Vilhelm Gutfreund 1909 - 1945

Born 12.8.1909 in Katovice
Died 6.2.1945 in Mauthausen

Biography

Vilhelm Gutfreund was the third son of Eduard and Klára. He had brothers called Leo and Rudolf. Both parents were Jewish. His father Eduard co-owned a hat factory in Katowice and his mother Klára was a housewife. His parents were married in 1895 in Žatec. Father Eduard died in 1916 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Strakonice.

The Katowice factory was well-known in the surrounding area at the time. At the end of the 19th century Eduard Gutfreund, his brother Otto and their uncle Moric Eisner joined together in business. The factory employed anywhere up to 100 people. In the course of time, the brothers separated from their uncle and ran the factory themselves. At the end of World War I and after Eduardʼs death, the factory was in poor technical condition and with large debts. Widowed Klára first solved this dismal situation by renting the factory premises. After a few years, she decided to start production again. That required borrowing a large amount of money from the Centrokomise (financial institution). Unfortunately, the restored company did not prosper and found itself facing bankruptcy, which averted the entry of the Centrokomise into the company.

Vilhelm Gutfreund had just successfully graduated from grammar school when he joined the family factory in 1927. A new company, Vilhelm Gutfreund & Co., jointly owned by Vilhelm Gutfreund and Centrokomise, was founded. The new company mainly focused on expanding and improving the quality of its manufactured goods. For example, menʼs pumps were supplemented by womenʼs pumps, and new production of woollen hats for men and women was initiated. In 1930 Vilhelm left the management of the company and a new company Otava was established, the majority of which was already owned by the Centrokomise. Vilhelm Gutfreund retained a minority share and continued to work as an official in the Legiobank.

Mother Klára died on 7 May 1932, her remains were placed alongside her husband in the Jewish cemetery in Strakonice. At the beginning of October 1932, Vilhelm Gutfreund moved into a tenement house at 182 Katovice. He married Elisa Gruber, born on 10 April 1911 in the village of Zizers, located in the Rhine River valley in Switzerland. Together with Vilhelm she lived in Katowice from 30 December 1939. Elisa worked as a sales representative.

After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, dark times came for the Gutfreund family. Vilhelm fell under the racial laws which he bore very hard. The cheerful young man became a very private person. Vilhelm was arrested on 17 February 1944 in his apartment in Katowice on the telephone order of Criminal Secretary Schmidt from the Gestapo in Klatovy. The arrest was carried out by Chief Constable Antonín Kaňkovský. During the arrest a radio receiver was among the confiscated items from Gutfreundsʼ apartment. From the prison in Klatovy, Vilhelm wrote to his wife on 21 February 1944. He informed her that he could only write twice a month and that the handing over of dirty laundry took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On 11 March 1944 at 11.45 a.m. he was admitted to the Small Fortress in Terezín, which was a branch of Pankrác Prison. He was allocated prison number 24562. The reason for his detention and imprisonment was described as a failure to observe the regulations for the designation of Jews. On the morning of 12 April 1944, Vilhelm Gutfreund was deported to Auschwitz by a collecting transport. According to prison number 181 874, he arrived on 18 April 1944. He successfully passed the initial selection. He was subsequently sent to a branch labour camp in Sosnowiec, where he worked in a factory producing parts for cannons.

From there he sent his last letter to his wife on 17 December 1944. It has been preserved only thanks to the Kuncipáls from Katowice, who spent their lives collecting valuable historical documents and information. Mrs Kuncipálová was also a pupil of Vilhelm Gutfreund. She took German lessons with him. In 1941 he wrote a dedication to her memorial. The unique letter by Vilhelm was received by the couple after the war from the first wife of brother Leo:

