Prewar Czech families: birthday; beach; skiing
Creator(s)
- Museum of Jewish Heritage
- Paul Mahrer (Subject)
- Sylvie Guttmannova (Subject)
- Steffi Guttman (Subject)
- Zuzana Guttmannova (Subject)
- Jerome Mahrer (Subject)
- František Stein (Camera Operator)
- Ervín Karel Stein (Subject)
Biographical History
Franticek (Frantzi) Stein is the sister of Steffi (Stein) Guttmann. Frantzi and his wife Mitzi did not survive the Holocaust,
Zuzanna (Suzi) Guttmannova was born on August 4, 1925. She lived in Prague at Vězeňská 9 and was deported to Terezin on May 7, 1942. She was transported to Sobibor on Transport AAi on June 13, 1942 and murdered.
Sylvie Guttmannova was born on April 7, 1929. She lived in Prague at Vězeňská 9. Sylvie kept a diary in the years 1941-1942, when she was aged 12 - 13, until her deportation with her family to the Terezin ghetto on May 7, 1942. From there she was sent one month later to the Sobibor death camp, from which she did not return. Also on that transport were her sister, Zuzana, and their parents, Simon (b. 16 February 1888) and Stepanka (b. 10 June 1895).
Štěpánka (Steffi) Gutmann (nee Stein) was born on June 10, 1895. Steffi lived in Prague at Vězeňská 9 and was deported to Terezin on May 7, 1942. She was transported to Sobibor on Transport AAi on June 13, 1942 and murdered.
Jerome (Jerry) Mahrer was born in New York in 1929 to Betty (Guttmann) Mahrer and Paul Mahrer, a soccer star on Czechoslovakia’s Olympic team who was playing for American leagues. The family returned to Prague. When businesses stopped serving Jews, Jerry, as an American citizen, was still allowed to go to stores and to the movies. When the family was deported, his father Paul was sent to Terezin. Jerry was interned at Tittmoning camp in Germany where he shared a dank room on the medieval castle’s top floor with his older brother, Peter, and 20 other Jews. Jerry and Peter survived the Holocaust. Jerry, now a retired guidance counselor, lives in Manhattan with his wife Carolyn.
Pavel (Paul) Mahrer (1900-1985), a professional soccer player, represented Czechoslovakia on the national soccer team in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. He travelled with the Jewish 'HaKoach' soccer team. Paul was married to Betty Guttmann (1900-1990). They had two children, Peter (b.1926) and Jerry (b.1929). Paul was imprisoned by the Nazis in Terezin after the German occupation of the Sudetenland. Though already over 40 when he was brought to the ghetto, he was still a well-known sports figure and ended up playing in Liga Terezin (the camp's soccer team) with other Jewish workers. His “salary” as a player was the ability to obtain better food portions. He survived the war and ended up in the United States, where he died in 1985.
Ervín Karel Stein was born on March 10, 1889. He lived in Prague XIX and was deported to Terezin on December 10, 1941. He was transported to Riga on Transport O on January 9, 1942 and murdered.
Scope and Content
Guttmann family picks vegetables from the garden in Bechyně (Continuation of RG-60.7181), eating. Suzi and Sylvie walk in the street with an older man (Simon?). Steffi and the two girls exit the sweet “Cukrářství” shop. INTs, birthday party for Suzi’s fourteenth birthday. Steffi brings in flowers and the cake. Suzi opens presents. CUs, sweets, cake with “14”. CU, her new watch (some soft shots). EXT, Girls and their mom carry baskets along the road. INTs man (Simon?) shaving. 01:02:15 EXTs Sylvie and her mother in bathing suits get into a row-boat for Sylvie’s swimming test. She passes and gets flowers on the dock. She poses with her instructor. 01:03:20 A young blonde girl is helped into a jacket by a woman. Sylvie walks towards the camera with a congratulatory bouquet of flowers with Guttmann relatives, including a dark-haired tall man. They joke around. 01:04:30 At the beach, they exercise, tumble, balance, knit, and sun-bathe. Man imitates the woman knitting. More shots of the Guttmann family relaxing on the grassy beach. Trick shots of Sylvie, she’s wrapped in a blanket and “thrashed” on the grassy beach. Sylvie is lifted by an athletic man, possibly Paul Mahrer. 01:06:05 Younger girls in folk costume perform a dance outdoors, possibly during the Tenth Sokol Congress in Prague in 1938. Steffi, Suzi, Sylvie, and Simon(?) Guttmann pose by their car, drinking. They walk in the country. Traveling views of the countryside from the vehicle. Residence in Bechyně. The girls walk on a path. The family seated on a wall, taking a walk, rowing on a lake at the summer resort. They swim. 01:08:50 Kodak logo. 01:08:53 Winter. Jerome (Jerry), Peter, and their father, Paul Mahrer, ski near Prague. Shaky shots of snow-covered houses. Kids on skis. The boys play in the snow and ski on a small hill, falling. The Mahrer and Guttmann families ski (for the camera), various views. End 01:13:57
Note(s)
The filmmaker alternated among turret lenses rendering different exposures. There were burn holes at the end of the final scene, serious scratches on both the film base and the emulsion, and a lot of embedded dirt that could not be removed through careful hand cleaning.
For more information about the Jewish-owned Foto-Kino Wachtl Praha, refer to https://www.holocaust.cz/dejiny/lide/obeti/od-cisel-k-pribehum/foto-kino-wachtl/ Sylvie kept a diary from the ages of 12-13 beginning on September 9, 1941 until her deportation with her family to the Terezin ghetto on May 7, 1942. From there she was sent one month later to the Sobibor death camp, from which she did not return. The diary was kept safe by a Krasnohorska school classmate of Sylvie's sister, Zuzana. The diary is now preserved by the Ghetto Fighters' House in Israel with translations in English available online and in the SSFVA files.
Subjects
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- JEWS
- FAMILIES
- BOATS
- DANCING
- BIRTHDAYS
- COSTUMES
- BEACHES
- SPORTS/GAMES
- SUMMER
- WINTER
- CZECHOSLOVAKIA
- VACATIONS
Places
- Prague, Czechoslovakia
- Bechyně, Czechoslovakia
Genre
- Film
- Amateur.