The Story of Villa Wittal – Part 2

Nazi Occupation and the Protectorate Period

Soon after the Nazi occupation, the Jewish family and business of the Wittals began to feel the effects of the anti-Jewish measures that were being implemented. Probably just a few days after the occupation, the Nazis seized the villa of Johann and Friederike Wittal, as on March 22, 1939, Johann Wittal filled out a notification form for tenants, replacing their previous address at Hroznová 39 with a new residence at Na Kopečku 9, on what is now Antonín Slávik Street. It appears that Johann and Friederike Wittal left their villa in an effort to secure housing in a very short time, moving into a rental house owned by their sister-in-law Ida Wittal. Their daughter Valeria was temporarily protected from the enforcement of anti-Jewish laws by her marriage to Otto Rudolf Schatz. The official seizure of the villa in favor of the Greater German Reich most likely occurred based on an order dated October 4, 1939. [78]

The interest of the Nazi apparatus did not escape the firm Brüder Wittal, which paradoxically operated under the same name, referring to the original owners, throughout the entire period of the Protectorate. As early as mid-April 1939, Johann Wittal was compelled to take measures in the company that can possibly be interpreted as an attempt to prevent the complete loss of control over his business while simultaneously addressing the pressing situation of the emigration of the other public partner Ferdinand Hájek: ,,In response to your request dated April 18, 1939, I grant you permission under the provisions of […] to give power of attorney to Mrs. Emílii Marii Hetschová, born on February 8, 1896, in Brno, associated with Brno, and for her to be recorded as such in the commercial register."[79] It likely involved some of the firm's employees who were of German nationality.[80] The newly appointed procurist had at that time the authority to represent the firm only jointly with the public partner Johann Wittal, thus collectively.

However, the intention of the Protectorate authorities was to fully control the company while also uncovering and legally resolving the ownership structure of the business. Therefore, on October 20, 1939, the management of the firm wrote to the District Civil Court describing the current situation: ,,[…] The other public partner Ferdinand Hájek is abroad. He left at the end of February or the beginning of March 1939, proclaiming that he does not wish to return to the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and also informed the company that he is withdrawing from the firm. Ferdinand Hájek settled in London and commissioned a London legal representative to conduct his affairs, particularly to request from the firm Brüder Wittal a request for his exit from the public commercial company of Brüder Wittal. […] However, the document has not yet been returned because the war between Germany and England and France has since broken out. Therefore, it cannot be recorded in the commercial register that Ferdinand Hájek withdrew from the firm as a public partner. However, the administration of the firm absolutely requires that, especially with regard to the Protector's regulations for Bohemia and Moravia dated June 21, 1939, the administration of this firm, as a Jewish firm, be exclusively in the hands of Aryans. Mrs. Emilie Hetschová has been appointed procurator and as an Aryan has also been approved by the Supreme Land Council […] I, the public partner of the firm Brüder Wittal - Jan Wittal - have decided thus, with regard to the Protector's decree dated June 21, 1939, to grant Mrs. Emilie Hetschová so-called general power of attorney and appoint her as the "commercial managing procurator" of the firm Brüder Wittal […] Signed Emilie Hetsch, Johann Wittal, lawyer Lochaman"[81] A few days later, on October 28, 1939, Emilie Hetschová thus became the commercial managing procurator.[82]

Still in October 1939, there is evidence of an effort to grant a power of attorney in the firm to a certain Adolf Černý.[83] However, the regional capital city of Brno responded to this request by declaring it moot, referring to provisions dated November 4, 1939, which appointed an administrator for the "Jewish registered company Brüder Wittal in Brno, Josefská 21."[84] The Reich Protector appointed a trader Franz Hoffmann as the administrator of the firm Brüder Wittal, residing at today’s Hybešova 39.[85] Thus, Johann Wittal lost all influence over his company.

The newly established administrator began implementing personnel purges in the firm, and thus on January 3, 1940, he addressed the district court with a statement, ,,that on January 1, 1940, Mrs. Emilie Hetsch left the service of the company" [86] and her name was thus to be removed from the commercial register. Another significant change during Hoffmann's administration was the removal from the commercial register of the still-listed partner Ferdinand Hájek. The removal was carried out in July 1940 based on a final judgment of the German district court.[87] The firm Brüder Wittal had to see more employees leave after the occupation. For example, in a post-war publication for German residents of Brno Brünner Heimatbote, a former employee of the firm published this appeal in 1962: "Mrs. Pnina Wormann, née Kahan, born April 8, 1911, from Brno, Křenová, submitted a request for compensation and provided the following information: After finishing state school, I was trained as a seamstress and worked for several seamstresses in Brno and finally received a job in 1933 in the clothing department of the firm Brüder Wittal, Brno, Josefská 27. When Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Germans, the Wittal brothers' business was Aryanized, I lost my job, and I had to emigrate." [88]

