Oskar Bloch

Private, Pioneer Corps
Service no: PAL/10113
Died 13 May 1945
Buried East Ham (Marlow Road) Jewish Cemetery, United Kingdom
Age 33


Oskar was born on 25 June 1911 in Vienna, Austria to Rudolf and Paulina nee Porges and he had two older brothers Erwin and Hans. Oskar attended school in Vienna and continued his studies at the Zagreb Higher school in Yugoslavia. He immigrated to Israel in September 1938 where he worked in fruit orchards and was a well known long distance runner. Late 1939, he enlisted in the British Army and was sent to serve in France. After the occupation of France by the Germans his unit was evacuated from St Malo and sent to England where he met and married Regina Wagner in the Oxford Synagogue in 1940. The day after their wedding, Oskar was sent overseas and took part in the North Africa and Greek campaigns and was captured in Crete.

He managed to escape, but was captured again in June 1941 and was forced to work in the mines. From 1941 until 1945, he was in a prisoner of war camp at Stalag Luft VIII-B, Lamsdorf together with prisoners of war from his unit. Towards the end of the war, in March-April 1945, the Germans marched their prisoners on the Death March and in early May 1945, Oscar was liberated by the American army. Exhausted and ill, he was transferred to Park Prewett hospital in Hampshire, England where he died.

Photo courtesy izkor.gov.il
Courtesy Jewish War Graves