Author of the book Touch of an Angel, was born in 1931 to Cracow painter Leon Schönker. His grandfather, Józef Schönker, owned the Agrochemia artificial fertilizer factory in Oswiecim and had lived in the town since the second half of the 19th century.

Just before the outbreak of World War II, Henryk moved to Oswiecim with his parents, and started his education at a local grammar school. In the first months of the Nazi occupation, Leon Schönker was appointed the chair of the Jewish Council of Elders in Oswiecim. Later, his family was forced to leave Oswiecim, settling in Wieliczka, where they escaped from deportation to the Bełżec death camp in the summer of 1942. The family moved around, living in Tarnow and Bochnia before finding themselves in the “residence camp” of Bergen-Belsen. They were held as citizens of Palestine and were eventually exchanged for German nationals held by the Allies.

After the war, Henryk Schönker came back to Oswiecim with his parents and younger sister Lusia, and Leon reopened his Agrochemia factory. In 1949, the communist government decided that private business in Poland should be liquidated, and Leon’s factory was nationalized. Leon himself was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison.

After his graduation from high school, Henryk and his family left Oswiecim. Henrik began his studies at the University of Engineering in Częstochowa and AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, where he earned his degree in 1955. The same year, the Schönker family was given permission to leave Poland, and they travelled to Vienna before settling in Israel in 1961. In 1963 Henryk married Helena Kon. He worked as an engineer in the aircraft industry until his retirement.

Since 1979 Henryk Schönker has been creating Holocaust-related artwork. His book Touch of an Angel was awarded the History Prize in 2006 by the Polityka.