Overview
- Description
- 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 - Duration
- 00:13:57
- Date
-
Event:
1938
- Locale
-
Bechyně,
Czechoslovakia
Prague, Czechoslovakia
- Credit
- Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Museum of Jewish Heritage
- Contributor
-
Camera Operator:
František Stein
Subject: Zuzana Guttmannova
Subject: Sylvie Guttmannova
Subject: Steffi Guttman
Subject: Jerome Mahrer
Subject: Paul Mahrer
Subject: Ervín Karel Stein
- Biography
-
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.
Physical Details
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
- Copyright
- Museum of Jewish Heritage
- Conditions on Use
- For permission to reproduce and use the materials, contact the Museum of Jewish Heritage at collections@mjhnyc.org with the subject line "Reference Inquiry" or "Licensing Request".
- Copyright Holder
- Museum of Jewish Heritage
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Film Provenance
- The films were recorded by Franticek (Frantzi) Stein, the sister of Steffi (Stein) Guttmann, and survived the war in Prague stored with non-Jewish friends of the family. Paul Mahrer and Betty (Guttmann) Mahrer retrieved the films from Prague in the 1960s. Their son, Jerome Mahrer, and his wife, Carolyn, donated the films and other artifacts documenting the Mahrer and Guttmann families to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in April 1999. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum digitized the film originals from the Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York) collections in 2019-2020.
- Note
- 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. - Copied From
- 8mm bw camera original reversal with negative processed titles
- Film Source
- Museum of Jewish Heritage
- File Number
- Source Archive Number: Mahrer 3/3
Lender Number: IL2019.1.10 - Special Collection
-
Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 08:07:02
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn722687
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Also in Jerome Mahrer Collection
Home movies of the Mahrer and Guttmann families (Czech Jews) before World War II, including scenes of family life, an urban parade, and a mass stadium event.
Tenth Sokol Congress 1938; Suzi's fourteenth birthday
Film
Kodak Safety Film logo. Continuation from RG-60.7180 (no leading title card) with scenes of the 10th Sokol Congress in Prague. Athletic meet and calisthenic performance in a gigantic stadium. Simon Guttmann and family attend the big event, seated in the stadium at 01:18:47. Performance and spectators. 01:22:16 Title card: “Středoškolské hry 1938” More stadium demonstrators and coordinated exercises. Czechoslovak flags line the stadium. 01:25:17 Guttmann family in the stands. Airplanes. Spectators clap and wave flags. 01:26:36 Title card: “Sokolský průvod 1938” Procession in Prague city streets. Many gather to watch the parade, hanging out of apartment windows, waving flags, decorated streets. Business sign on building, “Slovanska Poistovna”. The marchers in the street, and man with hand-held movie camera filming at 01:27:08. More paraders, massive crowds. 01:31:03 Title card ”Bechyně I. 1938” Shop in resort village of Bechyně. 01:31:10 Steffi, Suzi, Sylvie, and another woman walk towards the camera on a sidewalk. The girls play in the grassy yard. Sylvie practices swimming with an instructor in a row-boat. Suzi and a teenage girl relax in the grass and take turns jumping in the lake. A man dives in. The family practices tennis with an instructor. 01:33:40 Celebrating Suzi’s fourteenth birthday on August 4. Family and girlfriends bring her flowers, presents, and cake. She receives a photo camera from an older man in light-colored suit (Simon?). They eat the sweets and Suzi practices with her new camera. Hosing off outdoors in the garden. Suzi paddles a kayak. Logo: Foto-Kino Wachtl Praha. End 01:35:18
Czech Jewish families before the Holocaust; parade in Prague
Film
Title card: “Rodina 1937” Steffi Guttmann and her daughters Zuzana (Suzi) and Sylvie get into a car in Prague. Shaky tracking shot in the city, tram, shops. Simon Guttmann strolls with daughters Suzi and Sylvie by the banks of the river. Other family and friends join, pose for the camera by the river. Mahrer and Guttmann children run in a park, castle in BG, joking around for the camera. Older man, Baruch Guttmann, cantor of the Pincas Synagogue, and Jerome Mahrer get out of the car, CUs with another man. The family again poses and walks with linked arms in a park, various views. CU their dog, Lady. Children pet and play with the dog. Baruch sits on a park bench with the children. CUs, man with dog. Baruch with the children. They take turns walking Lady. The family poses on the bench beside the river. 01:04:19 Pan of Charles Bridge to the castle. INTs, men playing cards at a dining table with challah bread in the middle. Women join at the table. CUs, they eat and laugh. Paul Mahrer dressed in costume, clowning for the camera (his “paperhanger” act). The girls dance. 01:06:40 Title card: “Schickovi” Still in Prague, tracking shot over Charles Bridge with pedestrians and automobile traffic, statues, castle. 01:07:10 Steffi Guttman and other extended family members exit the car on vacation in the resort village of Schickovi and walk in the wooded area. CU, dogs. Man does a hand-stand (quick); woman knits; the girls play with the dogs and a version of paddle ball. INTs, Suzi and Sylvia exercise and dance. EXTs, the Guttmans walk in a park taking photographs. The girls run and ride a pony pulling a small cart. Family in the park. Women with baby carriages. More paddle-ball outdoors. A young man greets the Guttman family on the street and they enter a shop/cafe together. 01:11:44 Title card: “Krasobruslařky 1937” Figure skaters at the tennis club in Prague. Skating rink. Girls/family ice skate. Title card: “Nouzov 1938” Fathers play ball with children in the forest of Nouzov, a village where the Guttmann family spent summers. VAR shots, some CUs. Man with a tie spins the ball on his finger. Another balances on a log. Teeter-totter. 01:15:21 Title card: “Slet 1938.” Urban parade in rain, spectators with umbrellas line the cobbled streets in Prague. People march with flags, wave for the massive festival [slet] in 1938, HAS. Logo: Foto-Kino Wachtl Praha.