Franz Hoffmann remained as the appointed administrator for just under a year. In November 1940, he was dismissed and the new director of Brüder Wittal became Anton Stadlmann: ,,By the decree I C3 1166/40 Gestapo Brno dated November 11, 1940, I was appointed administrator of the company: First Brno production of aprons, blouses, and skirts Brüder Wittal in Brno, Josefská 21. I will act as administrator of the named company. I request the suspension of the authority of the owners of the company and the authority of the former administrator Franz Hoffmann, an entrepreneur in Brno, during my administration." [89]

Anton Stadlmann was born on February 27, 1893, in Žatec, and he identified with the Roman Catholic faith and German nationality. He had two daughters with his wife Hedwig Schroth, the first being Edith, born in 1922, and the younger Anna, born a year later. He came to Brno from Bratislava in 1922 and initially lived at Stará 17. From 1928, he then resided in Černovice at Spáčilova 12. In 1931, he left Černovice and returned to Stará Street. However, a year later, he reported his address as Ponávka 50. He then moved to Koliště 17. In 1936, he was listed in the directory as “director and book expert". After the occupation, in 1942, he moved to a family house at Tichého 20 in Brno's Žabovřesky. In the 1942 Protectorate directory, he had a bilingual advertisement published: ,,Dir. Anton Stadlmann, Buchprüfer und Steuerberater, Beethovenova 4/Director Anton Stadlmann book reviewer and tax advisor, Beethovenova 4." [90]

Soon after Stadlmann's appointment, a Christmas party for employees of the company Brüder Wittal was organized in the hall of the Astoria Hotel on December 21, 1940, which had an evidently propagandistic character: ,,After greetings from the company's chairman Cwrkala, who welcomed everyone present, the regional training manager DAF, Ing. Jericka, spoke about the meaning of Christmas as an expression of our national community. Manager Emil Kron compared the previous company with the current one, in which around 190,000 crowns were distributed in a very short time as donations for charitable purposes and 295,000 crowns in bonuses for employees. The district chairman Vogel, who also attended, gave a warm speech to the continuers of the firm. The rest of the evening was filled with musical accompaniment and a cheerful singing performance by vocal comedian Bistrický." [91]

During Stadlmann's administration, we can observe a certain shift in the visual expression of the firm Brüder Wittal, which began to use illustrated elements in advertising, especially stylized figures of a boy and girl presenting the offered children's clothing. [92]

However, Stadlmann did not remain in the position of administrator of the firm Brüder Wittal for long either. On May 22, 1942, a purchase contract was signed, under which the new owner of the firm became the German trader Friedrich Bartholomä. He was born on September 26, 1897, in Sackenheim and came to Brno from Vienna in 1941. Bartholomä was married to Hilde Gemkow and identified with the Protestant faith.

Shortly after Bartholomä became the owner of the firm Brüder Wittal, he changed his residence from the current Muchova 6 to the Aryan property at today’s Mášova 23a.[93] The new owner of the firm Brüder Wittal informed Brno customers through newspaper advertisements, also announcing that continuity in the name of the established company was maintained: ,,I hereby announce that with the approval of Mr. Reich Protector, I Aryanized the firm Brüder Wittal, manufacturer of children's clothing and linen, Brno, Josefská number 21, and I will operate this enterprise under the name Brüder Wittal, owner F. Bartholomä. With all due respect F. Bartholomä – owner of Brüder Wittal." [94]

In the first months of managing the enterprise, Bartholomä was evidently required to deal with necessary staffing solutions, as during August 1942 he published several advertisements seeking ,,urgent home seamstresses and workshops for regular work on children's and girls' clothing," [95] and also the first handler for conducting large-scale production of children's clothing: ,,We require experience and strength with good taste and longer practice. Knowledge of German desired - but not required. Applications with transcripts of certificates, photographs, and salary demands to: Factory for children's clothing and aprons Brüder Wittal owner F. Bartholomä, Brno – Josefská 21" [96]

Bartholomä remained the owner of the firm Brüder Wittal only until December 1943, when a new director was appointed, the former procurator of the company Emil Kron.[97] The reason for appointing a new director was said to be Bartholomä's conviction by the regional court in Brno. We learn about this from a letter from the new management of the firm from September 1944: ,,The former owner of the firm Mr. Friedrich Bartholomä was sentenced to a long prison term by the German regional court in Brno on March 15. The address of the prison is unknown to us and can only be provided to you by the German prison in Brno." [98]

Emil Kron, previously mentioned, was born in Uhřiněves on January 20, 1903, and since the mid-1920s moved between Brno and Hamburg. In Brno, he also married Anna Schuster, with whom he had a daughter named Charlotte in 1944. Since 1942, the Kron couple lived at Tichého 18, right next to Anton Stadlmann.

