Kurt Gutfreund papers

Kurt Gutfreund papers 

Kurt Gutfreund was born January 6, 1938 in Vienna, Austria to Heinrich (1899-1942) and Hildegard Grasel Gutfreund (1905-1988). Heinrich was Jewish and was deported to Maly Trostinets, near Minsk, on June 9, 1942 and killed six days later. Kurt and Hildegard went into hiding but were deported to Theresienstadt in January 1943. Hildegard worked cutting mica in the “glimmer factory,” and the two remained at Theresienstadt until it was liberated in 1945. Kurt’s unmarried aunt Renee Grasel, who was eight years younger than Hildegard and had become a Catholic, was able to send packages of food and clothing to her sister and nephew in Theresienstadt. After liberation, Kurt and his mother hitchhiked to Prague and then returned to Vienna in August. He immigrated to the United States in 1958 and settled in Chicago. 

Kurt Gutfreund papers