Born 1926 in Warsaw, Poland

Natus, the son of Rena and Mark Weissblatt, was a thirteen year-old schoolboy when the Germans occupied Warsaw in September 1939. Warsaw was a large, cosmopolitan city, home to Europe's largest Jewish community. His father was one of the few Jews who was permitted to work for the Polish government. Natus's mother gave private Hebrew lessons, and his grandfather was highly involved in the Jewish community. They lived in an affluent area of Warsaw. Natus was an outstanding student. Part of a large, loving, and highly educated family, Natus had a comfortable, secure early childhood.

In October 1940, Natus and his family, along with all the other Jewish residents of the city, were forced to leave their homes and to live in a ghetto. On November 15, after an 8-foot wall was built around the area, the Jews of Warsaw were cut off from the rest of the world. Over 265,000 people were packed into apartments within 73 streets. That number would soon grow by another 200,000.

Lacking money and the means to earn it, most residents were quickly impoverished. Food, medicine and heat were inadequate. Thousands died from starvation, exposure and disease. Children often risked their lives to smuggle food into the ghetto so that their families could eat. Yet, amidst all the horror, schools and other cultural events were organized.

In July 1942, the Germans began rounding up and deporting ghetto residents in massive raids. Few were exempt. Packed like cattle into freight cars, they were sent to the nearby Treblinka death camp, where most were immediately taken to the gas chambers and murdered.

Born December 26, 1928 in Satu-Mare, Rumania

Victor was born on December 26, 1928 in Satu-Mare, where he lived with his parents and his older brother Erwin. His father, Alexander Samuel Rona, had attended university in Budapest, and he was a professor in the State Commercial College in Satu-Mare. His mother, Magdalena (Balkany), was active in Jewish communal activities.

Jews comprised 20 percent of the population of Satu-Mare. They took an active role in the development of commerce and industry in the city, and were found in almost all professions.

When Hungary annexed this part of Rumania in 1940, it passed antisemitic measures barring Jews from various professions. Victor's father lost his job, but he became director of the Jewish High School, which was founded in 1941. Life for the Jews of Hungary became extremely difficult, but few felt that their lives were in danger.

As a high school student, Victor excelled in literature, music and sports. He won a medal in a fencing competition against a non-Jewish team, despite the prevailing antisemitic attitude of the period. He took piano lessons, and he spent hours working on his stamp collection. He was also active in several Jewish youth organizations, where he was well liked.

In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary. Two months later, the Jews of Satu-Mare were suddenly forced by the Germans to live in a sealed-off ghetto. Deportations to death camps began almost immediately. Victor and his family were deported on May 30, 1944.

Strong and healthy, fifteen year-old Victor was chosen for forced labor instead of immediate death. From June 1944 until April 1945, he was sent to four different slave labor camps in Germany. Somehow he survived the horrors and terrible deprivations of the camps. He was liberated in April 1945.

Five days later, he died of a bayonet wound in his left arm that he had received in a labor camp two weeks earlier. He received no medical help.

Victor was sixteen years old when he died.

Victor was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

,Which means, as far as I believe that you should never turn a blind eye to anything that is happening and to do the right thing, no matter the risk.

This poem was written inside of an extermination camp, and it means that if he were to stand up for what was right, to ask for help, would you help him?

In early 1940 the Germans set up a number of labour camps in and around Belzec, housing workers building the so-called “Otto Line,” a series of fortifications on the border with the Soviet Union. These Jewish labour camps were disbanded in October 1940.

On 27 January 1945 Soviet soldiers entered the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex in south-west Poland.

Auschwitz, named after the nearby Silesian town of Oświęcim, was set up in May 1940