The Story of the Wittal Villa – Part 3

survey of the lives of the residents of a Brno apartment building

Source
Michal Doležel
16.03.2025 16:45
Czech Republic

Brno

Pisárky

Heinrich Blum

← 1st part "The Beginning of Business" ← 2nd part "Nazi Occupation"

After the War

By the decree of the Land National Committee in Brno, Jan Hess, residing in Brno at Poštovská 1, was appointed as the national administrator of the company Brothers Wittal on January 15, 1946, who held the position of director in the company.[137] However, since 1946, the surviving partners of the company, Ferdinand Hájek and Valerie Schatz, began to assert restitution claims.[138] Ferdinand Hájek officially acquired Czechoslovak citizenship and state reliability, based on which he requested the return of his share of the property: “The Embassy of the Czechoslovak Republic in London hereby confirms that Mr. Ferdinand Hájek, born on January 21, 1904, in Kyjov, with home rights there, currently residing at 19, Selby Terrace, Maryport, Cumberland, England, is duly registered with the local authority as a loyal and state-reliable citizen of the Czechoslovak Republic.” [139] In his restitution claims, he was represented by Brno lawyer Jaromír Láska.

In August 1946, the Land National Committee in Brno appointed another member of the national administration to the company Brothers Wittal, Jaroslav Hájek, director of the national enterprise Clothing Industry Prostějov,[140] who shortly thereafter “appointed as his representative with the rights and duties granted to me by the decree of the President of the Republic No. 5/1945 Coll. Mr. JUDr. Lubomír Pospíšil, currently the head official of the administrative management of the company Clothing Industry - national enterprise in Prostějov.” [141]

At the end of 1946, the Brno regional court also accepted the inheritance application from Valerie Schatz,[142] which was likely not met due to her Austrian citizenship: “From the office of the Austrian plenipotentiary in Czechoslovakia - Prague, it is confirmed according to paragraph 14 of the law dated July 10, 1945 […] on the acquisition and loss of Austrian citizenship, that Mrs. Schatzová Valerie, née Wittalová, employed as a house helper, residing in Prague I, Příkopy 7, born on July 2, 1903 in Brno based on marriage, has Austrian citizenship.” [143]

The Czechoslovak Ministry of Industry granted Ferdinand Hájek's restitution claims, and on October 17, 1947, issued a decree that revoked the previous decrees of the Land National Committee regarding the introduction of national administration.[144] Thus, Ferdinand Hájek was to become the owner of the company based on the appeal. At that time, there were 46 permanent employees in the company, as well as temporarily many local workers.[145] Nevertheless, even after the war, the company had to deal with a loss of employees, primarily due to the expulsion of German inhabitants.[146]

However, after the communist coup in February 1948, the situation changed again, and on March 3, 1948, the national administration of the company Brothers Wittal was entrusted to Czechoslovak Textile Enterprises, national enterprise Prague. Based on general directives dated March 30, 1948, Clothing Industry, national enterprise Prostějov was appointed as the interim national administrator,[147] which was further confirmed by the Ministry of Industry's decision on April 2, 1948.[148] The nationalization of the company happened by the Ministry's decree on August 23, 1949. The company Brothers Wittal thus ceased to exist.

Twenty years later, socialist rhetoric could reflect the liquidation of the private company Brothers Wittal as a positive effort of the nationalized clothing industry: “In the revolutionary year of 1948, there were not only significant political changes but also a victory for the working people and the nationalization of industry. The Brno ready-to-wear industry at this time was represented by private and German enterprises belonging to the Nedbálks, Plačeks, Čaňks, and Vlks, enterprises like Hana, Wittal, Kossin, Salper, and the Vienna plants. All these enterprises became part of the Clothing Industry in Prostějov after nationalization. Thus, the foundations of the Brno clothing industry were laid. However, they were really only foundations because it was necessary to create such an organization that would adapt the fragmentation serving the commercial interests of individual private companies to the new conditions corresponding to the needs of the socialist state.” [149]

Post-war nationalization naturally also affected the rental house at Josefská 21, where the company Brothers Wittal had been located since 1929. Due to the German affiliation of the house owners, the Link family, national administration was also introduced here in 1945, exercised first by Josef Nekuda from May 24, 1945, and then by Petr Ospálek from April 1946.[150] In September 1950, the entire property became owned by the decree of the Ministry of Industry Czechoslovak state - national enterprise Kras, manufacturing outerwear in Brno.[151] In 1954, the national enterprise Kras then transferred the property to the City of Brno's Residential Enterprise.

Before the arrival of the Red Army in Brno in April 1945, or shortly after its arrival, the Wittal villa on Hroznová was vacated by its previous users, including Koslowsky and Motyčka, leaving the building unoccupied for some time.

Information about other users of the villa is again found in the documentation stored in the archive of the Brno Waterworks and Sewage. One employee of the waterworks noted on September 14, 1945: “Secured for Mr. Matula, Chairman of the National Committee.” [152]

A member of the Communist Party, Vladimír Matula,[153] was elected chairman of the National Committee shortly after his return to Brno on April 27, 1945, thus becoming the highest representative of the city.[154] Moreover, the composition of the Brno post-war National Committee, including Matula's election as its chairman, proceeded largely according to a script that Matula himself had prepared during the war with other Communist Party members: “We met with the former editor-in-chief of Rovnost, František Píšek, and together we prepared a plan to take over the Brno town hall, radio station, and Rohrer printing house.” [155]

Sometime after Matula's election as chairman of the National Committee, the Wittal villa was secured and assigned for use by Matula and his family. Vladimír Matula's police registration lists the date of registration at the address as July 20, 1945. [156]

