Omar Oscar Marcus Collection

Oscar Marcus was born in Berlin on August 12, 1910 and graduated from the Berlin art college. He left home at the age of twenty to pursue a career as a photographer and traveled around the world throughout his life. In 1930, he began working as a photographer for the company Mauritius, and later for the Associated Press. Those few early pictures taken before 1932 illustrate his interest in pictorial and social motives. As a member of the Reichsbanner Scharz-Rot-Gold, his political affiliation was close to that of the Social-Democratic Party (SPD). This relationship may have prevented his reentry into Germany after his first trip to Tunis in 1932, conducted on behalf of the Associated Press.

In 1933, Marcus visited Palestine, where his parents and his brother, Shimshon, eventually settled. On behalf of the Associated Press, Marcus traveled to several Mediterranean countries. One of his many assignments was to cover the Italian Colonial Wars in Abyssinia in 1937. He also lived in Egypt for several years and studied Arabic.

Most notably, Marcus became famous for his photographs of various Arab countries. He achieved special recognition for his photographs of worshippers in Mecca becoming the first non-Muslim to gain entry into the city (at the risk of his life). As his reputation as a photographer grew in the Arab world, he adopted the name of Omar (a compound of the beginning letters from his first and last names). When Marcus returned to London at the end of the 1930s, the English newspaper, The Star referred to him as, "Marcus of Arabia."

During the war, Marcus stayed in England where he was interned for a short time because of his German nationality. In 1940, he joined the British Army and was dismissed in 1942, obtaining British citizenship. From that period on he worked for the Associated Press London and published his work in different English newspapers and magazines, such as the Daily Mirror, Life, National Geographic, Weekly Illustrated, and Picture Post.

After the war he lived first in Scotland and then in the United State. In 1954 he was commissioned to cover an expedition to Africa. These pictures appeared in a two volume work entitled, Tropical Africa that was published in 1960 by the research director George H. T. Kimble and the 20th Century Fund.

In 1957 Marcus went to Mexico as a correspondent for the Daily Express. Having gained experience with movies and documentary films earlier in his career, he contributed to various film productions in Mexico and taught cinematography at the University of Mexico City.

From 1968 to 1972 Marcus lived in Chicago and then finally returned to Mexico City where he died on April 11, 1980 after a traffic accident. He was buried at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem, next to his parents.

As a photographer, Omar Oscar Marcus traveled to all Arabic speaking countries, even those that were traditionally off-limits to foreigners at that time. He visited the Balkans, Turkey and Africa. Marcus' knowledge of languages facilitated his travels. English became his second native language, Spanish almost his third. Additionally, he could speak French, Italian, Arabic, Greek, and even Japanese.

Marcus was particularly interested in Jewish-Arab reconciliation. In 1984 the Oscar Omar Marcus Fund for Understanding and Peace between Arabs and Jews was established in his memory at the Truman Institute of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Fund supports activities aimed at enhancing Arab-Jewish understanding and contributing toward a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.