Samuel Willenberg

Samuel Willenberg, nom de guerre Igo (16 February 1923 – 19 February 2016), was a Polish Holocaust survivor, artist, and writer. He was a Sonderkommando at the Treblinka extermination camp and participated in the unit's planned revolt in August 1943. While 300 escaped, about 79 were known to survive the war. Willenberg reached Warsaw where, before war's end, he took part in the Warsaw Uprising. At his death, Willenberg was the last survivor of the August 1943 Treblinka prisoners' revolt.

Samuel Willenberg
Samuel Willenberg at Treblinka,
August 2, 2013
Born(1923-02-16)February 16, 1923
Częstochowa, Poland
DiedFebruary 19, 2016(2016-02-19) (aged 93)
Udim, Israel
NationalityPolish, Israeli
Known forHolocaust art
MovementRealism, post-expressionism

Like many other survivors, Willenberg emigrated to Israel. He received Poland's highest orders, including the Virtuti Militari and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit, awarded by President Lech Kaczyński.

His memoir, Revolt in Treblinka, was published between 1986 and 1991 in Hebrew, Polish, and English. He was a sculptor and painter.

Life and work

Samuel Willenberg was born in Częstochowa into a Polish Jewish family. 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 invasion of Poland, on September 6, 1939 the 16-year-old 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 Chełm, and captured.[3] Three months later, he escaped from the hospital back to central Poland to reconnect with his family in Radość (now a part of Warsaw). With his mother and two sisters, in early 1940 they went to Opatów, where his father was working on murals for the synagogue. But at this time, the Nazis began herding Polish Jews into ghettos all across the country.

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 April 9, 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 October 20, 1942, Willenberg was forced to board a Holocaust train along with 6,500 inmates of the then-liquidated Opatów ghetto, and was sent with them to the extermination camp at Treblinka.[8][9]

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.[10] During this time, more than 800,000 Jews—men, women, and children—were murdered there.[11][12] Other estimates of the number killed at Treblinka exceed 1,000,000.[13][14]

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] On August 2, 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 underground resistance, including acquiring weapons for the left-wing partisan Polish People's Army PAL (Polska Armia Ludowa PAL). He used his mother's maiden name, Ignacy Popow. He was hiding at a safe-house on Natolińska street, when the Warsaw Uprising erupted.[3]

In his memoir, Revolt in Treblinka, Willenberg wrote that on the first day of the Uprising he joined Batalion Ruczaj of the Armia Krajowa Sub-district I. He fought in Śródmieście along Marszałkowska Street and Savior Square. 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 Pruszków and hid in the vicinity of Błonie until the Soviet liberation.[3]

Postwar years

In 1945–1946, Willenberg served in the Polish Army as a lieutenant. In 1947, he helped one of the Jewish organizations in Poland find Jewish children who had been taken in and rescued from the Holocaust by Polish Gentile families. He married Ada, who had escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto by climbing over a wall.[18]

In 1950, during the peak years of Stalinism in Poland, Willenberg emigrated to Israel with his wife and mother.[18] 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 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and quickly became known for his work on the Holocaust. He created mainly figurative sculpture in clay and bronze. His series of fifteen bronze casts depicting people and scenes from the Treblinka death camp, as well as several maps and drawings of the camp, were exhibited internationally.[1] Since 1983, he was the co-organizer of regular visits of Israeli youth to Poland,[18] known as the March of the Living.

In 2003, the Warsaw National Gallery of Art Zachęta held an exhibition of his work.[1] His sculpture was also shown at the Museum of Częstochowa in 2004. He created the Holocaust monument to the 40,000 victims of the Częstochowa Ghetto, which was unveiled there in October 2009.

