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The Story of Villa Wittal
sonda into the life of the residents of a Brno house – Part I.
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After the birth of their second son Adolf, Josef and Terezii Wittal were to have five more children in quick succession, all of whom unfortunately died by the age of three at the latest[7]. Thus, only the three oldest children, namely Regina[8], Johann, and Adolf reached adulthood. Unfortunately, we currently lack more detailed information regarding the adolescence of the Wittal siblings during the 1880s and 1890s. Only at the very end of the century do city directories provide evidence of their presence in Brno. For the very first time, only Adolf Wittal is mentioned in the Adressbuch von Brünn in 1900[9]. His residence was then located at Starobrněnská street number 20, and his name is also mentioned in the directory in a list of apron manufacturers “Schürzen-Erzeugung und Handlungen” with the address Františkánská 17[10].
A year later, the Brno directory mentions both brothers. For both, the occupation is listed as Schürzenerzeuger, and their residential address is the same at today's Bezručova 11.[11] The newspaper Brünner Zeitung on October 20, 1900 reported that on October 16, a partnership named Brüder Wittal, in Czech Bratři Wittal, was entered into the commercial register at the Imperial and Royal Regional Court in Brno, having its main office in the city[12]. The company was established as a public one, with the subject of producing aprons. The partners of the firm were siblings Adolf and Johann Wittal, both residing at Starobrněnská street 5.[13]
The beginnings of Brüder Wittal were probably characterized by establishing itself in the Brno market and creating a solid personnel base. In October 1901, a notice appeared in the Tagesbote aus Mähren: “I am looking for an accountant who speaks both languages. Wittal Starobrněnská.”
Shortly after arriving in Brno and establishing a joint firm, both brothers married in quick succession. The older Johann married in Brno on February 17, 1901, to Friederike Bass, a native of Boskovice. The younger Adolf then married the Brno native Ida Klar on March 13, 1904, according to “Israeli laws and customs”.[15] Their marriages had a direct positive impact on the further development of the firm, as in March 1904, both brothers decided to conclude marriage contracts, which were also registered in the commercial register.[16] Friederike Bass transferred to her husband Johann a capital of 6000 koruna.[17] Ida Klar was even more generous, transferring to her husband Adolf 15,000 koruna.[18] Soon thereafter, the company was able to expand its business activities and moved its shop and headquarters to a more prestigious address, to a new building of the Valentina Falkensteiner Foundation at Kapucínské náměstí 2. While still in April 1904, the company was registered as “Brüder Wittal-Bratři Wittal. Subject of the operation: Production of aprons”[19] with headquarters at Starobrněnská 10,[20] just a few months later, in October of the same year, the newspaper Brünner Zeitung informed that the Wittals decided to adjust the company's name to Erste Brünner Schürzen-, Blusen- und Böckeerzeugung Brüder Wittal, in Czech version První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratři Wittal[21] with a new headquarters at Kapucínské náměstí. The business portal of the Wittal brothers at their new address at Kapucínské náměstí can at least partially be seen in a photograph by Josef Kunzfeld from 1913.
For Adolf Wittal, marriage also meant moving from his previous residence on Starobrněnská street to a rental house on nearby Pekařská number 5, where the family lived until 1932.[22]
Johann Wittal had two daughters with his wife Friederike. Valerie was born on July 2, 1903, in the Regional Maternity Hospital at what is now Obilní trh.[23] Two years later, on October 1, 1905, their younger daughter Stefanie was born in a house on Starobrněnská. According to the Jewish registry, her midwife was Käthe Drška, and the witnesses/godparents were Saul Klein and uncle Adolf Wittal.[24]
Adolf and Ida Wittal welcomed their daughter Edith on April 2, 1906, followed by their son Kurt in 1907, and finally another daughter Ilse in 1911.
