939 Willenberg set off in the direction of

Lublin to join the Polish Army as a volunteer. Within days, the Soviets invaded from the east. He was severely

wounded on September 25 in a skirmish with the Red Army near Chem, and captured. Three months later, he

escaped from the hospital back to central Poland to reconnect with his family in Rado (now a part ofWarsaw).

They went to Opatw including his mother and two sisters at the beginning of 1940 to meet his father, who worked

there on murals for the synagogue. However, at the same time the Nazis began herding Polish Jews into ghettos all

across the country. The Opatw Ghetto (founded in the spring of 1941) although without the fence, quickly became

hazardous. The Jews expelled from Silesia were brought in. An epidemic of typhus broke out. Samuel traded his

father's paintings for the necessities of life, but also worked at a steel mill in Starachowice for several months, along
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Samuel Willenberg 2

with hundreds of forced laborers supplied by the Judenrat.

The Operation Reinharda secretive Nazi extermination action in the semi-colonial General Government district

began in 1942 marking the most deadly phase of the Holocaust in Poland. The Willenbergs managed to obtain

false "Aryan" papers, and escaped back to their hometown. The Ghetto in Czstochowa was set up on April 9, 1941.

At its peak, it held around 40,000 prisoners. There was literally no place to hide. Samuel's two sisters, Ita and

Tamara, were taken there. His mother tried to rescue them, and sent Samuel back to Opatw. On October 20, 1942Willenberg boarded the Holocaust train along with 6,500 inmates of the then liquidated Opatw ghetto, and went

with them to the extermination camp at Treblinka.[1]

Treblinka death camp

Willenberg with his Treblinka studies at the Treblinka Museum permanent exhibition

The camp, which was built as part of

Operation Reinhard (the most deadly

phase of the Final Solution), operated

between July 23, 1942 and October 19,

1943.[2] During this time, more than

800,000 Jews; men, women, and

children were murdered there. Other

estimates of the number killed at

Treblinka exceed 1,000,000.[3][4]

Upon his arrival at Treblinka,

Willenberg received a life-saving piece

of advice at the unloading ramp, from

one of the Jewish Auffanglager

prisoners. He posed as a seasoned

bricklayer. Luckily, he was wearing apaint-stained smock-frock of his father

(an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers), put on in Opatw in preparation for slave labor. Willenberg

was the only person from his transport who escaped death in the gas chambers that day.

At first, he was assigned to the camp's largest Kommando Rot, unpacking and sorting the belongings of victims

already "processed". He later claimed he also recognized the clothes of his own two sisters there. With time, he was

assigned to other squads as number "937" in the Sonderkommando camouflaging the camp's purpose with tree

branches woven into barbed-wire fences. On August 2, 1943 Willenberg participated in the revolt at Treblinka with

about 200300 others.[5] Unlike most of them, he escaped successfully. Wounded in the leg, he journeyed back to

Warsaw where he managed to locate his father who was hiding on the "Aryan" side of the city. He became involved

in the underground resistance including the acquisition of weapons for the left-wing partisan Polish People's Army

(Polska Armia Ludowa). He used his mother's maiden name, Ignacy Popow. He was hiding at a safe-house on

Natoliska street, when the Warsaw Uprising erupted.

In his autobiography titled Revolt in Treblinka Samuel Willenberg wrote that on the first day of the Uprising he

joinedBatalion Ruczaj of the Armia Krajowa Sub-district I. He fought in rdmiecie along Marszakowska Street

and Savior Square.[6] At the beginning of September 1944 he transferred to the Polish People's Army with the rank

of cadet sergeant. After the surrender of Warsaw, he left the city with the civilian population. He escaped from the

prisoner train in Pruszkw and hid in the vicinity of Bonie until the Soviet liberation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pruszk%C3%B3whttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cadet_sergeanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Savior_Squarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marsza%C5%82kowska_Street%2C_Warsawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%9Ar%C3%B3dmie%C5%9Bcie%2C_Warsawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sub-district_I_of_%C5%9Ar%C3%B3dmie%C5%9Bcie_%28of_Armia_Krajowa%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Armia_Krajowahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Warsaw_Uprisinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_resistance_movement_in_World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonderkommandohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gas_chamberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smock-frockhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Treblinkahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Final_Solutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Reinhardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ASamuel_Willenberg_Treblinka_2_sierpnia_2013_01.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Extermination_camphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holocaust_trainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cz%C4%99stochowa_Ghettohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Holocaust_in_Polandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=General_Governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Reinhardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judenrat


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Samuel Willenberg 3

Postwar years

In 19451946 Willenberg served in the Polish Army as a lieutenant. In 1947 he helped one of the Jewish

organizations in Poland find Jewish children rescued from the Holocaust by the non-Jewish Polish families. In 1950,

during the darkest years of the Stalinism in Poland, together with his mother and wife he emigrated to Israel.