„My dear Little Mouse. I hope you have both my letters of November, as well as of the 10th of this month and that you are healthy, the same as I am, fortunately. Letters and parcels are addressed to Sosnowitz, money orders must go on via Auschwitz, but please do not send me any money, I do not need any, also no clothes. I received the package from the first of this month on the 13th in order, many heartfelt thanks. Do I have any sweater with you by any chance? Please take care of your health. Please send me only as much food as you can spare, I am always worried that you will be hungry because of me and fall ill. Have a really happy Christmas and I wish you and all your closest ones a very happy New Year. With a thousand kisses from your Willi.“

On 17 January 1945, the branch labour camp was closed and the prisoners were forced to set out for a death march to Opava. On the basis of the post-war testimony of a surviving fellow prisoner, Julius Engel, it was construed that during the liquidation of the camp Vilhelm Gutfreund was knocked down by a German army car. As a result of this collision, he suffered a leg fracture. Julius Engel further testified that he and the other prisoners begged the transport escort not to shoot Vilhelm Gutfreund. This was very unusual to happen as it was common that prisoners who could not continue their march were shot dead on the spot.

In the early evening of 26 January 1945, the prisoners arrived in Jarkovice near Opava, where they spent the night on two farms. On Monday morning, the belongings of the SS guards were transported to the train by several wagons. The prisoners had to walk to the train station in Opava (Opava-East train station). The post-war testimony of the innkeeper from Jarkovice states that seven wagons were ready to leave in front of the farmhouse, and the innkeeper said that on about the fourth wagon sat a 40-year-old doctor from Sumava who had a broken leg. The innkeeper was supposed to slip the man a piece of bread and he was supposed to reply, „God will pay you for this.“

According to a record from the infirmary of the Mauthausen concentration camp from February 1945, Vilhelm Gutfreund arrived at the camp with a fractured left tibia (shinbone). His condition was critical. He was placed in a block marked Cross 40 under the prisoner number from Auschwitz. He should have received a new prison number later. However, he died after only four days.

On 28 July 1945, a surviving prisoner, Julius Engel, sent a note to Vilhelm Gutfreundʼs wife stating that her husband had perished at Mauthausen. He gave the cause of death as blood poisoning. Jaromír Šimíček, a fellow prisoner, said that the following persons walked with him on the death march: „Jiří Popper, about 18 years old, whose father was a director in Kladno, Julius Engel, 18 years old, of Jewish nationality, from Písek, and a Gutfreund, perhaps Vilém, who was about 40 years old.“

His wife Elisa left Katowice on 14 March 1947, saying that she was returning to Switzerland. The daughter-in-law of her brother Leo stated that she visited Elisa in Blatná until 1968. Brother Rudolf died in Latin America in 1943, brother Leo survived the war. He died in Pilsen in 1974. His remains were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Pilsen.

Fellow prisoner Jiří Popper alias Jiří Pavel is the older brother of the famous writer Ota Pavel. The character of Jiří Pavel appeared in the famous film called Death of the Beautiful Deer, where he was portrayed by famous contemporary director Jiří Strach. Jiří Pavel is one of the 6 surviving Czech prisoners of the Auschwitz-Opava-Mauthausen march, just like Julius Engel and Jaromír Šimíček.

On 18 April 2024, a Stolperstein (a stone for the disappeared) was jointly deposited at the last address before his arrest (Katovice 182) by the representatives of the municipality of Katovice, the CEBENA – Journey of Helplessness and Hope association, Jan Bartošek – Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic – and Petr Papoušek – Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Czech Republic. This biography has been permanently placed on the web portal of the municipality of Katowice. The stone for disappeared Vilhelm Gutfreund is the second stone laid for the Czech prisoner of the Auschwitz-Opava-Mauthausen death march and transport. It took almost 80 years.

 

Vladimír Nevlud, Chairman of the CEBENA – cesta bezmoci a naděje (Journey of Helplessness and Hope association)

This biography is a part of the unique database of the traced prisoners from the Auschwitz-Opava-Mauthausen death march and transport, whose author is the chairman of the CEBENA – Journey of Helplessness and Hope association, Vladimír Nevlud. In the database of traced prisoners Vilhelm Gutfreund is listed under number 655.

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