The oldest notification slip archived in the City Archive of Brno relating to Johann Wittal comes from January 28, 1909, when he relocated with his wife and two daughters from Starobrněnská 7 to a more prestigious address, to a rental house built between 1904-1905, located at the corner of today’s Masaryk and Františkánská streets. The family lived in this house until the construction of their own villa on Hroznová street in 1932.[25]
Until the establishment of the republic, we lack detailed reports on how the Wittal brothers' business performed compared to other Brno companies focused on the manufacturing and sale of textile goods. In the period press, we can find only occasional calls that the firm is looking for suitable personnel, such as: “Brüder Wittal, Kapucínské náměstí immediately accepts seamstresses for apron production” or “A young single merchant capable of speaking and writing both national languages is taken by Brdr. Wittal, Kapucínské náměstí.”[27] We also learn that in 1913, the firm complained to the Ministry of the Interior about pension insurance.[28]
In 1905, Johann Wittal was supposed to be proposed as a representative of the insolvency administrator, Dr. Johann Sweck, in the insolvency proceedings that were initiated against Franziska Seykora from Husovice. His role likely included oversight of certain aspects of the bankruptcy proceedings, communication with creditors, or administrative support to the main insolvency administrator. As a public partner in the company Brüder Wittal, he may have had business or legal experience that could have been useful for this bankruptcy process.[29]
More reports in the period press of Brno tended to focus more on the social life of the Wittals. The more engaged of the two brothers was probably Adolf Wittal, who, for example, was a member of the Brno branch of the Association of Traveling Merchants of Austria-Hungary in 1913.[30] Furthermore, we learn that in August 1914, Adolf and Ida Wittal donated their rings to support drafted soldiers,[31] and likewise, in August of the same year, the firm Brüder Wittal contributed an amount of 50 koruna, intended as a donation for families that found themselves in need due to the war mobilization. The same amount was also sent to the Red Cross.[32] Johann Wittal, on the other hand, donated 10 koruna in 1919 to the Brno Volunteer Rescue Society.[33] After the establishment of the republic, Adolf Wittal became involved in the initiative of the Jewish Religious Community in Brno and the Zionist Organization in Brno, focused on financial support for the “re-establishment of Palestine.”[34] In Brno directories from 1927 until Adolf's death in 1934, his name is also mentioned as a member of the council and chairman of the educational section within the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde.
Tragic moments did not spare the family life of the Wittals. Johann and Friederike Wittal's youngest daughter, Stefanie, passed away at the mere age of eight on October 21, 1913. In the case of the three children of Adolf and Ida Wittal, only two daughters, Edith and Ilse, reached adulthood. Their only son Kurt died at the age of two on February 24, 1909.
At that time, Valerie, the only daughter of Johann and Friederike Wittal, married on January 20, 1924, in the Brno synagogue to trader Otto Aschkenes.[37] Their officiant was supposed to be the chief rabbi of Brno, Dr. Ludwig Levy.
Valerie Wittal's husband, Otto Aschkenes, was born on January 31, 1897, in Brno and traded agricultural products and milling products together with his father Arnold.[38] In the People's Newspaper from 1934, Otto Aschkenes announced to “his business friends that he opened on January 1, 1934 a wholesale shop for agricultural products and grain. Office: Brno, V hlinkách 27.”[39] Otto Aschkenes lived at Hlinkách 27 and owned this house since 1923. It is likely that the newlyweds Otto and Valerie Aschkenes lived here after their wedding. Three years after their marriage, on April 2, 1926, the couple had a son Robert. Between 1929-1930, Otto Aschkenes had an apartment building constructed at the intersection of today’s Výstavní and Veletržní streets by the academic architect Robert Farský.[40] Soon after the completion of this building, however, the marriage of Otto and Valerie Aschkenes fell apart.[41]
In the notification slip of Otto Aschkenes from January 21, 1924, there is a later note “Divorced” dated September 24, 1930, and also information that Valerie moved to Vienna.[42]
The oldest daughter of Adolf and Ida Wittal, Edith, married on April 11, 1927, to Siegfried Soffer, a Brno trader and producer of liqueurs.[43] Together with his father Julius Soffer, he owned and operated the firm Soffer & Bittner at today’s Štefánikova 66.[44] Edith and Siegfried Soffer also lived in the Soffer house on Štefánikova street. In 1930, they welcomed their son Felix Tomas, and in 1932, their son Robert.