The last owners of the firm Brüder Wittal during the Protectorate, based on a purchase agreement dated July 29, 1944, became a pair of traders Hans Lang, residing in Brno at Merhautova 3, and Anton Brandmayr from Prague.[99] A significant personnel change in the firm, implemented even during the war, occurred on March 2, 1945, when the owners informed the Regional Court that the procurator Emil Kron had left the company.[100]

While the Wittal brothers' firm underwent the aforementioned changes during the occupation, Nazi persecution also fell upon individual members of the family. The unemployed[101] Johann Wittal, who found temporary shelter in his sister-in-law's rental house after leaving his villa in March 1939, had to leave this address as well in September 1940. Ida Wittal's apartment building on Antonín Slávik Street 9 was also Aryanized and became property of the Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia.[102]

With the change of residence, Johann Wittal was therefore forced to fill out a notification form again on September 2, 1940, in which he stated his new residence, this time in a rental house at the current Kpt. Jaroš Street 30.[103] Probably just a few days later, Ida Wittal herself had to leave her house, filling out her notification form on September 17, 1940. According to it, she moved from Antonín Slávik Street to her daughter Edith and son-in-law Siegfried Soffer's house at today’s Štefanikova 66.

The rental house at Kpt. Jaroš Street 30 ultimately became the last Brno residence of Johann and Friederike Wittal. On January 28, 1942, they were included in transport U heading to Terezín. Ida Wittal was also included in the same transport. Just two months later, on March 31, 1942, their older daughter Edith Soffer, along with her family, husband Siegfried and sons Robert and Felix Tomas, was included in the transport marked Af.

The younger daughter of Adolf and Ida Wittal, Ilse Loria, apparently attempted to escape from Czechoslovakia through Italy. According to the Yad Vashem database, she was murdered in Auschwitz.[104] After the war, her first husband Ferdinand Hájek searched for her fate. Based on his request, the district court in Brno issued a resolution on October 6, 1947, declaring her dead.[105]

Johann Wittal survived in the Terezín ghetto for less than three months. He died on April 13, 1942, at “Kavaler 63, Zimmer 77" at 11:30 AM.[106] In the death certificate drawn up by the prison doctor Dr. Jonász, bronchitis was diagnosed, and the specific cause of death was Adynamia Cordis/heart failure. Five days later, transported from Terezín to the Rejowiec concentration camp were Ida Wittal and her daughter Edith Soffer with her husband and children. All perished there. Johann's wife Friederike was imprisoned in Terezín until October 19, 1942. She was then deported to Treblinka, where she died. [107]

Thanks to her mixed marriage, only Valeria Schatz avoided transport, who left with her husband Otto Rudolf to Prague in 1940. Her son from her first marriage, Robert Aschkenes, was deported from Brno on March 23, 1942, to Terezín and later to the Piaski concentration camp, where he was murdered. [108]

Significant changes also occurred during the Protectorate in the use of the Wittal villa on Hroznová Street. It is still not entirely clear who specifically used the property from March 1939, when its owners left, until 1942, when specific names appear in the protectorate address book at the address. In the documentation of the Brno Water and Sewerage, there is a note dated February 17, 1942, at Hroznová 39: ,,"new owner Gestapo, vom 1941."[109] The names from the protectorate address book of Brno also point to the Brno Gestapo office.[110] Three people stated their address at Hroznová 39, namely Heinrich Motička, occupation clerk, Felix Rühl, clerk, and Otto Schrader, also a clerk. The trio of mentioned individuals could logically correspond to the number of apartments in the villa.

As for Felix Rühl, the Brno City Archive has preserved only one of his police registrations from May 6, 1943. According to it, Rühl was born on December 1, 1877, in Berlin to Wilhelm and Amalie Rühl. He identified with the Protestant faith, his wife was probably Liselotte Rühl, and from his native Berlin, he was to move to Hroznová 39 in Brno on June 5, 1943. As his occupation, he stated customs inspector.

The name of the second of the clerks listed in the address book at Hroznová 39, Otto Schrader, appears more frequently in a post-war protocol drawn up by criminal council Otto Koslowski, head of the Brno Gestapo department. Schrader was to be a police inspector in Brno during the Protectorate, and from 1941 he was part of the martial court in Brno: ,,As the head of the protocol, police inspector Schrader was present at all sessions of the martial court, which also managed the administration of the martial court in Brno, preparing judgments, communications with the command of the security police and other agencies."[111] His role in court was by no means insignificant: ,,The head of the protocol played an important function, through whose hands passed all proposals for referral to the martial court. After their editing, he handed them over to W. Nöllem, who approved and regularly signed them in blue pencil. He then ensured the proceedings of the martial court and handed over the convicted to execution. For the first martial law, this position was held by police inspector Otto Schrader, who was replaced by police inspector Hans Steiner for the second." [112] Otto Schrader was born on February 8, 1913, in Strasbourg and was married to Gertrude Pietsch, who was two years younger. He listed his arrival date at Hroznová 39 as July 12, 1939.

