Oskar Blechner was born March 7 1911 in Dukla, Galicia the second of four sons of Mina and Mordechai Blechner. The family moved in about 1913 to Munich.

They lived in a rented apartment in Klenzestrasse in the heart of the Jewish community, close to the centre of Munich. The Blechners were a very close-knit family.

Mordechai was an agent in the shoe trade, later joined by his eldest son, Jacob. Oskar demonstrated his business acumen at an early age and was sent by his employer to run a clothing factory in Berlin when he was 19. Life was good for a young single man in Berlin, until the Nazis flexed their muscles and deported the Polish Jews.