The younger daughter of Adolf and Ida Wittal, Ilse, experienced somewhat more challenging partnerships as she went through three marriages. Ilse first married at the age of seventeen, on November 11, 1928, to Ferdinand Hájek from Kyjov. Hájek lived in Brno since 1919 and was initially listed in official documents as a clerk, later as a trader. In March 1929, the couple moved into the rental house of Ilse Wittal’s parents, at Antonína Slavíka 9. However, their marriage ended less than three years after their wedding, on August 5, 1931.[45] Ilse Wittal then moved to Merhautova 13.
Two years later, Ilse Wittal married on December 18, 1933, this time during a civil wedding, to chemical engineer Karel Matejka.[46] Her second husband Karel Matejka was born in Brno on December 23, 1908. However, this marriage also ended relatively soon, on May 4, 1936.[47]
It was only her third marriage, concluded on April 6, 1938, with Ernst Loria that seemed to remain stable. Loria was the oldest of Ilse Wittal's previous husbands, having been born on August 6, 1896, in Brno into the family of a Jewish merchant, Sigmund Loria, and his wife Theresi.
Despite Ilse Wittal's unsuccessful first marriage to Ferdinand Hájek, their marriage significantly influenced the progress of the company Brüder Wittal. In the same year that Ilse Wittal and Ferdinand Hájek married, the company announced that it had registered its business including the production of aprons, blouses, and skirts, as well as including the manufacturing of underwear and petticoats, and newly registered its business listed as the production of underwear, aprons, and petticoats, and the trade in children’s clothing, knitted, woven, and all goods related.[48] Moreover, Ferdinand Hájek entered the company Brüder Wittal as its third public shareholder and invested a capital share of 400,000 koruna while still being married to Ilse Wittal.
In 1929, after 25 years, the firm moved its headquarters from Kapucínské náměstí to larger commercial premises in a newly built building at Josefská street number 21. It seems that it was indeed Hájek and his financial capital that helped define further directions for the family business. Despite the fact that the marriage of Ilse Wittal and Ferdinand Hájek fell apart just a year after Hájek joined his father-in-law's company as a partner, he remained active in the firm until the Nazi occupation in 1939.
The house at Josefská 21 was built by Anton Linka, a Brno trader in druggists’ goods and owner of the firm Linka & Rosola, Drogerie “Zum schwarzen Adler”. In 1927, he had the older structure on the site demolished, and in its place, a four-story rental house was built a year later, authored by builder Leopold Eschke. It was approved in November 1928, and in December, permission was granted for its use. The builder of the house planned the extensive commercial premises in the new building, located on the basement and ground floors, practically passing through the entire depth of the building. The firm Brüder Wittal moved into these premises no later than the beginning of 1929. As early as March 1929, the firm began attracting Brno customers to the new premises on Josefská street in the People's Newspaper: “Only Wittal offers you perfect joy from summer stays with its specialties for ladies and children. Our shop windows will confirm that. Wittal in Brno, Josefská 21 (next to the exit from the Appolo cinema).”[49]
The shop windows mentioned in the company's advertising were probably created directly at the company's request by architect of Jewish descent Zoltan Egri. A photograph of the commercial portal on Josefská street was published in the magazine Forum in 1931. [50]
From the published photograph, one can get at least a rough idea of the appearance of the commercial portal, which was composed based on the four-axis facade of the house. The portal was divided by the entrance to the residential part of the house and a trio of large-format display windows with a low parapet, interrupted by a rounded entrance into the Wittal store.