The reasons that led either Matula himself or his office to choose this specific property are not entirely clear. In his memoirs, Miroslav Jirásek recalled this expressively charged memory: “All sorts of careerists and plunderers felt their opportunity and rushed to seize it: the self-proclaimed Communist mayor of Brno, some Matula, quickly seized a luxury villa in Pisárky.” […][157] However, it is quite possible that the post-war National Committee deliberately focused on "abandoned" properties on Hroznová Street in an effort to create a residential space for the new political leadership and its representation. In 1947, the Land National Committee took over the villa of the Stiassni family at Hroznová 14[158] and the villa of the Stern family at Hroznová 10 was used by Czechoslovak army officers after the war. [159]

In the memoirs of Ernest Graumann, a relative of the Wittals, there is a memory from around the summer of 1945 when Graumann visited Brno in search of surviving relatives. Upon arrival at the Wittal villa, he encountered rejection and was informed that the property was already occupied by Matula: “In the villa, which was previously inhabited by the Wittal family (the sister and husband of my grandmother Graumann), I found the residence of the mayor of Brno. Someone at the door wouldn’t let me in and said: ‘I don’t know anything about those people. There was a German family here, and now it belongs to the mayor.’” [160]

Vladimír Matula was born in 1894 in Míškovice in the Holešov region and after the end of World War I, he was accepted as a clerk at the Brno magistrate. He joined the Communist Party in 1924 and became the founder of the Union of Friends of the USSR, which he also led in Brno for many years. After the Nazi occupation, he was arrested by the Gestapo on September 1, 1939, and imprisoned in Špilberk, Dachau, and Buchenwald. However, after the war, accusations arose regarding his possible collaboration with the protectorate administration.[161] As the first post-war chairman of the National Committee in Brno, Vladimír Matula was naturally connected with resolving the situation regarding the expulsion of the German population: “At the Sunday manifestation of the National Committees of the Brno district, the chairman of the Brno National Committee Vladimír Matula mentioned the solution to the German question in Brno. During the occupation, there were 67,000 Germans in Brno. After the intervention of the National Committee and the securing of Germans, over 5,000 were left unsecured. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, a new revision was carried out in the apartments, resulting in the securing of about 2,000 new Germans. This thoroughness in resolving the German question in Brno demonstrates that the National Committee aims to achieve, through uncompromising and just selection, for Brno to be a purely Czech city.” [162]

In 1946, however, the new chairman of the National Committee was elected national socialist Josef Podsedník, and Vladimír Matula became his first deputy. In the same year, Matula was also elected to the National Assembly.

After the communist coup in February 1948, Matula again became the chairman of the Brno National Committee and was involved, among other things, in the ideological purges carried out at the Brno town hall: […] We had people in our midst in the service of reaction, who, by all means, were preventing the unification of the working class. Workers were not allowed to manifest together even on May 1, 1947. By expelling traitors and disruptors from their positions in the state, the obstacles to the unification of the working class were removed. These people, in the interest of the old capitalist world, were shattering the power of working people with their harassment. Today, when we have rid ourselves of them, the working class has reached unity, and the whole nation is moving towards it.” [163] During his second term, Honorary Citizenship of Brno was awarded to Joseph V. Stalin.[164]

In May 1948, some employees of the Brno Waterworks added a note to the documentation about the property: “The payment order has been received by Mrs. Matulová.” [165] The same source then states a year later that the property was handed over to the National Administration of Property Fundamentals. [166]

However, the Wittal villa did not only serve the needs of Vladimír Matula. Since at least 1947, other communist representatives of the state administration lived here as well. The address book of the Land Capital City of Brno from 1948 reveals other inhabitants of the house at the address. Besides Vladimír Matula, the name of the editor-in-chief of Rovnost, the post-war secretary of the city National Committee and from 1946 also the first chairman of the Moravian Land National Committee, František Píška, is listed. It was with Píška that Matula prepared the script for the establishment of the post-war National Committee in Brno even during the occupation. From 1948, Píška became an ambassador in the People's Republic of Bulgaria and Poland.

Based on this, we can assume that from 1947 to 1948, Vladimír Matula with his family and František Píška with his family used the pair of central apartments in the villa. In the 1948 address book, we find two more women listed at Hroznová 39, labeled here as house helpers, namely Marie Bohdanová and Františka Szletová. The mentioned individuals were likely available in the apartments of communist functionaries. The last name listed in the address book, however without an occupation provided, was Leopold Doušek. The profession of the last person mentioned is revealed only in his registration slips from the Archive of the City of Brno. According to them, Doušek was born in Brno on November 22, 1901, and worked as a mechanical locksmith. It is most likely that Doušek and his wife Anastázie occupied the caretaker’s apartment. He reported his arrival at the address of Hroznová 39 on October 11, 1946, and lived there for four years, as he moved to Mlýnská 25 in November 1950.

However, Vladimír Matula's ambitions exceeded communal politics, and thus in December 1948, he was appointed by the Czechoslovak government as a general consul. [167]

According to the recollections of the sisters Iva Šenkýřová and Nina Klevetová, from the neighboring building at Hroznová 41, a member of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party, his later chairman and also later interior minister, Rudolf Barák,[168] lived in the Wittal villa. The Blansko native began holding numerous positions in the structures of the Communist Party after 1945. He first served as the security referent of the District National Committee in Boskovice, and from 1949 he became the chairman of the District National Committee in Blansko and a member of the Provincial Party Committee. He became the chairman of the Provincial Committee in 1951. In 1954, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party and until 1962 was additionally a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee. From 1953 to 1961, he held the position of Minister of the Interior in the Vilém Široký government. The Brno address book from 1948 lists Barák's residence in Žabovřesky, on Topolky Street 17. Barák likely moved to Hroznová 39 after his election to the Provincial Committee in 1949 and lived there until his election as minister in 1953. This would approximately coincide with the time when František Píška vacated the villa, as he became an ambassador in Poland and Bulgaria in 1948. [169]