Willenberg took up training as an engineer surveyor and obtained a long-term position of the Chief Measurer at the

Ministry of Reconstruction. It was not until after his retirement that Willenberg completed formal studies in the fieldof fine arts. He graduated from sculpture at the University of the Third Age in Jerusalem and quickly became known

for his work on the Holocaust. He creates mainly figurative sculpture in clay and bronze. His series of 15 bronze

casts depicting people and scenes from the Treblinka death camp, as well as several maps and drawings of the camp

were exhibited internationally.

In 2003, the Warsaw National Gallery of Art "Zachta" held an exhibition of his work. His sculpture was also shown

at the Museum of Czstochowa in 2004. He is the author of the Holocaust monument to the 40,000 victims of the

Czstochowa ghetto, unveiled there in October 2009. In 1986 Willenberg first published his memoir Revolt in

Treblinka (English translation by Naftali Greenwood, Oxford 1989), which he later published in Poland with the

preface by Wadysaw Bartoszewski (1991 and 2004). Since 1983 he is the co-organizer of regular visits of Israeli

youth to Poland.

Samuel Willenberg has received the highest national honors of the Republic of Poland including Virtuti Militari, the

Cross of Merit with Swords, the Cross of Valor, Warsaw Cross of the Uprising, the Polish Army Medal and the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland bestowed upon him by President Lech Kaczyski. Willenberg is the last

living survivor of the prisoner uprising as of 2013, after the death of his lifelong friend and Treblinka co-conspirator

Kalman Taigman in August 2012 (age 89). He is the subject, and leading character in the documentary film by

Micha Nekanda-Trepka with music by Zygmunt Konieczny, titled The Last Witness (Ostatni wiadek, 2002) made

by Studio Filmowe Everest for TVP 2. It tells the story of Treblinka extermination camp, and its courageous

rebellion. The film was awarded a Silver Medal at the international documentary film competition in Stockholm in

2002.

Footnotes

[1] The statistical data compiled on the basis of "Glossary of 2,077 Jewish towns in Poland" (http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/selectcity/) by

Virtual Shtetl Museum of the History of the Polish Jews , as well as "Getta ydowskie," by Gedeon, (http://www.izrael.badacz.org/

historia/szoa_getto.html) and "Ghetto List" by Michael Peters at www.deathcamps.org .

[2] Treblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day (http://www.holocaustresearchproject.net/ar/treblinkadaytoday.html) Holocaust Education &

Archive Research Team, H.E.A.R.T. Retrieved August 11, 2013.

[3] Donat, Alexander, ed. The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary. New York: Holocaust Library, 1979. LOC 79-53471

[4] Franciszek Zbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, PAX Association Publishig, Warsaw 1977.

[5] Holocaust Encyclopedia (June 10, 2013), Treblinka: Chronology (http://www.ushmm. org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007257)

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2013.

[6] This article incorporates information from the corresponding article in the Polish Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_Wikipediahttp://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Willenberghttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007257http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PAX_Associationhttp://www.holocaustresearchproject.net/ar/treblinkadaytoday.htmlhttp://www.izrael.badacz.org/historia/szoa_getto.htmlhttp://www.izrael.badacz.org/historia/szoa_getto.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Museum_of_the_History_of_the_Polish_Jewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_Shtetlhttp://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/selectcity/http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stockholmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TVP_2http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zygmunt_Koniecznyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kalman_Taigmanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lech_Kaczy%C5%84skihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Order_of_Merit_of_the_Republic_of_Polandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_Army_Medalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Warsaw_Cross_of_the_Uprisinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cross_of_Valor_%28Poland%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cross_of_Merit_with_Swords_%28Poland%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtuti_Militarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Bartoszewskihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Memoirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zach%C4%99tahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jerusalemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_the_Third_Agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Israelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stalinism_in_Polandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rescue_of_Jews_by_Poles_during_the_Holocausthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Holocausthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lieutenanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_Army


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Samuel Willenberg 4

References

Micha Grynberg, Maria Kotowska,ycie i zagada ydw polskich 1939-1945 (The Life and extermination of

Polish Jewry 1939-1945). Warsaw, Oficyna Naukowa 2003, p. 202. ISBN 83-88164-65-1.

Samuel Willenberg,Bunt w Treblince (Revolt in Treblinka). Warsaw, Biblioteka "Wizi" 2004, pp. 9150. ISBN

83-88032-74-7.

Patrycja Bukalska, "Pieko ponie" (The Hell burns) in: Tygodnik Powszechny [on-line]. Tygodnik.onet.pl,16/2013 (Special). Accessed August 29, 2013.

Barbara Engelking, Dariusz Libionka,ydzi w powstaczej Warszawie (Jews in the Warsaw Uprising). Warsaw,

Stowarzyszenie Centrum nad Zagad ydw (Center for Holocaust Association) 2009, p. 75155. ISBN

978-83-926831-1-7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tygodnik_Powszechny


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Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and ContributorsSamuel Willenberg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=572878245 Contributors: BabbaQ, Boston9, Coemgenus, FeanorStar7, Hafspajen, Hoops gza, Khazar2, Poeticbent,Waacstats

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