Jankiel Wiernik
Jankiel (Yankel, Yaakov, or Jacob) Wiernik (Hebrew: יעקב ויירניק; 1889–1972) was a Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor who was an influential figure in the Treblinka extermination camp resistance. He had been forced to work as a Sonderkommando slave worker there, where an estimated 700,000–900,000 people, mostly Jews, were murdered. After his escape during the uprising of 2 August 1943, Wiernik reached Warsaw and joined the resistance. He also wrote a clandestine account of the camp's operation, A Year in Treblinka, which was copied and translated for printing in London and the US in English and Yiddish.
Jankiel Wiernik | |
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| Born | 1889 Biała Podlaska, Congress Poland, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1972 (aged 82–83) Rishon LeZion, Israel |
| Resting place | Israel |
| Occupation | Master carpenter |
| Known for | Participation in the uprising of Treblinka and testimony at the Eichmann trial |
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| The Holocaust |
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Following World War II, Wiernik testified at Ludwig Fischer's trial in 1947. He left Poland, emigrating first to Sweden and then to the new state of Israel. In 1961, he testified at Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem. He returned to Poland in 1964, to attend the opening of the Treblinka Memorial. Wiernik died in Israel in 1972 at the age of 83.