Samuel Willenberg (February 16, 1923- February 19, 2016) was a soldier and Polish-Jewish Holocaust Survivor.
Biography[]
Samuel Willenberg was born in Poland on February 16, 1923. In September 1939, at the height of the Nazi Invasion of Poland, Willenberg joined the Polish Armies and fought the Nazis in Western Poland and fought the Soviets in Eastern Poland. He was wounded and captured by the Soviets and he eventually escaped capture. In 1940, after the Nazis took over Poland, Samuel Willenberg was confined into the Opatow Ghetto along with many other Polish Jews by the Nazis. In September 1942, Samuel Willenberg was deported to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. He was selected for labor because he said he was a construction worker, therefore, he avoided the gas chambers. On August 2, 1943, Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman, along with the other Labor prisoners at Treblinka staged a revolt against the SS Troops and SS Ukrainian Guards at the Camp and fought their way out. Then, Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman joined the Polish Home Army and fought against the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Samuel Willenberg made many art sculptures representing his time at Treblinka. He passed away on February 19, 2016.