Samuel Willenberg
Samuel Willenberg | |
---|---|
Holocaust art | |
Movement | Realism, post-expressionism |
Spouse | Ada Willenberg (m. 1948) |
Samuel Willenberg,
Like many other survivors, Willenberg emigrated to
His
Life and work
Samuel Willenberg was born in Częstochowa, Poland. His father, Perec Willenberg, was a teacher at a local Jewish school before World War II, a talented painter and visual artist. He also earned money decorating synagogues. His mother, Maniefa Popow, was a Polish-Orthodox Christian who converted to Judaism after their wedding. The family lived in Częstochowa before relocating to Warsaw.[1][2]
Nazi invasion of Poland
In the course of the Nazi German
The Opatów Ghetto was established in the spring of 1941, originally without a fence.[4] It quickly became hazardous.[5] The Jews deported from Silesia were brought there, and an epidemic of typhus broke out, due to overcrowding and poor sanitation. Willenberg traded his father's paintings for food and other necessities, but also worked at a steel mill in Starachowice for several months, along with hundreds of forced laborers supplied by the Judenrat.[6]
In 1942, the Nazis began their secretive Operation Reinhard — a planned extermination action of Jews in the semi-colonial General Government district — 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 Częstochowa was set up on 9 April 1941. At its peak, it held around 40,000 prisoners.[7] Willenberg's two sisters, Ita and Tamara, were transported there. His mother tried to rescue them and sent Willenberg back to Opatów.
But on 20 October 1942 Willenberg was forced to board a
Treblinka death camp
The camp, which was built as part of
Upon his arrival at Treblinka, Willenberg received a life-saving piece of advice at the unloading ramp, from one of the Jewish Auffanglager prisoners.[15] He posed as a seasoned bricklayer to show he could work.[1] Luckily, he was wearing a paint-stained smock-frock of his father's (an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers), donned in Opatów in preparation for slave labor. Willenberg was the only person from his transport of 6,000 persons who escaped death in the gas chambers that day.[16]
At first, he was assigned to the camp's largest Kommando Rot, unpacking and sorting the belongings of victims already "processed". He later recognized the clothes of his own two sisters there, confirming they had been killed. With time, he was assigned to other squads as number "937" in the Sonderkommando. Among their tasks was weaving tree branches into the barbed-wire fences in order to hide the grounds, buildings and lines of prisoners.[3][citation needed] On 2 August 1943 Willenberg participated in the revolt of Sonderkommandos at Treblinka with about 200–300 others.[17] Unlike most of them, he escaped.
Wounded in the leg, he journeyed back to Warsaw, where he managed to find his father, who was hiding on the "Aryan" side of the city. Willenberg became involved in the
In his memoir, Revolt in Treblinka, Willenberg wrote that on the first day of the Uprising he joined Batalion Ruczaj of the
Postwar years
In 1945–1946, Willenberg served in the
In 1950, during the peak years of
Willenberg took up training as an engineer surveyor and obtained a long-term position of Chief Measurer at the Ministry of Reconstruction. He and his wife had a daughter, Orit, together.After retiring, Willenberg completed formal studies in the field of fine arts. He graduated in sculpture at
In 2003, the Warsaw National Gallery of Art
Willenberg first published his memoir Revolt in Treblinka in 1986. (The English translation by Naftali Greenwood, was published by Oxford University Press, 1989),[19] which he later published in Poland with the preface by Władysław Bartoszewski (1991 and 2004).[20]
On 19 February 2016, Willenberg died in Israel, the last survivor of the Treblinka revolt. He was survived by his wife, Ada, their daughter Orit Willenberg-Giladi, and three grandchildren. An architect, Willenberg-Giladi designed the Israeli embassy in Berlin after unification; it was completed in 2001. In 2013 she was selected as the architect to design a Holocaust education center on the site of Treblinka.[21]
Legacy and honors
- Willenberg was eulogized after his death by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.[16]
- Willenberg received the highest national honors of the Republic of Poland, including Warsaw Cross of the Uprising, the Polish Army Medal, and the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, which was bestowed upon him by President Lech Kaczyński.[22] Willenberg was the final survivor of the 1943 Treblinka prisoner uprising,[23] after the death of his lifelong friend and Treblinka survivor Kalman Taigman in August 2012 (age 88).[24]
Documentary
- Willenberg is the subject and a leading figure in the documentary film by Michał Nekanda-Trepka, with music by
- Willenberg and Taigman appeared in two other documentaries about Treblinka: A Uruguayan documentary, Despite Treblinka (2002), also included Chil Rajchman, a revolt survivor who had settled in Montevideo after the war. Willenberg and Taigman were interviewed and filmed in Israel.
