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Name
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N/A
Place of Birth:
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Date of Interview:
24/09/90
Place of Interview:
Interviewed by:
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INTERVIEW:
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Place of Birth:
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Collection:
Jewish Museum London oral history collection
Date of Interview:
24/09/90
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Interview Summary
Martin Bloch interviewed in 1990, talks of living in Holborn, where his father had a pub, during the Blitz. He volunteered for the RAF when he was 17 and talks of the operational training unit he was in with 84 guys, where only 12 survived the war. Martin then talks of being in RAF transport squadrons, bringing back prisoners of war and listening to their stories and how he also saw concentration camps, Belsen and one other. In 1947 he joined the 43 Group at Bayswater, the central section and was never scared about going to break up the fascist blackshirt meetings. He describes it as being exciting, where there was no ammunition, so the worst that could happen would be a punch in the face and tells how he would go to Joe Bloom’s gym, behind Cambridge Circus, for training in unarmed combat. Martin would sell the ‘On Guard’ newspaper around London, which would tell people what was going on and the achievements of the 43 Group, including banning the fascists from marching, schools and public places. Martin was proud of their actions but AJEX and the Board of Deputies did not approve of the 43 Group, which was disbanded in 1950 when the fascist meetings had ceased.

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