The name of the third person listed in the 1942 address book at Hroznová 39, Heinrich Motička, or Jindřich Motyčka, was mentioned during the Protectorate in the newspaper Volksdeutsche Zeitung in an article from October 1, 1943, where Jindřich Motyčka is identified as the janitor. The newspaper reported on a curious accident that Motyčka suffered directly in the villa building: ,,An unusual accident occurred yesterday at noon to janitor Heinrich Motyčka in the cellar of the house at Hroznová 39 in Brno. While unloading coal, which was thrown into the cellar from the street through the cellar window, Motyčka, for unknown reasons, fell into the coal, which buried him up to his chest. Firefighters had to be called to his rescue. Motyčka, who suffered internal injuries, was then taken by DRK to an injury hospital." [113]

Jindřich Motyčka was born on July 13, 1909, in Jehnice near Brno, to Karl Motyčka and Marie née Vaculová. The Brno City Archive has preserved a total of 11 notification forms and police registrations from 1936 to 1942 that reflect his frequent moves around Brno and thus his complicated social background. Motyčka came to Brno from the village of Višňové near Moravský Krumlov and was married to Žofia Nováková. According to the notification form, he was reported to have moved to Hroznová 39 on April 7, 1942, from his previous residence at Josefská 15. As the name of the person he was renting from at his new residence, Motyčka listed the aforementioned police commissioner Otto Schrader on the notification form.[114] Thus, Schrader evidently lived in the building even before April 1942.

From the above, one can infer that the two central apartments in the villa were occupied from 1942, or at least from 1943, by Otto Schrader and Felix Rühl, while Motyčka lived in the basement apartment of the janitor and held this position there since 1942. In the household form from September 15, 1943, Motyčka stated that he lived at Hroznová with his wife Žofie, as well as daughters Jindřiška, Ludmila, and son Jaroslav, who was born on March 28, 1945.

However, we learn much more about Jindřich Motyčka from post-war documents. The Brno Rovnost published an article on February 12, 1947, about the trial of two informers from the Brno Zbrojovka, in which Motyčka was the main actor: "On Monday, the senate of Dr. Slabihoudek dealt with the case of two former clerks of the Brno Zbrojovka who became informers for the Gestapo during the occupation. The coarser of the two was Jindřich Motyčka from Brno, Hroznová 39, who was accused of being a member of the Fascist National Party and of participating in anti-Jewish demonstrations, where he played the role of a mourning rabbi. In March 1943, Motyčka committed the crime of denouncing by prompting the Gestapo to pursue Karel Blažek, a railway employee in Skalica nad Svitavou, who had hidden several weapons. In March 1943 and February 1944, Motyčka reported five co-workers, namely Jaroslav Kočí, František Pila, Karel Šlaman, František Jakubec, and František Zpěváček, all to the commander of ABW Horák for anti-German remarks and thinking and for defaming the German army. Motyčka was joined on the defendants' bench by Ferdinand Kupka, last known to reside in Brno, Javorová 6. Unlike Motyčka, Kupka was forced into his informant activities by the Gestapo after his arrest." […] Some misunderstanding between the various Gestapo reports, however, led to Blažek being arrested and executed. […] After a hearing that stretched into the late afternoon hours, the court passed the verdict: Motyčka was sentenced to life imprisonment, and no sentence was imposed on Kupka." [115]

Documentation from Motyčka's post-war trial is preserved in the records of the Extraordinary People's Court, now kept in the Moravian State Archive, as well as an extensive file stored in the Archive of Security Forces.[117] The trial named Ferdinand Kupka and others took place in Brno between 1946 and 1947. From the preserved records and interrogation protocols, Motyčka's life can be reconstructed just before the occupation and the emergence of the Protectorate, where we also learn additional contexts relating to the Wittal villa property.

According to his testimony given on August 10, 1945, at the Brno Directorate of National Security, he stated that after graduating from school, around 1925, he apprenticed in the mixed goods store of Jan Viliš in Brno. After his apprenticeship, he was employed as a salesperson and office staff, and in 1930 he was drafted into the military. After returning from military service, Motyčka tried to start his own business in Brno, but he had to close his shop ,,"after half a year due to a terrible financial situation."[118] Since 1933 he had been unemployed and earned his living as a worker in various Brno factories. His last job was in 1938 at the Brno plastic molding factory A. De Witte on Václavská Street. In 1938, Motyčka stated, at least according to his words, that he participated in one of the anti-German demonstrations in Brno, for which he was fired from the company, and until the Nazi occupation, he was unemployed.