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

Documentary
  • Willenberg is the subject and a leading figure in the documentary film by Michał Nekanda-Trepka, with music by Zygmunt Konieczny, titled The Last Witness (Ostatni świadek, 2002). It was produced by Studio Filmowe Everest for TVP 2. It tells the story of the Treblinka extermination camp and the 1943 rebellion by prisoners, including his friend Kalman Taigman.[25] The film was awarded a Silver Medal at the international documentary film competition in Stockholm in 2002.[26]
  • 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
  1. Culture.pl (April 23, 2003). "Treblinka. Rzeźby więźnia Samuela Willenberga" [Sculpture by prisoner Samuel Willenberg]. Multimedia. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  2. M.P.W. (2013). "Samuel Willenberg". Powstańcze biogramy. Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  3. Samuel Willenberg (1991). Bunt w Treblince (Revolt in Treblinka) (Google Books). Biblioteka "Więzi" Volume 163, Warsaw: Res Publica. ISBN 8370461921.CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. "Jewish History of Opatów. Part 1 to 5". Virtual Shtetl (in Polish). Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  5. Encyclopaedia Judaica (2008). "Opatów; Yidish: Apta, אַפטאַ". Holocaust Period. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  6. Robert Szuchta (2004). Samuel Willenberg, Bunt w Treblince (Revolt in Treblinka) (PDF file, direct download 107 KB). Andrzej Żbikowski, Posłowie. Warsaw: Biblioteka "Więzi". p. 176. ISBN 83-88032-74-7.
  7. Various authors (3 September 2006). "Czestochowa Ghetto". Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. ARC. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  8. The statistical data compiled on the basis of "Glossary of 2,077 Jewish towns in Poland" Archived 2016-02-08 at the Wayback Machine by Virtual Shtetl 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.
  9. "Częstochowa ghetto". History. Virtual Shtetl Museum of the History of Polish Jews. p. 4. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  10. archive Treblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, H.E.A.R.T. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  11. Staff writer (4 February 2010). "The number of victims". Extermination Camp. Muzeum Treblinka. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  12. Niewyk, Donald L.; Nicosia, Francis R. (2000). The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. Columbia University Press. p. 210. ISBN 0-231-11200-9.
  13. Donat, Alexander, ed. The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary. New York: Holocaust Library, 1979. LOC 79-53471
  14. Franciszek Ząbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, PAX Association Publishing, Warsaw 1977. (in Polish)
  15. Edward Kopówka, Paweł Rytel-Andrianik (2011). Treblinka II – Obóz zagłady [Treblinka II – Death camp] (PDF file, direct download 15.1 MB). Dam im imię na wieki (I will give them an everlasting name. Isaiah 56:5) (in Polish). Drohiczyńskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. pp. 74, 77–82, 97–99. ISBN 978-83-7257-496-1. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  16. "Moving eulogy for Holocaust survivor Willenberg". South African Jewish Report. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  17. Holocaust Encyclopedia (June 10, 2013), Treblinka: Chronology United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  18. Stawsky, Gerardo (June 11, 2009). "Despite Treblinka. Protagonists". Teaching the Holocaust to Spanish speakers. ORT Uruguay University's Film Department. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009 – via Internet Archive.
  19. Willenberg, Samuel (1992). Revolt in Treblinka. Zydowski Instytut Historyczny. 227 pages. OCLC 18624914.. It was also published as Surviving Treblinka, Blackwell, ISBN 0631162615
  20. "In author: "Samuel Willenberg"". 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  21. Miller, Sara (February 20, 2016). "Samuel Willenberg, the last surviving Treblinka prisoner, dies at 93". Times of Israel. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  22. "Internetowy System Aktow Prawnych, M.P. 2008 nr 84 poz. 744". Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Kancelaria Sejmu RP. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  23. Adam Easton (4 August 2013). "Treblinka survivor recalls suffering and resistance". BBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  24. MAARIV (August 13, 2012). "Kalman Taigman, ocalały z Treblinki, nie żyje". Translation from Hebrew, MAARIV Daily, August 8, 2012 (in Polish). Erec Israel. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  25. 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.
  26. Jan Strękowski (June 2003). "Ostatni świadek". Multimedia. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  27. "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.
  • Barbara Engelking, Dariusz Libionka, Żydzi w powstańczej Warszawie (Jews in the Warsaw Uprising). Warsaw, Stowarzyszenie Centrum nad Zagładą Żydów (Center for Holocaust Association) 2009, pp. 75–155. ISBN 978-83-926831-1-7.
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