Gutmannová, Františka (1899 - 1944)

Born 1899. Died 1944 in Auschwitz. Baroness Františka Gutmannová (neé Mayová) was the wife of the industrial magnate Vilém Gutmann, co-owner of Gebrüder Gutmann. Amongst other things, this company owned coal mines in Upper Silesia and, with the Rothschilds, founded what is now the Vítkovice Ironworks. Vilém Gutmann emigrated before the outbreak of war. Františka remained alone in Prague with her four children Eliška, Zuzana, Gertruda and František. During WWII she worked for the Jewish Community in Prague, in the stock of the Treuhandstelle. In the summer of 1944, together with her children, she was arrested by the Gestapo unknown reasons. After being inprisoned in Prague's Pankrác Prison and the Small Fortress in Terezín, they were all – with the exception of František who had died five days earlier – sent to Auschwitz in October 1944. According to available information, Eliška was the only one to survive.