 Rochus Misch was born on 29 July 1917 in Alt @-@ Schalkowitz near Oppeln ( Opole ) in the Province of Silesia ( now Stare Siołkowice , Poland ) . His father , a construction worker , died of wounds sustained in World War I. His widowed mother died of pneumonia when he was two and a half , and he grew up with his grandparents . His older brother Bruno died after a swimming accident in May 1922 . 
