Charles Bloch (1921–1987)

Charles (né Karl) Bloch was born to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. He attended the Berlin-Steglitz gymnasium (high school). In 1933, following the rise of the Nazi regime to power, his family left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine. There he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his master's degree in history. In 1946, he began taking courses at the Sorbonne in Paris, and in 1948 entered the prestigious Institut d'études politiques (known as Sciences Po). In 1954, he earned a degree in international relations with a dissertation on Franco-British relations from 1871 to 1878, supervised by Pierre Renouvin, which was published in book form in 1955. From 1950 to 1955, Bloch also worked as the Paris correspondent for the Israeli daily newspaper Davar. In 1955, he became a lecturer in French and German history at Tel Aviv University, later rising to the rank of professor. In the 1970s, he was involved in founding the Institute for German History. Prof. Bloch also taught German history at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. His published works, written in French and German, included Le IIIe Reich et le monde (1986), La Nuit des longs couteaux: 30 juin 1934 (1967), and Die Dritte französische Republik (1972).