The aforementioned changes were then registered by the firm in March 1930 with the Commercial Court: “Company name: Erste Brünner Schürzen-Blusen- und Röckeerzeugung Brüder Wittal, t=ž: První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratří Wittal. The change is as follows: The business also includes: Factory manufacturing of underwear, women’s and children’s clothing. Date of registration 5. 3. 1930.” [51] With new impulses, the company began to massively utilize advertising means, especially advertising in practically all periodical publications in Brno. The company's new advertising strategy began focusing predominantly on children's fashion and female clientele from the 1930s. The company organized various sales and discount events or fashion shows taking place in the new commercial premises on Josefská street: “The children’s fashion show is included in section I of the program. It is organized in Brno by the well-liked firm Bratří Wittal, Josefská street. We therefore ask our female readers to attend this event in large numbers, not to miss such a precious opportunity as our fashion shows will be this time and then the rest of the program.” [52] Women’s magazine Moravanka gave readers a detailed account of the autumn fashion show of 1930: “[…] And in all this pomp of the grand show, the big ones did not forget about the little and smallest darlings. The firm Bří Wittal presented a number of charming, warm, and flattering knitted sets, fabric outfits, and festive silk dresses, so surely every mother chose something for her little one.” [53]
In January 1932, Adolf and Ida Wittal decided to leave their apartment in the rental building on Pekařská street and moved into their own house at Antonína Slavíka 9. However, the couple spent only two years living here together. In 1934, the family and the company were struck by the loss of Adolf Wittal: “Deeply saddened, I hereby wish to inform on behalf of my children and all relatives that my dearly beloved, good husband, Mr. Adolf Wittal, wholesaler, passed away suddenly last night. He left us after a life devoted to the well-being of family and work. The funeral will take place on Monday, July 23, at 3 p.m. from the Jewish cemetery’s ceremonial hall in Brno. Brno, July 21, 1934. Ida Wittal. I kindly request to refrain from condolence visits.” [54]
Documentation for the construction has been preserved both in the form of plumbing plans stored in the Brno Waterworks and Sewage Archive and in the form of 13 construction plans filed in the City Archive of Brno.[57] The construction documentation, marked as “Plan für die Erbauung eines Wohnhauses auf der Gr.P. No 585/3 Kat. Gem. Kreuzgasse in Brünn Traubengasse. Besitzer: Iohann Wittal, Friederike Wittal und Valerie Aschkenes-Wittal, Brünn Franziskanergasse 1” is dated February 1932 and stamped by Architect Dr. Ing. H. Blum.
The house is built in an L-shaped layout, consisting of a simple rectangular volume to which oval garden terrace bodies, rectangular risalits, and a block with the functional part of the house are attached. In the upper two floors, Blum placed a pair of nearly identical central apartments, which are accessible from a circular staircase.
The scheme of the pair of central apartments is divided into several functional parts. From the circular staircase, one enters a foyer, from which to the east (to the left) leads into the owners' private areas - a dressing room, bedroom, and bathroom. Conversely, to the west (to the right), there are areas designated for the service of the apartment - a maid’s room, kitchen, and facilities. Facing the garden, oriented to the south, are two main living spaces, separated by sliding doors, culminating - in the case of the ground floor apartment - in the space of a winter garden. In the apartment located on the first floor, instead of the winter garden, there is a bedroom.
The dominant feature of the winter garden is a corner sliding window. From the winter garden, there is also access to the oval terrace and from there directly into the garden of the villa.
In the basement, the architect placed cellar rooms, a laundry room, drying room, and boiler room. At the same time, it is possible to enter the garden from here or into the caretaker's apartment. Above the entrance to the garden, the architect placed a decorative grille with a stylized letter W, referring to the name of the house owner.
The caretaker's apartment, containing a hallway with a toilet, a pantry, two rooms, and a kitchen, is located in the mass facing west. The entrance to this service part of the house is provided from the garden, additionally from the basement, as well as via a service staircase that leads to the northern courtyard. Who was the caretaker of the Wittal family from 1932-1939 unfortunately remains unknown so far.
