With the outbreak of World War II, Katriel Wertzberger was drafted into the Hungarian army ’s forced labor battalions, and during the war years became a prisoner of the Red Army. In 1947, Katriel attempted to immigrate to Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) on the “Knesset Israel” ship, but the Ma’apilim vessel was intercepted and sent to Cyprus. While in the detention camp in Cyprus, Katriel made a sculpture in the form of a tombstone for his parents, who had been murdered in Auschwitz. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Katriel immigrated and enlisted in the IDF. He fought in War of Independence, and fell in October of 1948.
