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Gütig Karel

Source: Národní archiv Praha, Policejní ředitelství v Praze – všeobecná spisovna, 1941-1950, sign. G 1272/4

* 3. 8. 1879
B 198 – 21. 10. 1941, Łódź

The doctor Karel Gütig was born in Prague to the merchant Ludvík and his wife Emilie, née Beständigová.

He studied medicine at Prague’s German University. He was clearly a keen student, as in 1900 the Police Directorate repeatedly attempted to ascertain his whereabouts on the basis of a request by the university library; Gütig had failed to return a number of borrowed books (on bacteriology, anatomy and chemistry, but also works by Nietzsche).

After his studies he left for the German town of Felde (in Schleswig-Holstein), apparently in order to gain work experience. During the First World War (in April 1916) he returned to Prague, where he lived briefly with his parents. At the beginning of May 1916 he was called up for military service and posted to the city of Moravská Ostrava, where he appears to have worked as a military doctor. After the war he did not return to Prague; instead he stayed in Ostrava, where he worked as a head physician at the hospital in the city’s Vítkovice district. As part of his work there, he attended a number of international conferences, mainly with a focus on surgery.

He did not return to Prague until July 1939; until September of the following year he lived in the city’s Letná district. In 1940 he moved to the Petřiny district and lived in the apartment of Karel Novotný, where he remained until his deportation. He was transported to Łódź in October 1941, and he died in the ghetto there.

The only item of his property to survive at Sychrov is a miniature with a portrait of Ignác Issuml.

Source: Národní archiv Praha, Policejní ředitelství v Praze – všeobecná spisovna, 1941-1950, sign. G 1272/4