Walter Schütz 1908 - 1942
Born 6.11.1908 in Liberec
Died 9.5.1942 in Mauthausen
Biography
Walter Schütz was born on 15 November 1908 in Liberec into the Jewish family of optician Friedrich Salomon Schütz and his wife Stefanie, née Kraus. The family owned the prosperous shop Optik Friedrich Schütz at Altstädterplatz 4, the oldest and most important of its kind in Liberec.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Walter became a certified ophthalmologist after his studies and worked in the family business. He actively identified with his Jewish heritage – in 1931 he became the first chairman of the Jewish youth association Bund jüdische Jugend (Berit Hanoar), founded by Rabbi Emil Hofmann. The association aimed to strengthen Jewish identity among young people and to deepen their knowledge of Judaism.
In 1934 Walter moved to Jablonec nad Nisou and on 25 December of the same year married Olga Amoday, the daughter of a Jewish-Croatian family. Their wedding took place in the synagogue of Jablonec. In 1937 the couple had a child, who, however, died one day after birth.
Rise of Nazism and loss of property
After 1933, antisemitic pressure increased in the border city of Liberec. The situation escalated especially after the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938. The family’s optical shop was aryanized and shortly after Kristallnacht (November 1938) confiscated by the Gestapo. The administrator of the seized property was Paul Schmidt, a German who had previously worked in the business. Walter and his family had to flee inland, to Mladá Boleslav, where many of their maternal relatives lived.
Deportation and death in Mauthausen
The exact circumstances of Walter Schütz’s arrest remain unknown. It is highly probable that he was involved in resistance activities, which led to his imprisonment in the concentration camp Mauthausen. This camp was classified as Category III – for prisoners considered “incorrigible” by the Nazis. Prisoners there were forced into hard labor in quarries or construction, which often amounted to a slow death sentence.
Walter Schütz died in Mauthausen on 9 May 1942 at the age of only 34. Official records cite “septic tonsillitis” as the cause of death. In reality, such diagnoses often disguised murders or deaths caused by exhaustion and inhumane conditions.
Walter’s wife, Olga Schütz, was deported from Mladá Boleslav to Terezín in January 1943 and a few days later further to Auschwitz II – Birkenau, where she vanished without a trace. She most likely became a victim of the Holocaust.
Walter Schütz was a young ophthalmologist from Liberec who actively embraced his Jewish identity and was engaged in the communal life of the local Jewish community. Nazi persecution deprived him of his family business and his home. In 1942 he perished in the concentration camp Mauthausen. His wife Olga did not survive deportation to Auschwitz. Their destinies became a tragic part of the annihilation of the Jewish community in Liberec and its surroundings.
Tereza Knoflíčková, researcher (2025)
Location In room
