Otto Pohla

Otto Pohla also competed at the 1926 European Championships in wrestling. He was Estonian champion multiple times, winning in Greco-Roman heavyweight in 1924, 1927, and 1929, in Greco-Roman light-heavyweight in 1930 and 1934, and in freestyle light-heavyweight in 1925 and 1927. Pohla’s occupation was as a plumber.

Pohla was mobilized to the Red Army in July 1941. After initial training in Tallinn, he was shipped from Tallinn to Leningrad along with several hundred other new recruits. The ship on which he was on board never reached it’s destination. Its fate is unknown, but it is suspected it was sunk by a German submarine or driven to the depths of the ocean. All aboard were declared officially dead in January 1943 by Soviet officials.