- BBC Four produced Death Camp Treblinka: Survivor Stories (2012, original title), written by Adam Kemp. It featured Willenberg and Taigman as revolt survivors and was aired the same year in the United States as Treblinka's Last Witness.[27]
See also
- Jankiel Wiernik, Treblinka survivor, author of the 1944 memoir: A Year in Treblinka (Rok w Treblince)
- Chil Rajchman, Treblinka revolt survivor, author of a 1945 memoir The Last Jew of Treblinka
- Kalman Taigman, Treblinka revolt survivor
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Culture.pl (April 23, 2003). "Treblinka. Rzeźby więźnia Samuela Willenberga" [Sculpture by prisoner Samuel Willenberg]. Multimedia. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ^ M.P.W. (2013). "Samuel Willenberg". Powstańcze biogramy. Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ^ ISBN 8370461921.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ "Jewish History of Opatów. Part 1 to 5". Virtual Shtetl (in Polish). Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica (2008). "Opatów; Yidish: Apta, אַפטאַ". Holocaust Period. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ISBN 83-88032-74-7.
- ^ Various authors (3 September 2006). "Czestochowa Ghetto". Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. ARC. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- Museum of the History of the Polish Jews (in English), as well as "Getta Żydowskie," by Gedeon, (in Polish) and "Ghetto List" by Michael Peters at www.deathcamps.org (in English). Accessed August 29, 2013.
- Museum of the History of Polish Jews. p. 4. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
- ^ archiveTreblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, H.E.A.R.T. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ Staff writer (4 February 2010). "The number of victims". Extermination Camp. Muzeum Treblinka. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- ISBN 0-231-11200-9.
- ^ Donat, Alexander, ed. The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary. New York: Holocaust Library, 1979. LOC 79-53471
- ^ Franciszek Ząbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, PAX Association Publishing, Warsaw 1977. (in Polish)
- ISBN 978-83-7257-496-1. Archived from the original (PDF file, direct download 15.1 MB) on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2013.)
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help - ^ a b "Moving eulogy for Holocaust survivor Willenberg". South African Jewish Report. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ Holocaust Encyclopedia (June 10, 2013), Treblinka: Chronology United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
- ^ ORT Uruguay University's Film Department. Archived from the originalon June 11, 2009 – via Internet Archive.
- ISBN 0631162615
- ^ Miller, Sara (February 20, 2016). "Samuel Willenberg, the last surviving Treblinka prisoner, dies at 93". Times of Israel. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ^ "Internetowy System Aktow Prawnych, M.P. 2008 nr 84 poz. 744". Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Kancelaria Sejmu RP. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ^ Adam Easton (4 August 2013). "Treblinka survivor recalls suffering and resistance". BBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ^ MAARIV (August 13, 2012). "Kalman Taigman, ocalały z Treblinki, nie żyje". Translation from Hebrew, MAARIV Daily, August 8, 2012 (in Polish). Erec Israel. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
- ^ Matt Roper (11 Aug 2012). "Last survivors of the 'forgotten' death factory". Death Camp Treblinka Survivors' Stories: Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman. Mirror News Online. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ^ Jan Strękowski (June 2003). "Ostatni świadek". Multimedia. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ^ "Death Camp Treblinka: Survivor Stories". BBC. 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
References
- Michał Grynberg, Maria Kotowska, Życie i zagłada Żydów 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 "Więzi" 2004, pp. 9–150. ISBN 83-88032-74-7.
- Patrycja Bukalska, "Piekło płonie" (The Hell burns) in: Tygodnik Powszechny [on-line]. Tygodnik.onet.pl, 16/2013 (Special). Accessed August 29, 2013.
- ISBN 978-83-926831-1-7.