His ideological turn was said to have happened on the day of the Nazi occupation when he allegedly became a distributor of Fascist newspapers Národní tábor, and from then on actively collaborated with Brno fascists. As he stated in the interrogation protocol: ,,I joined the NTF party around April 1939 and remained in it until its liquidation. […] I also wore a fascist uniform. […]"[119] Together with Ladislav Kobzink, he was to undertake a fascist propaganda expedition to Třebíč and also actively participated in several anti-Jewish demonstrations in Brno. He attempted to downplay his participation and guilt in these actions during the interrogation: ,,I admit that I participated in about five anti-Jewish demonstrations in Brno in April and May 1939 as a newspaper vendor. It is not true that I was a direct participant in the demonstrations, i.e., that I might have hit someone. […]"[120] However, witness testimonies clearly confirmed Motyčka's agility in anti-Jewish demonstrations: ,,When I arrived on Kobližná Street, I saw pedestrians in the streets of Brno gathering in front of a café on the corner of Dvořáková Street and Jízdárenská. I also stayed in front of that café and realized that the fascists were rampaging in that café. Among those fascists, I recognized Jindřich Motyčka, who also participated in those fascist demonstrations in a fascist uniform, with a stick in hand."[121]

As evidence for his trial, a photograph from one of those demonstrations organized by fascists in the spring of 1939 was also used. The demonstration was framed as a symbolic funeral for Brno's Jewry, consisting of a funeral procession, in which Motyčka, disguised as a Jewish rabbi, was leading. Behind him walked four individuals carrying a coffin, followed by the procession of other demonstrators with banners inscribed with slogans such as: ,,Czech people awaken at the Jewish funeral" or ,,Jews out, Palestine is your land!" Despite the photograph taken, Motyčka again tried to deny his guilt during the interrogation: ,,[…] To the presented photo, marked E I declare on my honor: When I one time came to the NTF secretariat in Brno, Joštova Street, I was intoxicated by the NTF leader Marek and as such I was then dressed in Jewish attire. On the attached snapshot, the figure representing a Jewish rabbi is me. I was violently dressed in that garment by Marek. Where he acquired these clothing components, I do not know. When asked what book I hold in my hand, I answer that I do not remember what book it was today. This procession representing the funeral of Jewry, if I remember correctly, departed from the NTF secretariat. I no longer remember the direction of the procession, and I justify this by the fact that I was under the heavy influence of alcohol. The procession represented an anti-Jewish demonstration. When further asked why a coffin was carried in this procession, I respond that the meaning of this is unknown to me." [122]

In the summer of 1939, Motyčka obtained employment at the Brno Zbrojovka, where he began his informant activities. Motyčka described this during the interrogation as follows: ,,After the positive handling of this request, I started a position at Zbrojovka in July 1939. At first, I was employed there as a worker. In 1940, I became clerical staff. I achieved this career advancement at Zbrojovka through my diligence and abilities after successfully passing the required exams. In 1940 my department head František Horák called me into his office, convincing me that as a fascist, I was obliged to cooperate with him and that my promise, which all Zbrojovka employees made, obliged me to pay attention to what was being discussed among Zbrojovka employees and to bring him those reports." […]"[123]

Numerous witness testimonies from Zbrojovka employees clearly demonstrated Motyčka's guilt.[124] For instance, a former employee Otakar Nový testified: ,,Immediately at the time of the occupation, just after the occupation of Brno by the German army, a certain Motyčka brought a squad of Gestapo men into Zbrojovka - into my workshop, whom I recognized at that occasion, who occupied all entrances and burst into the office located in the workshop with guns drawn. […] In the office, a picture of President T.G. Masaryk decorated in national colors still hung on the wall. The Gestapo men ordered that this picture and the national-colored decorations be removed, left and left Motyčka as the supervisor in the workshop. […] On Monday morning, when I came back to my office, I discovered that the picture of President T.G. Masaryk had been thrown to the ground and trampled on, as had the corresponding national-colored decorations. Instead of the picture of our president, a picture of Hitler and a large swastika hung on the wall. Motyčka and two newly appointed German officials were already present in the office. I believe that only Motyčka damaged and defiled the picture, of whom I inquired what kind of a person he was, and I was told that he was a versatile criminal, a fascist who had been assigned to Zbrojovka only at the will of the occupying authorities. […] As I remember, Motyčka denounced a total of about 26 of my compatriots. Some of them, whose names I do not remember today, were taken into custody and tortured here. Whether any of them lost their life, I do not know. […]"[125] Similarly, another Zbrojovka employee, Jan Hlavica, described Motyčka's agility with the words: ,,I recognized Jindřich Motyčka from his employment at Zbrojovka. Jindřich M. boasted in the office about how he beat Jews on Koliště and that he drove around with the Gestapo carrying out inspections. He would say of every individual who did not greet with an uplifted right hand that they belonged in prison." [126]

