Solomon Buchsbaum

Private, Pioneer Corps
Service no: 13800112
Died 29 Dec 1940
Buried East Ham (Marlow Road) Jewish Cemetery, United Kingdom
Age 29


Solomon was born on 25 April 1911 in Vienna, Austria. Details of his father are unknown but Solomon’s mother was Perla who was born in Poland in 1882 and he had two older sisters Lotti and Jetti. Records show that the family applied to leave Austria on 24 May 1938 to emigrate to either North America, Argentina or Palestine. It appears that this was refused for the females in the family as only Solomon escaped to England being sent to the Kitchener Camp in Kent. There are records of his sisters Jetti and Lotti Buchsbaum being deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp.

The 1939 Register records that Solomon was a carpenter and bricklayer whilst in Austria and on arriving at the camp he was involved in its construction. Solomon enlisted into the Pioneer Corps at the outbreak of WW2. His death certificate states that he was killed during the Blitz. His body was found outside of the Town Hall on the Peckham Road in London.

Four other members of the Pioneer Corps were also killed that night. Between 6pm on the night of the 29th and the early hours of the following morning, more than 24,000 high explosive bombs and 100,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. It was the largest continuous area of Blitz destruction in Britain. It stretched south from Islington to the edge of St Paul’s Churchyard. German planning had the raid coincide with a particularly low tide on the River Thames, making it difficult to obtain water for firefighting.

The others killed were Heinz Kiwi, Emil Mesner, Heinz Goldstein and Gerhard Neumann.

Courtesy Shelley Williams

1939 Register
Solomon’s death certificate