The narratives of the mentioned witnesses are significant in this case given their close proximity to the Wittal villa and their continuous life here. Therefore, the following description of the post-war development and usage of the villa will intertwine with their memories. “Matula lived in the upper apartment, and Barák lived in the lower one” […] “and when he was elected minister, he left for Prague. And Matula lived here for a long time. We were friends with their daughter. One time she cut our hair. We had such beautiful curly hair, and she played barber and took our curls and cut them. So, that was really embarrassing back then. Our mother rushed to Matula, and they had a nice argument about it. After that, we were forbidden to play with her at all.” [170]

After Matula left the position of chairman of the National Committee on January 10, 1949, he was succeeded by another communist official, Bohumil Ubr: “After Vl. Matula, who is leaving for diplomatic service, Bohumil Ubr was elected as the chairman of the central National Committee in Brno.” [171] With his new diplomatic service, Matula left not only the highest position in the city but also Brno and his previous residence at Hroznová 39. In Matula's police registration, his residence is listed as “from May 11, 49 Denmark”. In his place, the newly elected chairman of the Brno National Committee, Bohumil Ubr, moved into the villa, holding this position from January 11, 1949, to July 31, 1952.

Information that the villa was also used by another chairman of the Brno National Committee, Bohumil Ubr, is noted in a letter that tenants from the neighboring house on Kamenomlýnská Street sent to the Brno National Committee on July 26, 1953. The tenants complain in the letter about flooding of their garden beds caused by the emptying of the pool in the villa's garden, and they identify the villa's object with Ubr: “The house at Kamenomlýnská 14 borders the garden with the house and its garden at Hroznová Street /Mrs. Pášková/, previously chaired by Ubr. In the garden of the mentioned house, there is a large water pool, which is often emptied, and water from it floods the gardens to the extent that the tenants are damaged and after the immediate emptying of the pool they cannot even enter their garden and stay there. Since after several warnings and requests, the emptying of the pool continues, and measures to alleviate the damage are not taken, we request an objective investigation of this matter and arrangements so that the users of the gardens are not harmed. On behalf of those harmed, František Kubiště, Brno Kamenomlýnská 14” [172]

Of course, both witnesses from the neighboring building remembered Bohumil Ubr: “Ubr saved my life. I had a big wound, and he drove me to the hospital in a tatraplán; otherwise, I would have bled to death. He was an incredibly kind man. My sister threw me out of the window, I had a cut that was completely bloody. Next door lived a nurse, so my mother rushed to her. They bandaged me with a tourniquet, and then Ubr quickly arrived in the tatraplán, loaded me up, and took me to the hospital.” [173]

The mentioned letter from the tenants of Kamenomlýnská simultaneously indicates that after Bohumil Ubr's term ended in July 1952, the villa began to become a rental house. This fact is also reflected in the record in the land register, stating that “According to the resolution of the regional council of the National Committee in Brno dated February 10, 1953 […] the right of ownership for the Czechoslovak state - Housing Enterprise of the City of Brno is registered.”[174] The villa thus transitioned from being a property for party exponents of the Brno National and Land Committees to a small rental house managed by the city.

During this period, the only significant structural modification occurred in the form of dividing the central apartment on the first floor into two separate housing units. This time designation would match the type of built-in wardrobes that are still located in the hallway of one of the housing units.

In Memoriam

The only surviving member of the Wittal family, Valerie Schatz, lived in Prague for some time after the war. In 1946 and 1947, she listed her residence at Příkopy 7 and her occupation as “house helper.” [175] Shortly after 1948, she left Czechoslovakia for the USA. “She lived in New Jersey in the USA and worked at Newcomb Hospital in Vineland, New Jersey. This information comes from the R.L. Polk directory. She became a naturalized citizen of the USA on June 18, 1956, in Newark, New Jersey. She died on September 17, 1981, and is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.” [176] Otto Rudolf Schatz died in Vienna in 1961.

Transformation of the Villa into a Rental House

The following description is primarily based on interviews I conducted from April to September 2024 with a total of six tenants of the building. Five tenants and their families occupied the central apartment on the ground floor of the villa from the late 1950s to 2009, representing two different families – the Doubkovi and later the Kubíčkovi.

Another tenant, with whom I conducted an interview, lived with her family, the Pavelková family, in one of the housing units on the first floor of the house.

First, the memories of siblings Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and her brother Dagobert Rejtar, who lived in the ground floor apartment approximately from 1966 to 1979, will intersect here. This interview was conducted on September 7, 2024, in the villa itself. Their narrative will be supplemented with excerpts from the memories of sisters Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, who lived here from approximately 1976 to 1982 and are also cousins of Ingrid Vášová and Dagobert Rejtar. The interview with them was also conducted in the Wittal villa on May 30, 2024.

All mentioned siblings lived in the ground floor central apartment of the house, which had been allocated to their grandmother, MUDr. Marie Doubková, since the end of the 1950s. Dr. Marie Doubková was the sister of the director of the Masaryk Oncology Institute, Prof. Jaroslav Švejda.[177] “It was actually my grandmother's apartment. She moved here with her son and daughter.” […] “Grandma received the apartment when she moved out of Jakubské náměstí 1.” [178]

There were never any layout changes in the ground floor apartment of the villa, allowing this generous space to be used by a larger number of family members at various stages. When asked how many lived here, Adriena Hradilová replied: “Grandma, our father, Alena [Grandma's sister], Aleš [Grandma's sister's husband], Dag, Ingrid, me and mom, then brother-in-law and then my brother.”[179] Reflections on the size of the apartment were echoed practically by all the tenants: “To us children, this place seemed big. We rollerbladed here.” [180] Practically all the rooms in the apartment, including the space separated by a glass partition from the former service part of the apartment, were used as bedrooms for individuals.

