Badge with a yellow Star of David on a black circle worn by a Romanian Jewish woman

Simona Weissmann, was born in Piatra Neamt, Romania, on October 14, 1923, to Feiga (Fani) Sigler and Nisen David Weissmann, a veteran of World War I (1914-1918). They were an observant Jewish family and Simona and her two siblings, Angela, (1992-2003) and Berhard (d. 1993), were taught Hebrew. They lived in the Hangu region where her father and his two brothers were born. The family harvested fir trees. In November 1940, Romania, under the rule of the right wing General Ion Antonescu, joined the Axis Alliance. The regime immediately established restrictive anti-Jewish measures and encouraged the violent persecution of Jews in the already deeply antisemitic country. In 1944, Simona married Dr. Carl Iancovici; she has since remarried twice. Simona Nistor-Vianu is an artist and critic.