However, the most significant aspect of the trial against Motyčka was his denunciation from 1943. At that time, he informed on a railway employee Karel Blažek from Skalica nad Svitavou for possessing weapons. This was also confirmed by a former Gestapo member Wolfgang Dyck: ,,I was employed from July 28, 1939, in Brno. I worked in the intelligence department. Around March 1943, informant Motyčka, employed at that time at Zbrojovka, presented a report to Gestapo member Max Sedláček that a certain Blažek, who is employed in the workshops at the train station in Skalica, has hidden weapons. Max Sedláček turned to me with a note that agent Motyčka is not capable of this task and that he could send agent Kupka after Blažek." [127]

Motyčka's denunciation became fatal for Karel Blažek. Upon his arrest, he was sentenced to death, which was carried out on April 18, 1944, in Dresden.

It was probably Motyčka's informant activities that secured him the janitor apartment in the Wittal villa: ,,For 4 years, starting from 1941, I was the janitor of the house at Hroznová Street 39, where in February 1945, a Gestapo employee named Kozlowski moved in. I did not maintain any personal contacts with him. I admit that forced by circumstances, I greeted with an uplifted right hand without accompanying words." [128]

The aforementioned Gestapo agent Wolfgang Dyck even suggested in one of his testimonies that Motyčka's apartment at Hroznová could have become a place for conspiratorial meetings: ,,I met the presented Motyčka probably in the spring of 1944 […] In the apartment, I myself was not with him. Whether Sedláček was in Motyčka's apartment I do not know for certain. However, during our conversation at the office on Jánská Street, Sedláček told me twice that he was going to Pisárky, that he had a meeting with Motyčka. However, I do know for sure that Sedláček maintained continuous contact with Motyčka and kept him in records as V-man." [129]

Motyčka was sentenced for his informant activities to life imprisonment on February 10, 1947, by post-war press, and was then transferred to the prison for men in Mírov. However, the original sentence was later reduced to 20 years due to a presidential pardon on March 11, 1954. After serving half of his sentence, Jindřich Motyčka was released on May 31, 1955.

In his testimony, Motyčka stated that in February 1945, even the criminal council of the Brno Gestapo, SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Koslowski, moved into the Wittal villa. This was also confirmed during Motyčka's trial by former administrative clerk of Zbrojovka František Horák, " […]last known residence with the head of the German secret state police Kozlowski in Brno, Hroznová Street." [130]

It is known that after his arrival in Brno, Koslowski lived with his wife and son in the villa of siblings Otto and Mořic Eisler on Neumannova Street 10. According to the land registry, this property became the property of the well-known Brno industrialist in foundry Herbert Storek on June 18, 1944: ,,On June 18, ownership rights were granted to Ing. Herbert Stork." [131] Storek reported the change of residence to Neumann 10 on January 31, 1945. The change of residence for Koslowski at the beginning of 1945 and the move from Neumannova to Hroznová 39 therefore most likely relate precisely to the change in ownership of the Eisler brothers' villa.

Koslowski undoubtedly lived at Hroznová in one of the two central apartments and probably replaced Felix Rühl there. In the household form for Liselotte Rühl, the date of deregistration from Hroznová 39 is stated as January 13, 1945, which almost coincides with Koslowski's arrival.

Koslowski and Motyčka then lived there until April 1945.[132] During the liberation battles, the property was probably already empty. The defects on parts of the southern façade of the villa and on the steel columns of the fence probably originate from this time. [133]

After his capture and arrest in September 1946 in Gladebach, Koslowski stated in the interrogation protocol from April 1, 1947, that his last Brno residence was indeed Hroznová 39. [134]

Approximately at the same time that Koslowski moved into the villa at Hroznová 39, according to Motyčka's testimony, Valeria Schatz was eventually deported to Terezín. In the Terezín cart filing, she is listed under transport AE3, dispatched on February 11, 1945, from Prague. Her last residence before deportation was Prague, Příkop Street number 7, but her place of origin – probably after marrying Otto Rudolf Schatz – was Vienna. In the Terezín ghetto, she was accommodated at Haupstrasse 10, later Hauptstrasse 14, and she also waited for liberation in Terezín. Her husband, painter Otto Rudolf Schatz, was interned probably already in 1944: ,,In 1944/45, he was arrested and interned in various labor camps and in the Gräditz concentration camp. In a series of drawings, he captured scenes of everyday life in the camp and Nazi terror." [135] In 1945, Schatz was to return to Vienna, where he was particularly encouraged by Viktor Matejka, a former city councilor responsible for cultural affairs. [136]