From the memories of the narrators, it emerges that when they lived there, the original furniture was no longer in the apartment, as it had been furnished with the tenants' furniture: “We had antique furniture here. Then a lot of it was taken away because it didn’t fit into the apartment in the panel house. Grandma brought that from Jakubská. She had such a secretary and it was still shot up from the war.” The narrators from the neighboring building at Hroznová 41 stated that they remembered the furnishings in the bedroom of the ground floor apartment: “That back room, which faces east, was completely done with custom furniture. First Republic style. There was a couch fit into the furniture, in that corner. A writing desk. Dark polished furniture.” [181] However, it is questionable whether this was the original furniture of the villa or furniture later transported here.

The only definitely original piece of furniture still present is the wardrobes located in the space between the bathroom and the former bedroom of the villa's owners: “And in that hall, where those built-in wardrobes were, we played tennis, and I broke the glass table next to the phone with a racket.” [182] “I again have a memory of thinking it was infinite. When the mirrors on the wardrobes are turned towards each other, that’s how I imagined infinity looked.” [183]

The space of the winter garden also served, in a sense, as a social room, where houseplants were kept: “There were crosses everywhere here; that was collected by our uncle. We had Persian carpets here. And we always celebrated something here. I am photographed here with a cake.” [185] Similarly, this space was remembered by Mrs. Ingrid Vášová: “The windows were no longer used. Our parents were a bit afraid that they would fall out. We had a glass table here, and guests used to come here. And my dad has a photo of himself in women’s clothing from here. And my mom studied medicine here.” [186]

Thanks to the mentioned narrators, we also learn the names of other tenants in the house: “Dvořákovi, Kubackovi, and down Novákovi lived here too. And the Novákovi lived in the basement [in the original caretaker’s apartment]. Mr. Novák was always butchering rabbits down there. There always hung some skins.” [187] According to the narrators, the apartment on the first floor was already divided into two units, which corresponds to the number of tenants in the mentioned recollection. The space of the former greenhouse, located next to the caretaker’s apartment, was used as an art studio during the narrators' life in the house in the 1970s: “And there was a studio, and there was a painter named Kšica. He didn’t live here; he only had that studio here. I remember he had a daughter named Darina.” [188]

The artist Kšica was also remembered by the sisters Nina Klevetová and Iva Šenkýřová from the neighboring building Hroznová 41: “I worked for him. He drew those rock sketches, traveled around the world, mainly to Russia, and then he held some exhibitions here, and I used to sketch for him. And after him, Mr. Vysočan moved in here.” [189] Even before the aforementioned Novák family began using the caretaker's apartment, the Gottwald family lived here. This is referenced at least by the narrators from the neighboring building Hroznová 41: “Then some Gottwalds lived here in the caretaker’s apartment.” [190] Their rental relationship can be approximately placed in the early 1950s. Likely from this coincidence of names, stories have arisen that President Klement Gottwald was accommodated at the Wittal villa.[191]

As a small rental house, the property functioned in the socialist era in a largely communal way: “Everything was always open here. Nothing was closed or locked.” [192] The social and recreational functions were also taken over by the extensive garden and space around the house: “Downstairs, the men always played cards, chess, and the women sat there, brewed coffee, and the kids ran around; people socialized a lot and chatted here.” [193] The originally ornamental garden was – most likely based on an unwritten agreement – divided into un-fenced sectors with patches cultivated by individual tenants: “I spent all my childhood here, in that garden, and one didn’t need to go anywhere. We played hide and seek everywhere. Only the maintenance was done, cutting the grass and occasionally someone pruned a tree. The only patches were on that first slope, where Grandma had a few patches with some carrots and such. But otherwise, it was just a residential garden.” [194] Similarly, another narrator recalled: “Under the house below were patches, and each of the house had their parts, where they grew something. There were a lot of roses there. By the pool, there was a cherry tree that had really good cherries, big ones. But the wall here was already covered with Virginia creeper back then. Our parents hosted Menšík here once. I don’t know who knew him. We kids had to go to bed so that they could have peace and talk. Something was celebrated here in the garden, and he was here.” [195]

Throughout almost the entire time, tenants of the house also used the pool in the garden: “That’s where I learned to swim.” [196]

Regarding the mentioned Vladimír Menšík, one of the tenants at that time was indeed his cousin.[197] This information was also provided by another narrator: “Mr. Kudláček was a cousin of Vladimír Menšík. My mother met him here a few times.” [198]

Among the tenants, some awareness of the history of the property and its original owners persisted in a certain form: “Well, we knew that it used to be some factory owner, who ended up in a concentration camp, and since he had no relatives, it was nationalized. That was always said.”[199] Similarly, the narrator Ingrid Vášová recalled: “I knew it from my dad and grandma. That they were Jewish owners, brothers. I always thought that one lived here and the other upstairs. And that they had a factory for children's clothing and perished in a concentration camp.” [200]

After the extended Doubkov family left the ground floor apartment, they were replaced in the 1980s by the Kubíčkovi family, who lived here until 2009 and were likely the last tenants of this apartment. I also visited the property with the Kubíčkovi family in April 2024. However, at their request, no audio recording was made during their conversation.

The interview with Jiřina Pavelková took place on May 7, 2024, again in the villa's premises. The narrator lived with her family in the housing unit on the first floor (to the left of the entrance) from 1987 to 2020. The Pavelková family moved to the rental house on Hroznová from Znojmo, and the narrator lived in the apartment with her parents and brother. At the end of her life, the narrator's grandmother also lived here. The last tenants of the housing unit were the narrator's brother Tomáš Pavelka and his wife Barbora Pavelková. The Unčov family presumably occupied this housing unit before the Pavelková family.[201]

“I had such an idyllic childhood here. It was incredible. The space itself is extremely beautiful. Now it’s in quite a terrible state, but when I think back to how it looked here. I had the most beautiful childhood in the world. A huge garden and a house with high ceilings.” [202] In the neighboring housing unit (to the right of the entrance) lived the already mentioned Kudláčková family, related to Vladimír Menšík: “The Kudláčkoví were more or less the last tenants here. Because Mrs. Kudláčková left in a very unfortunate way when they were on vacation in Bulgaria and drowned in the sea. And Mr. Kudláček survived her by half a year because he was very mournful. And then their son lived here with a friend.” [203]

