Berthold Guthmann, born in 1893 in
Eich, studied law in
Freiburg and
Gießen before volunteering for military service in the
Imperial German Army after the outbreak of the First World War, as did his two brothers. His brother Sally was killed in action at
Verdun while his other brother, Eduard, survived the war and later emigrated to the United States. After joining the
Luftstreitkräfte, the Imperial German Air Service, Guthmann became an observer and gunner and was awarded the
Iron Cross Second Class for his bravery, serving in the
Schutzstaffel 3 and attaining the rank of a
Leutnant of the
Landwehr. After the war Guthmann became an attorney in
Wiesbaden,
Hesse, the city having had a sizeable Jewish community of 2,700 when the Nazis came to power in 1933. He was arrested and briefly sent to
Buchenwald concentration camp after the
Kristallnacht. Released from there, Guthmann and his son Paul were assaulted and badly injured in November 1939. Guthmann and his family were one of three Jewish families initially spared when the Jewish community of Wiesbaden was deported to
Theresienstadt concentration camp in September 1942. In late 1942 the remaining Jews in Wiesbaden were arrested and moved to a camp at Frankfurt. Initially deported to Theresienstadt, Berthold Guthmann was killed at
Auschwitz concentration camp on 30 September 1944, almost immediately after his arrival. His son Paul was killed at
Mauthausen concentration camp in March 1945. His wife Klara and daughter Charlotte survived
the Holocaust. Charlotte Guthmann (later Opfermann) emigrated to the United States, where she ultimately published two books about the Holocaust and her experiences in Germany and at Theresienstadt. ==References==