Samuel Willenberg

Samuel Willenberg was born in 1923 in Częstochowa

Willenberg was born in Częstochowa, Poland, in 1923. His father, Perec, taught at a Jewish school and painted, and his mother, Maniefa Popow, was an Orthodox Christian who converted to Judaism. The family later moved to Warsaw.

In 1939 he volunteered for the Polish Army and was wounded and captured near Chełm. On 20 October 1942 he was deported from the Opatów ghetto to Treblinka, where he sorted victims' belongings and found the clothes of his two sisters. He escaped during the revolt of 2 August 1943.

Back in Warsaw he joined the underground and fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. After the war he served in the Polish Army and in 1947 helped find Jewish children hidden by Polish families. He married Ada, a survivor who had escaped the Warsaw Ghetto.

In 1950 he emigrated to Israel and worked as chief surveyor in a government ministry. After retiring he studied sculpture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and made bronze works about Treblinka. His memoir, Revolt in Treblinka, appeared in 1986.

He created a monument to the victims of the Częstochowa Ghetto, unveiled in 2009. He died on 19 February 2016 and was buried in Moshav Udim.