The Bloch Family

Bloch Family Grave Site

Helmut Bloch survived the Holocaust. He was the only member of his Jewish community to return to his hometown.

He was born in 1922 in Lübbecke, the son of Leopold Bloch, a Jewish merchant, on Bäckerstraße. His father died in Lübbecke in 1932. Helmut and his mother, Herta, were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There, they were separated. His mother was murdered. Helmut was initially forced to perform hard labor in a quarry; later, as a trained gardener, he was allowed to work in the concentration camp’s nursery. Toward the end of the war, he was transferred to the Dora underground mine near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains. After liberation, he returned to Lübbecke as a sick man. At first, he worked as an interpreter for the British civil administration. It was there that he met his future wife. In 1952, he was hired by the Lübbecke municipal utilities with the status of a war invalid; later, he worked at the residents’ registration office. In 1973, Helmut Bloch died of cardiac arrest.

He wanted to be buried with his wife in the family plot at the Jewish cemetery. Since his wife was Christian, the rabbinate could not grant his wish. Ultimately, he was buried at the municipal cemetery by a Protestant pastor. Years later, his wife was laid to rest beside him there.