During the interview, the narrator recalled her very first memory related to this space: “I remember the first photo here in this living room. It was some birthday. There was a big couch on the side by the sliding doors. There were beautiful wallpapers. Such baroque beautiful wallpapers, a couch, and I was standing on it like a little fat plug in a dress, holding a bear's hand, and that’s my first memory of this house.” [204]

One of the still existing authentic elements located above the terrace on the first floor is the retractable awning system that tenants of both housing units commonly used: “Here is the awning that you can retract. We still used it. What’s funny about the awning is that we always had to coordinate with the Kudláčkoví because they had to help us so that we could retract it.” [205] In the housing unit, there is a safe built into one of the walls, which was already present during the time the Pavelkovi lived there: “Here we hid many things. My mom hid my childhood earrings there.” [206]

Regarding the original caretaker's apartment in the villa, the narrator stated: “The Vysočan family lived there, a family with a wide circle of relatives. Mr. Vysočan and his wife Dáša. Upstairs there were then two garages. One was for Mr. Vysočan, and the other was for the Kudláčkoví. We used to stand here at the front by those trees. The studio was then converted into a garret.” [207]

Emotionally powerful narratives were also linked to the garden and the pool: “The Kubíčkovi always had beautifully trimmed shapes of those bushes. They cared a lot about it. I remember looking from the balcony how they tended everything. There under that twisted willow were Bertík 1 and Bertík 2, their smooth-haired dachshunds.” [208]

“The pool was normally filled with water from the water supply. There is a faucet up there, and it filled for about two days. It has a depth of about two meters. I remember I almost drowned in it once. My dad was reading the newspaper.” […] “Here (to the right of the access steps) is the drain. The drain then leads down, under such a bathtub in the bushes.” […] “Above this pool were two enormous beautiful poplars. So in the fall, it was full of litter. Then, some beetle got into it, so the city cut the poplars down.” [209]

During the conversation, we visited the central apartment on the ground floor, where the Kubíčkovi family lived during the narrator's childhood.

In the space of the former owners' bedroom: “Here the Kubíčkovi had a piano. A huge beautiful piano, and I remember how I always listened upstairs in my room to Mr. Pavel playing.” [210]

Next to the former maid's room, the narrator recalled this memory: “Here Mrs. Kubíčková had a sewing corner. I remember she had two to three sewing machines and beautiful piles of fabric. I loved playing here because it was like a kingdom for a little girl.” [211]

The space of the winter garden continued to be used in the same way during the last rental relationship, according to the narrator: “I always envied the Kubíčkovi the winter garden. I remember they had an incredible jungle here. Yucca, palms, a huge monstera in that corner. It was perfect.” [212]

The last narratives then relate to the outdoor space of the oval terrace: “Here they sometimes had a children's pool and held barbecues. And everything was covered with vines. The wine is excellent, by the way, so if you don't have to remove it, leave it here.” [213]

Structural Modifications and Heritage Protection

As already mentioned, the fundamental structural change in the property was the division of the apartment on the first floor into two housing units. This construction change can be temporally delineated from 1953 to 1960 based on previous narratives and the change of the property's function from residential to rental housing. In connection with this structural change, the exchange of the opening frame in one of the rooms facing the terrace on the first floor may also be related. By splitting into two housing units, one of the apartments would not have access to the terrace. The entrance from the room to the terrace is not indicated in the original building documentation and is also not evident in period photographs.

So far, it has not been possible to determine the period when the exchange of the openings occurred between the former maid's room and the room behind the glass partition next to the kitchen in the ground floor apartment. According to the original building documentation, the maid's room has only a window without access to the balcony. While access to the balcony was from the space behind the glass partition. This construction adjustment is still legible on the exterior façade.

Similarly, it is not possible to temporally determine when the access between the living space and the bedroom in the ground floor apartment was bricked up. The entrance between both rooms is part of the building documentation and is also visible in the detail of the skirting board in the living room space.

During the last rental relationship of the Kubíčkovi family, according to their statements, a secondary opening linking the winter garden space and the kitchen was created.

Minor adjustments and changes also occurred in the apartments during the narrators' lives. For instance, in the ground floor apartment's bathroom, there likely remained the original embedded bathtub and other sanitary facilities during the rental relationship of the Doubková family: “The bathtub was embedded, and you entered it downwards, and it was yellow enamel. And it was bigger; I remember we bathed three people in there. And there was a double sink here. And there was a wall, and behind it was the toilet, and it was turned like this. And that was for toilet paper.” [214] The mentioned facilities were not replaced until during the rental relationship of the Kubíčková family.

The narrators remembered the design of the rotary switches, captured also in a photograph from the narrators' private archive: “The switches were different though. They were those round ones that you can twist.” [215]

In the kitchen of the ground floor apartment, the wall had a colorful pattern during the late 1960s and early 1970s: “Here, during my childhood, there was an artwork with strawberries painted on a light green background. And there was a stoneware double sink, and there was a draining table. Here, my dad always cooked all weekend and made tripe for the dog. Here was a bread cupboard – a white one with a metal opening.” [216]

In one of the photographs from the narrators' private archive, the original entrance and gate from the street are partially captured: “That gate was different. There was a pillar here, and there were brass mailboxes in it.” [217] The change to the current state occurred during the 1980s. During this same period, the paving of the oval terrace can also be dated, whose original pavement is also captured in photographs from the private archive. The repaving likely occurred sometime during the 1990s at the balcony next to the first floor apartment: “It was allowed to be repaved because it was slightly leaking over time because it had a bad slope.” [218]

During the 1990s, the access between the basement and the former caretaker's apartment was bricked up: “Originally, there were doors to the neighbors, to the Vysočan, but they then sealed it because it was draughty, and every rustle could be heard.” [219] Between the years 1987-2000, additionally, there was a slight adaptation of the former caretaker’s apartment and greenhouse into two smaller apartments. Even in 1983, there were still only four housing units here: […] instead of the previous residence of one family with a caretaker, there are four housing units.” [220]