continuation – part 3 "After the War" →

References

78. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
79. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
80. Emilie Hetschová, together with her husband, electrical engineer Bedřich Hetsch, belonged to the German residents of Brno's Černovice, see https://is.muni.cz/th/nk9k8/bakalarska_prace.pdf. After the war, the couple were not expelled. On the contrary, they gained Czechoslovak citizenship and continued to live in Brno.
81. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
82. Idem.
83. Could this be Adolf Černý, born June 7, 1897, who was a tailor?
84. Idem.
85. According to a description from the Oberlandrat in Brno, Franz Hoffmann was appointed administrator of the firm from November 17, 1939.
86. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
87. ,,In the name of the German people!"… 1.) The defendant withdrew from the Brüder Wittal company in Brno as a personally liable partner of the plaintiff on November 22, 1939. 2.) The defendant is further obliged to tolerate an entry in the commercial register stating that as a personally responsible partner, Ferdinand Hájek left the Brüder Wittal company. 3.) The defendant is further obliged to pay the costs of the proceedings set at 68 RM 77 Rpi within 14 days of the execution of the enforcement. 4.) The subject of the dispute is set at 10,000 crowns. Reasons for the decision: It is undisputed between the parties that Brüder Wittal is an open trading company and one of the open trading partners is the Jew Ferdinand Hájek, previously in Brno, currently unknown residence abroad. According to the entry in the commercial register dated December 13, 1939, the suing company is under trust management. The administrator is Franz Hoffmann, a merchant in Brno. The disputed facts are as follows: With the lawsuit mentioned above, the plaintiff is seeking a determination that the defendant is no longer a partner of the company and bases the lawsuit on the fact that the defendant had an investment in the company amounting to approximately 400,000 crowns. Prior to the turning point that occurred in March 1939, the defendant fled abroad and settled the claims of Brüder Wittal worth over a million crowns there. The defendant himself declared that he was leaving the company as a partner and that the accusations of a foreign exchange offense that caused the company serious disadvantage remained without result. By withdrawing over 1,000,000 crowns, the defendant canceled and exhausted his investment and all his claims of any kind against. […] Given this, he cannot be considered a partner of the company, as he clearly acted against the interests and even to the detriment of the company by thefts considerably exceeding 1,000,000, which constitutes a foreign exchange offense and under domestic laws must be prosecuted. The defendant also harmed the firm in other ways. The company was involved in the Kroko company in Copenhagen and had patents and property there. Without the knowledge of the plaintiff, the defendant, under the pretext of a continuing open partner, terminated the plaintiff's share in the Kroko company in Copenhagen, gifting all rights to design and patents to this company and thereby causing the Brüder Wittal company immense harm. The defendant continues his activities abroad under the false and untrue claim that he remains a shareholder of the plaintiff and seeks primarily to recover claims of the company in the Netherlands. Therefore, an investigation was initiated by the secret police. […] Given that the Jewish laws that were published prevent the defendant from remaining in the company, measures must be taken against the defendant to end his illegal extortion by considering him a person who left the plaintiff company. For these reasons, it is therefore established that the defendant lost his investment of 400,000 crowns by leaving the territory of the former republic before the political coup on March 15, 1939, and relocating abroad by making withdrawals abroad valued at over 1,000,000 crowns, and that he acted against the interests of the suing company, because without the knowledge and consent of the Brüder Wittal company, he enforced the company's claims abroad and thus committed a foreign exchange offense." MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
88. Brünner Heimatbote, April 2, 1962, year 14, no. 8.
89. Letter from November 16, 1940, from Anton Stadlmann addressed to the District Court. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
90. Adressbuch der Landeshauptstadt Brünn, 1942, year 51.
91. Morgenpost, December 25, 1940, year 75, no. 304.
92. The oldest such drawing in the advertising of the firm Brüder Wittal, which was then used in the following years, I recorded in paid advertising in the Theater Sheets of the National Theatre in Brno from August 30, 1941.
93. The rental house on Mášova Street 23a was built in 1937, and its builder was Karl Sinek. In 1941, it came under the ownership of the Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia. MZA, fund B 392 – Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia, box 18, inv. no. 399.
94. Moravská orlice, June 3, 1942, year 80, no. 130.
95. Moravská orlice, August 9, 1942, year 80, no. 188.
96. Lidové noviny, August 16, 1942, year 50, no. 415.
97. Emil Kron is mentioned as the manager of the company already in an article from 1940 about the Christmas party that took place.
98. MZA, fund C 11 – District Civil Court Brno, box 115, sig. A XI 42.
99. Idem.
100. Idem.
101. While until then Johann Wittal declared his occupation in official documents as a merchant, in the last notification form from September 1940, he already wrote the note ,,unemployed".
102. MZA, fund B 392 – Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia, carton 4, inv. no. 72.
103. Johann Wittal stated in the notification form of September 2, 1940 the address ,,V Aleji 30/II." He presumably occupied either apartment number II or the II floor in the building.
