Samuel Willenberg was born on February 16, 1923, in Częstochowa, Poland and died on February 19, 2016.
He was an Israeli sculptor and painter.
He was a 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 Kaczyński.
His autobiography, titled Revolt in Treblinka, was published in Hebrew, Polish and English between the year 1986 and 1991.
He went off in the direction of Lublin to join the Polish Army as a volunteer, on September 6, 1939.
As a skirmish with the Red Army near Chełm, and they were captured, but escaped 3months after.
Samuel served in the Polish Army as a lieutenant, in 1945–1946.
He was given 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 Kaczyński.
Samuel Willenberg was the last survivor of the prisoner uprising, after the death of his long-time friend and Treblinka survivor Kalman Taigman in August 2012, at age 88.
Samuel Willenberg passed away at 93 yrs old.