Oskar Kusch

Oskar Heinz Kusch (6 April 1918 – 12 May 1944) was a German naval officer and U-boat commander in World War II who was executed for comments critical of the Nazi state.

Early life From 1928 to 1936, Kusch attended the Hohenzollern Gymnasium in Berlin-Schoeneberg, where he received his high school diploma in late 1936. In 1928, at the age of ten, he joined the Bundische Jugend and was a member of the German Freischar and the German Boy Scout Association. The Bundische Jugend was incorporated into the Hitler Youth in 1933. Kusch left the Hitler Youth in 1935. He served his compulsory period in the Reich Labor Service until March 1937. Kusch may have been under Gestapo surveillance during this time.

Military career Kusch joined the Kriegsmarine on 3 April 1937 as a naval officer candidate in Class 37a.