104. See https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/11203264
105. ,,By the valid decision of the District Court civil XIX for Brno city, dated October 6, 1947, at the request of Ferdinand Hájek, residing in Maryport, Ilse Loriová, née Wittalová, Jewish religion, last residing in Brno, is declared dead as of December 31, 1941. The probable place of death is Italy." See https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=c00d8152-211e-4139-98d6-6bffb642ea26&scan=4e7cbecc3d61d862653782f84dcbbca4
106. Death certificate of Johann Wittal see, https://www.holocaust.cz/databaze-obeti/obet/134999-jan-wittal/
107. The architect Heinrich Blum was also deported from Brno on April 4, 1942, to Terezín and from there on April 27, 1942, to Izbica, where he perished.
108. See https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=7c2e2123-5cc6-4025-a125-9e7a07874380&scan=e3826ea0df590599ae64807e50913992 and also https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=7c2e2123-5cc6-4025-a125-9e7a07874380&scan=e3826ea0df590599ae64807e50913992
109. Archive of BVK, Hroznová 39.
110. It was by no means only the Wittal villa that served Gestapo employees on Hroznová Street. At the address Hroznová 7, from July 25, 1940, also lived Dr. Walter Marquort, head of the internal department of the Regional Hospital in Brno since 1940. Marquort was a furious Nazi who from the spring of 1944 served as a contract doctor for the Brno Gestapo. He personally participated in the executions of prisoners in Kounicovy koleje and had a share in several operations against partisans in various places in Moravia. ,,At every execution, Marquort was present, who ascertained the death of the executed."
111. See https://www.jurickuvmlyn.cz/koslowski/
112. Adressbuch der Landeshauptstadt Brünn, 1942, year 51.
113. Volksdeutsche Zeitung, October 1, 1943, year 93, no. 271.
114. Police registration of Jindřich Motyčka from April 9, 1942. Their cohabitation in the building at Hroznová 39 was also confirmed by the employee of the Brno Gestapo Wolgang Dyck in his post-war testimony: ,,[…] In 1943, police inspector Schrader also lived in the house where Motyčka lived." MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
115. Rovnost, February 12, 1947, year 63, no. 36. Similarly in: Slovo národa, February 11, 1947, year 3.
116. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
117. ABS, fund Department of Political Intelligence MV.
118. Protocol drawn up on August 10, 1945, at the Directorate of National Security with Jindřich Motyčka. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
119. Protocol drawn up on August 10, 1945, at the Directorate of National Security with Jindřich Motyčka. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
120. Idem.
121. Protocol drawn up on November 5, 1945, with Alois Novák. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
122. Protocol drawn up on June 12, 1946, in Brno with Jindřich Motyčka, who was transferred from the internment camp in Bohunice. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
123. Protocol drawn up on August 10, 1945, at the Directorate of National Security with Jindřich Motyčka. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
124. Motyčka had a reputation as an informer also in the vicinity of his residence on Hroznová Street. Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, from the neighboring building Hroznová 41, recalled her father's memory regarding the Wittal villa and the period of the Protectorate: ,,There lived a terrible bastard who was always lurking around." [...] He also lurked around our home, and my father could not get rid of him at all. And everyone paid close attention to him." Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
125. Protocol drawn up with captain in reserve Otakar Nový, Moravská Třebová, February 28, 1946. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
126. Protocol drawn up on November 6, 1945, with Jan Hlavica. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
127. National Security Corps, Station Commander in Skalica nad Svitavou, October 17, 1945. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
128. Protocol drawn up on November 6, 1945, with Jan Hlavica. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
129. National Security Corps, Station Commander in Skalica nad Svitavou, October 17, 1945. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
130. Excerpt of the protocol drawn up on June 26, 1945, with František Horák. MZA, fund C 141 – Extraordinary People's Court, carton 143, sign. Lsp 120/46.
131. Excerpt from the land registry of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Křížová, vol. ownership no. 1800.
132. In the household form from September 15, 1943, Motyčka stated the birth of his youngest son Jaroslav, and as the date of his registration at Hroznová 39, he wrote April 4, 1945.
133. According to oral communication from Mr. Mikuláš Maťátko from the neighboring building Hroznová 37, the defects in the fence columns between the gardens of Hroznová 37 and 39 originated from the battles for Brno in April 1945. This was partially confirmed by the statement from Mrs. Iva Šenkýřová from Hroznová 41: ,,The Germans were buried at Juránka, in that hill, and here were already the Russians, and they were shooting at each other. We were hit by a grenade in the upstairs room, and it broke off completely." Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
134. Protocol drawn up with the presented Otto Kozlowski, former criminal council, head of department IV/Ko and SS - Hauptsturmführer of the Gestapo in Brno, born April 17, 1900, in Riesenburg, […] married, takes care of wife Elisabeth and son Jan, living last in Brno, Hroznová 39 […]"
135. Günter Eisenhut in: Ausst. Cat. Graz, Modern, 2001, p. 62, 321, 385.
136. See https://www.ottorudolfschatz.at/en/biography