The interest of heritage preservation authorities in the Wittal villa dates back to the early 1980s. In the archive of the National Heritage Institute, the professional territorial office in Brno has a record sheet of the immovable cultural monument dated May 18, 1983. According to this record, the then-owner of the property was Housing Management Brno I, operated by the House Management Department, Křídlovická 55. The author of the record, PhDr. Pavel Sedlák, described the property as follows: “A freestanding building on sloping terrain, with two floors towards the street and three floors towards the garden. It occupies the footprint of a transversely positioned rectangle, from which a shallow risalit protrudes towards the garden on the west, in the basement with the former caretaker apartment, and in the residential floors with winter gardens. Attached to the western side of the northern street facade is a rectangular ground floor garage. The eastern part of the basement with utility rooms protrudes into the garden with a cylindrical body whose flat roof serves as a terrace. The individual floors are connected by a spiral staircase in the cylindrical annex at the street façade. Both residential floors are similarly designed as two blocks, with the block at the street filling an entrance hall with a bathroom to the east and a kitchen to the west, with the southern block towards the garden being an enfilade of three rooms with a winter garden and a balcony. The ornamental and vegetable garden is divided into terraces and equipped with a swimming pool. Material: bricks, artificial stone, brizolit, sheet metal.” The entry into the national heritage register took place on January 28, 1985, under registration number 22456/7-7092.

Epilogue

Until recently, the property owner, the Statutory City of Brno, considered the possibility of its privatization. The Brno City Council even approved the intention to sell four housing units in the rental house at Hroznová 39 during its meeting on March 23, 2021. However, at the request of the Brno-Central City District, which managed the property, the sale ultimately did not occur.

After the first year of the Jewish Culture Festival ŠTETL Fest in 2022, an ideological intention was created by its authors Eva Yildizová, Jáchym Kanarek, and Michal Doležel, to create a Center for Jewish Culture in Brno and symbolically situate it in the Wittal villa.

The last rental relationship in the property then ended on August 31, 2023. In August of the same year, in the presence of David Sichel and Peter Kovar, distant relatives of the Wittals, two Stolpersteine were laid in front of the entrance to the property for Johann and Friederike Wittal.

Almost a year later, on August 7, 2024, the Brno City Council approved the intention to transfer the management of the property under its contributory organization, the Museum of the City of Brno, with the aim of rehabilitating the property and creating a Jewish Cultural Center Štetl here. The Wittal villa has been under the administration of the Museum of the City of Brno since November 6, 2024.

