Hugo Gutmann

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Hugo Gutmann during the First World War (1918)

Hugo Gutmann , later in the USA Henry G. Grant , (* 19th November 1880 in Nuremberg , Kingdom of Bavaria ; † 22. June 1962 in San Diego , California ) was a German- Jewish entrepreneurs , who in World War I as a lieutenant in the Bavarian Army was temporarily superior of Private Adolf Hitler .

Life

Gutmann's parents were Salomon and Emma Gutmann. His father founded an office furniture factory in 1878 . Gutmann did an apprenticeship at the Anton Kohn banking house. Gutmann did his military service from October 1902 as a one-year volunteer with the 8th Field Artillery Regiment of the Bavarian Army in Nuremberg. He was promoted to sergeant in July and released into the reserve at the end of September 1903 . He completed reserve and Landwehr exercises in June / July 1904, August / September 1907 and June / July 1911.

At the beginning of the First World War , he joined the I. Department of the Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 6 on August 5, 1914 (under the command of Colonel Maximilian Ebermayer and Lieutenant Colonel Hans Boelk) and was promoted to Deputy Sergeant on November 1 . On January 13, 1915 he was appointed adjutant in the III. Battalion of the 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant of the Landwehr on April 15. When he was regimental adjutant from the end of January 1918, he was represented by Lieutenant Oskar Döpping and Lieutenant Bruno Horn from May to mid-August.

On December 2, 1914, he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class, and on December 4, 1915, on the initiative of Anton Freiherr von Tubeuf , with the Iron Cross, First Class. He campaigned for Adolf Hitler, who had served under him from January 29 to August 31, 1918, to be decorated with the Iron Cross 1st class on August 4, 1918 near Soissons . From February 8, 1919 he was lieutenant in the reserve.

On January 6, 1920 Gutmann married Mathilde geb. Friedmann (1896–1982), the daughter of Joseph and Hermine Friedmann (1871–1943). They had a daughter and son Heinz Werner (later Howard Charles ; * September 6, 1922, † February 19, 2010 in Park Ridge (Illinois) ), who was a classmate of the future US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger .

Together with his brother, Gutmann took over his father's company at Vorderen Sterngasse 3 in Nuremberg, which over the years rose to become one of the largest manufacturers of office machines and office furniture in all of Germany.

From the spring of 1933 he received a pension as a war veteran. According to the Nuremberg Laws in September 1935, he lost his German citizenship and was removed from the veteran role - but kept his pension.

In July 1937 he was arrested by the Gestapo because of his relationship with the regime opponent Joseph E. Drexel . The police sergeant major Nikolaus Rieger (* March 2, 1898, † November 9, 1982 in Dietfurt) took care of him. Due to Gutmann's relationship with General Walter von Bergmann and the intervention of his former regimental comrade Josef Meyerhofer with Friedrich Wiedemann , he was released again.

At the end of 1938 he and his family fled to Belgium and in 1940 via France to Portugal . On May 14, 1940 they emigrated with the last train via Lisbon (August 28, 1940) on the Excalibur to the USA, where he settled in St. Louis (605 Clara Avenue), renamed himself Henry G. Grant and for the Underwood Elliott Fisher typewriter factory worked.

Hugo Gutmann stayed with Underwood until July 1942, after which he switched to the furniture industry. Hugo Gutmann's daughter studied at Washington University in St. Louis in 1946 .

literature

  • Hugo Gutmann and his savior Nikolaus Rieger. In: Leibl Rosenberg: Traces and Fragments. Jewish books, Jewish fates in Nuremberg. A joint exhibition by the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Nürnberg and the Nürnberg Stadtbibliothek to mark the 950th anniversary of Nürnberg. Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Nürnberg 2000, p. 123.
  • Thomas Weber: Hitler's First War. Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment and the First World War. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010.
    in German translation by Stephan Gebauer: Hitler's First War. Private Hitler in World War II. Myth and Truth. Propylaen, Berlin 2010.
    (reviewed by Ernst Piper under the title War experience of the Nazi dictator on Deutschlandradio Kultur )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hitler's regiment. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. August 10, 2014, accessed May 10, 2016 .
  2. ^ Werner F. Grebner: Private Adolf Hitler 1914-1920. The representation of Bavarian relationship networks. P. 89 f. (with reference to Bayer. Kriegsarchiv: Personal file Hugo Gutmann. OP 40983. )
  3. ^ Thomas Weber: Hitler's First War. Private Hitler in World War II. Myth and Truth. Propylaea, Berlin 2010, p. 238.
  4. ^ Hugo Gutmann, Nuremberg (November 19, 1980– June 22, 1962, San Diego / USA) (PDF; 100 kB) Rijo Research
  5. ↑ Mary Tedi Grant at Peace Cemetery, San Diego, Find A Grave
  6. ↑ Hermine Frye-Friedmann's obituary notice (PDF; 443 kB), structure , April 23, 1943
  7. ^ Grave stone of Hermine Friedmann Frye at the Peace Cemetery San Diego, Find A Grave
  8. ↑ Howard Charles Grant. Obituary . In: Chicago Sun-Times , February 21, 2010
  9. ↑ Aryanization: Nobody has anything to celebrate here . In: Der Spiegel . No. 52 , 1987 ( online ).
  10. ^ Hugo Gutmann: Escaped Three Times . JewishGen.
  11. ↑ E 10/24 - Ritter von Rudolph estate (with a copy of a letter from Henry G. Grant to Dr. Joseph Drexel, describing his persecution by the National Socialists and his emigration), Nuremberg City Archives
  12. ↑ Thomas Weber: Hitler's First War. Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War . Oxford 2010, p. 332. ( limited preview of Google Books )
personal data
SURNAME Gutmann, Hugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grant, Henry G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1962
Place of death San Diego , California , USA