Emil was born on 11 January 1897 in Biala, Poland to Josef and Feigla nee Reisfeld and he had three siblings of which two were murdered in the Holocaust. Emil escaped from Nazi Germany with his wife Olga and son Herbert. In 1939, Emil was in the Kitchener Camp, Sandwich in Kent where he worked as a bricklayer. Olga was living at 21 King Street in Sandwich where she was employed as a cook. Emil enlisted into the Pioneer Corps and was killed during the London Blitz.

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 Solomon Buchsbaum, Heinz Kiwi, Heinz Goldstein and Gerhard Neumann.