Dedicated to the Wittal Family
Michal Doležel

References

  1. MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
  2. "We hereby confirm that Mr. Ferdinand Hájek, residing at The Retreat Birkby Maryport Cumberland, is an active member of our Central Office since its establishment on February 28, 1942. Mr. Ferdinand Hájek was one of the founders of our association and has actively collaborated as a permanent member of the committee to this day and has held the position of vice-chairman. August 29, 1945, Czechoslovak Central Office for Cumberland." MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
  3. The Embassy of the Czechoslovak Republic in London, London April 11, 1946. MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
  4. “On August 17, 1946, a decree on the establishment of national administration, or the appointment of another member of the national administration has been issued; the Land National Committee in Brno appoints, in agreement with the Central Directorate of Czechoslovak nationalized textile and clothing industry and based on the letter from the Ministry of Industry dated August 25, 1946 according to the decree of the President of the Republic No. 5/45 Coll. To the property and business of the following firms: […] 2. Brothers Vittalové, Brno […] as another national administrator in the position of manager and thus this national administrator is established: 1/Ing. Jaroslav Hájek, director of the Clothing Industry, national enterprise Prostějov.” MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
  5. Letter dated August 31, 1946. MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  6. “Brno, December 13, 1946 Resolution, Inheritance after Jan Wittal from Brno […] The court accepts the inheritance application submitted by Valerie Schatzová, née Wittalová, residing in Prague I, Příkopy 7 […] August 31, 1946.” MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  7. MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  8. Private ownership of the company was still reflected in the Address Book of the Land Capital City of Brno from 1948: “The first Brno production of aprons, blouses, and skirts Brothers Wittal. Factory production of underwear, aprons, women’s, and children's clothing. Josefská 21, public. Commercial company. Partners: Jan Wittal and Ferd. Hájek. Signed Ferdinand Hájek.”
  9. MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  10. Unfortunately, there is no comparison of the number of employees of the company before and after the war. We learn about one of the German-oriented employees of the company from Brünner Heimatbote in 1951: “Josef Nessel, March 1, 1898, merchant, employee of Brüder Wittal, last residence Brno Merhautova, died August 6, 1951, Thannhausen Swabia.” Brünner Heimatbote September 15, 1951, vol. 3, no. 18
  11. Same source.
  12. “The Ministry of Industry canceled the decision dated April 2, 1948”[…] “its decree of March 3, 1948”[…] “and established the national administrator of the Brothers Wittal in Brno, Josefská 21, Clothing Industry, national enterprise in Prostějov. The national administration is represented independently by the statutory body of the Clothing Industry, national enterprise in Prostějov”[…] “central director Ing. Jaroslav Hájek, deputy Josef Matušek, deputy Josef Pospíšil.” […] “1/ By decree of the Ministry of Industry here on April 2, 1948”[…] “the national administrator of the Clothing Industry, national enterprise in Prostějov was established. 3/ the national administrator Czech Textile Enterprises, national enterprise, and national administrator Jan Hess is erased.” MZA, fonds C 11 – Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  13. World of Work, October 30, 1969, vol. 2, no. 43.
  14. Archive BVK, Josefská 21.
  15. Extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral territory of Brno-city, Josefská 21, Brno-city, No. 613.
  16. Archive BVK, Hroznová 39.
  17. “According to the directives printed in the illegal communist press, they secretly prepared its organization. A significant activity in this direction was carried out by a group led by Vladimír Matula and František Píšek. […] Already on April 26, they met at the pharmacy “U zemského domu” (now on Obránců míru Boulevard) and prepared the text of a call to the citizens of Brno. On the morning of April 27, members of the illegally created National Committee arrived at the New Town Hall, first representatives of the Communist Party, then also national socialists and social democrats. Instructions for the activities of the National Committee were agreed upon there, and it was decided to propose the KSČ to create a thirty-member national committee in Brno and convene the establishing meeting of the National Committee at New Town Hall at 14:00. The individual appointments, which were to be assigned to the KSČ, were discussed at the party secretariat in Rohrer’s printing house on Rašín Street. Essentially, the proposal developed during the occupation was approved.” Brno in the Past and Present, 1960 vol. 2, no. 1.
  18. “The National Committee in Brno is working. On April 27, the inaugural meeting of the National Committee in Brno was held at the New Town Hall with the participation of representatives of the liberating army. The following were elected: Chairman: Vladimír Matula.” Act, May 8, 1945, vol. 1, no. 1.
  19. MATULA, Vladimír: From the Memoirs of the Chairman of the Revolutionary National Committee in Brno, 1971. Manuscript stored in: AMB, fonds U2 - Collection of memories and documents related to events and persons.
  20. This refers to a police registration from June 25, 1943.
  21. JIRÁSEK, Miroslav. Testimony of a Lifetime. Memories from Childhood, the Presidential Office, and Communist Prisons. Prague 2000, p. 55.
  22. “Recently, the Brno public faced a rupture in the council of the ÚNV; Vladimír Matula, Deputy Chairman of the ÚNV, previously a communist member of the ÚNS, attacked deputies Dra Lekavý and Mokré that they are supposedly plotting against him” […] “And now the whole thing has gotten to Cejl. Comrade Matula and his wife filed a criminal complaint against Dr. Šňupárek, the author of an anonymous accusation for defamation. Dr. Šňupárek was, during the occupation, the head of the supply office, and after liberation, he was cleared by ONV. The Communist Party opposed his appointment in the city of Brno, and comrade Matula showed perhaps the greatest interest in it. Dr. Šňupárek apparently did not consider comrade Matula an entitled person to carry out purifications and raised a series of accusations against him, which went as anonymous denunciations into the hands of deputies Dra Lekavý and Mokré. On Monday morning, it became the subject of court proceedings at Cejl.” […] “It contains a series of accusations regarding who Matula associated with during the occupation. Furthermore, the letter states that Matula was arrested on September 1, 1939, and already released in February 1941, and reaccepted into municipal service with full benefits. This privilege was not granted to other employees. The letter also mentions that Matula supposedly associated with a certain German woman during the occupation, who was expelled after liberation. He allegedly wanted to prove his loyalty and therefore supposedly handed his radio receiver over to the Gestapo and had it sealed.” […] “It is also interesting that after her husband's release, she was allegedly paid compensation of 18,500 crowns, which did not happen to others. How far these accusations are true cannot be assessed since the final judgment must be made by the court.” National Revival: the central organ of the Czechoslovak People's Party, November 11, 1947, vol. 3, no. 261.
  23. National Revival, June 19, 1945, vol. 1, no. 35.
  24. Action, May 1, 1948, vol. 4, no. 103.
  25. […]“In our hearts and minds,” said comrade Matula, “the name of comrade Stalin will always remain a symbol of the liberator and savior not only of the Czechoslovak people but of all Slavic nations from fierce Nazism. We in Brno are proud that Joseph Stalin is our honorary citizen and sincerely wish that the life of this great genius may long be preserved for the benefit of all working and progressive humanity.” Equality, December 22, 1948, vol. 64, no. 298.
  26. Archive BVK, Hroznová 39.
  27. ,The Central National Committee of the Provincial Capital City of Brno, The Securing Office Brno, Opletalova 6 Brno, May 18, 1949. To: The National Administration of Property Fundamentals, Halštatská 20 Prague. Handover of national administration. The Provincial National Committee of Brno by the resolution of the council of the Provincial National Committee dated July 9, 1948, in view of the instruction from the Ministry of the Interior … hands over to you at your request dated April 2, 1948, the national administration over immovable. […] or. no. 39 Hroznová street in Brno and cancels the decree of the Provincial National Committee … on the establishment of a national administration over the real estate subject. As a result of the above decision, it is proposed that the Civil Court for Brno-city issue this resolution: The court allows at the suggestion of the Provincial National Committee of the Provincial Capital City of Brno dated May 4, 1948 […] on the immovable. […] the erasure of the note regarding the national administration.” Archive BVK, Hroznová 39.
  28. ,The government of the republic appointed comrade Matula as general consul, and his place of service will likely be Gdansk. For his merits in the domestic resistance, comrade Matula was awarded the War Cross of 1939.” Equality, December 22, 1948, vol. 64, no. 298
  29. See https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Bar%C3%A1k
  30. In the citizen's application for temporary residency in private dated September 14, 1949, Píšek listed his permanent residence in Warsaw, Koszykowa 18, and as temporary residence at Brno on Antonína Procházky 24. By 1949, František Píšek was no longer residing in the Wittal villa.
  31. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  32. Popular Democracy: the organ of the Czechoslovak People's Party. January 12, 1949, vol. 5, no. 9, p. 2.
  33. AMB, Fonds B 149 - NVMB - Department of Territorial and Building Proceedings.
  34. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  35. Extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral territory of Křížová, book No. 1882.
  36. MZA, fonds C 11 - Regional Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sign. A XI 42.
  37. Information from David Sichel, distant relative of the Wittal family.
  38. See https://encyklopedie.brna.cz/home-mmb/?acc=profil_osobnosti&load=27132
  39. Ingrid Vášová recalls: “The apartment was allocated to our grandmother, Mrs. Dr. Marie Doubková. She had two children, Karel and Alena. Alena was our mother, and Karel married Adriena, who lived here, and then he had two kids, Martina and Igor, who were born here and then moved to Kohoutovice.” Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  40. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  41. Similarly: “Between the bathroom and the kitchen across the corridor, I rode my bike.” Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  42. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  43. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  44. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  45. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  46. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  47. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  48. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  49. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  50. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  51. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  52. For example, https://brigidgrauman.com/a-jewish-blessing/
  53. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  54. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  55. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  56. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  57. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  58. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  59. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  60. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  61. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  62. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  63. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  64. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  65. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  66. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  67. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  68. Inhabitants from neighboring buildings Hroznová 37 and 41 also mentioned and remembered Vladimír Menšík's presence. Mr. Mikuláš Maťátko recalled: “I also experienced the presence of actor V. Menšík, who was a cousin of tenant Mr. Kudláček. I spotted his visit, especially hearing him, as he entertained the entire gathered crowd with his funny storytelling, like we know from TV shows.”
  69. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  70. Interview with Adriena Hradilová, née Doubková, and Martina Fialová, née Doubková, dated May 30, 2024.
  71. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  72. Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, née Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, née Křížová, dated February 20, 2025.
  73. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  74. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  75. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  76. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  77. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  78. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  79. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  80. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  81. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  82. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  83. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  84. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  85. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  86. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  87. Interview with Ingrid Vášová, née Rejtarová, and Dagobert Rejtar, dated September 7, 2024.
  88. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  89. Interview with Jiřina Pavelková, dated May 7, 2024.
  90. Record of the immovable cultural monument. National Heritage Institute, Expert Territorial Office Brno.

