born in vienna in austria, katz emigrated to mandatory palestine in november 1938 as a child of ten following the anschluss and the nazi rise to power. he arrived in palestine as part of a youth aliyah group of children, which were organized with the consent of parents eager to have their children saved from being arrested and deported to nazi concentration camps. his parents and sister also succeeded in emigrating to palestine in the summer of 1939, but were soon expelled to mauritius, where they lived until 1946, when the family was finally reunited. part of the extended family was killed in the holocaust.