Thanks

Brigid Grauman
David Sichel
Jiří Skoupý
Daniel Matějka
Silvie Klimešová, Brno Waterworks and Sewage a.s.
Dagmar Záděrová, Cadastral Office for the South Moravian Region, cadastral office Brno-venkov
Petr Houzar, Archive of the City of Brno
Veronika Wihodová, Archive of the City of Brno
Kateřina Kalvodová, Archive of the City of Brno
Jana Bělkovská, City Hall of Brno
Naděžda Urbánková, Technical Museum in Brno
Nina Klevetová
Iva Šenkýřová
Mikuláš Maťátko
Ingrid Vášová
Dagobert Rejtar
Jiřina Pavelková
Klára Třísková
Adriena Hradilová
Martina Fialová
Ema Přikrylová
Tereza Hájková
Jáchym Hájek
Jitka Smekalová

Special Thanks

Management of the Statutory City of Brno, District of Brno-Central, and the Museum of the City of Brno for their efforts towards the restoration of the villa.

Language Correction

Ema Přikrylová

Used Archival Sources:

Archive of Security Services, Department of Political Intelligence MV
Archive of Security Services, Main Administration of Military Counterintelligence
Archive of Security Services, Central State Security
Archive of Security Services, Provincial Security Department I
Archive of Security Services, Testimonies of Gestapo and SD Employees
Archive of the City of Brno, fonds B 1/39 (NVMB - Department of Territorial and Building Proceedings)
AMB, fonds U2 - Collection of memories and documents related to events and persons
Archive of the City of Brno, fonds U9 (collection of maps and plans)
Archive of the City of Brno, fonds U5 (collection of photographs)
Archive of the City of Brno, fonds Z1 (residence records of citizens)
City Hall of Brno, Department of Internal Affairs
Cadastral Office for the South Moravian Region, cadastral office Brno-venkov (land register)
Moravian Provincial Archive, fonds B26 (Police Directorate Brno)
Moravian Provincial Archive, fonds B 392 (Emigration Fund, office Brno)
Moravian Provincial Archive, fonds H 423 (First Brno Production of Aprons, Blouses, and Skirts Brothers Wittal Brno)
Moravian Provincial Archive, fonds C 11 (Regional Court Brno)
Moravian Provincial Archive, fonds C 141 (Extraordinary People's Court)
Moravian Regional Library
Archive of Brno Waterworks and Sewage, a.s.
Geni.com
Internet Encyclopedia of the History of Brno
National Heritage Institute, Expert Territorial Office Brno
Terezín Memorial
Private archive of Ingrid Vášová
Private archive of Adriena Hradilová and Martina Fialová


Used Literature and Sources

Address Book of Brünn, 1900, vol. 9.
Address Book of Gross-Brünn, 1934-1935.
Address Book of the Land Capital City of Brünn, 1942, vol. 51.
Directory of the Land Capital City of Brno, 1948.
BLUM, Heinrich: Works of Architect Dr. Heinrich Blum, Brünn, Forum 4, 1934, pp. 73-75.
Brno in the Past and Present, 1960 vol. 2, no. 1.
Brünner Heimatbote September 15, 1951, vol. 3, no. 18
Brünner Heimatbote, April 2, 1962, vol. 14, no. 8.
Brünner Zeitung, April 19, 1904, no. 89.
Brünner Zeitung, December 15, 1905, no. 286.
Brünner Zeitung, August 22, 1906, no. 190.
Brünner Zeitung, August 8, 1914, no. 181.
Brünner Zeitung, March 14, 1919, no. 61.
Brünner Zeitung, June 28, 1919, no. 153.
Action, May 8, 1945, vol. 1, no. 1.
Action, May 1, 1948, vol. 4, no. 103.
Forum: journal for art, construction, and interiors, 1931, XI-XII, pp. 369.
GRAUMAN, Brigid: Uncle Otto’s Puppet Theater: history of one Jewish family. Prague, 2020.
JIRÁSEK, Miroslav.
The English translation is powered by AI tool. Switch to Czech to view the original text source.
0 comments
add comment

Related articles

0 yesterday | The Story of Villa Wittal
0 yesterday | The Story of Villa Wittal – Part 2