The caretaker's apartment adjoins a room under the garages, which Blum in his article in the magazine Forum refers to as “the room for the storage of plants.” This room is dominated by a large window in a delicate metal frame. It seems that there was also a greenhouse where, among other things, exotic plants were kept. The chronological sequence between the sale of the mentioned land on Hroznová street and the start of the construction process is indeed surprising due to the very short time span, during which it would not have been possible to design a building of this type properly. The Wittals became the owners of the plot in mid-February 1932. By February of the same year, the construction plans are also dated, and the application for a building permit was submitted on March 1.
Hence, we can express two possible hypotheses. One is whether the Wittals had previously shown interest in the mentioned plot, entered into negotiations with its owners about the sale, and entrusted Heinrich Blum with the villa's design even before the purchase agreement was concluded. Moreover, one of the two sellers of the plot, Emil Pollak, was, like Adolf Wittal, involved in the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, and the whole business transaction may thus have occurred in a friendly context. Alternatively, there is the second possibility that the Wittals purchased the plot in February 1932 along with a prepared building project.
However, I personally lean more towards the first variant, suggesting that the Wittals themselves were the clients of the building, and Heinrich Blum designed the villa directly for the Wittal family. This is also supported by the fact that it is a house with a pair of central, similarly arranged apartments. One of them was intended for the couple Johann and Friederike Wittal, while the other was for their 29-year-old daughter Valerie Aschkenes.
Furthermore, an important aspect that leans toward the second theory is the recollection of Brigid Grauman[58], which simultaneously attests to the relationship between the builders and the architect: “Blum also designed the house of Ilka and Edgar Oser at Preslova 9. Friederike Wittal and Charlotte Graumann were very close. They saw each other all the time. When Charlotte’s daughter Ilona married Edgar Oser, they asked their friend Heinrich Blum to build them a house. Charlotte was very proud of this house, and it made a big impression on her sister Friederike. The Wittals then commissioned Blum to build their own house.”[59]
Indeed, in 1928, Heinrich Blum proposed a trio of villas on Preslova street, where the house number 9 was owned by the couples Edgar and Ilse Oser. Despite the fact that the Oser house has a more intimate scale compared to the Wittal villa and Blum worked with more traditional forms in its design, similar elements can be found in its layout. A striking parallel can be seen in the shallow right-angled risalit oriented towards the garden, which - similar to the Wittal villa - integrates a winter garden. Robert Graumann - the cousin of Ilse Oser - remembered their house with these words: “The house was large and modern, with a winter garden full of cacti and tropical plants, a swimming pool, and a gardener who took care of the unusual plantings of tomatoes, grapefruits, etc. Besides Ilka, Edgar, and their two sons, grandmother Graumann lived in the house, architect and the youngest brother of Ilka and my father, Ferry, who was divorced and ran a shoe store in Brno.”[60]
It seems that for the significant commission Blum received from the Wittal family, he did not draw his inspiration from the trio of older family houses on Preslova street, but rather from the nearby villas of architect Ernst Wiesner.
The Wittal villa indeed follows Wiesner's typology, which works with the composition of the main residential volume for the family and the connecting side service wing. The mass of the house is reduced to elementary geometric shapes, thereby achieving a distinct architectural purity. The most pronounced parallel can be seen in relation to the villa of director of the Union Bank of Czechoslovakia, Eduard Münz, built between 1924-1926 at Hroznová 19, whose plot was almost adjacent to the site designated for the Wittal villa. Both buildings are designed in an L-shaped layout and set in a southward sloping garden. The northern entrance courtyard delineates the operational and service wing, while the main living spaces are oriented towards the garden.
As mentioned above, the application for a building permit was submitted by the builders on March 1, 1932. The commission process took place on March 29, and on May 11, the City of Brno issued the building permit, in which it intended to meet specific conditions: “[…] 2/ The conditions for garages must be fulfilled, 3/ The access road to the garage must be reduced to the dimensions as drawn in the situational plan, 4/ The mass of the staircase must be reduced by at least 35 cm for architectural reasons, 5/ The living rooms in the basement must exceed the garden terrain with their half-light height, 6/ A proper and safe access to the roof for the chimney sweep must be provided for the purposes of cleaning chimneys. […] 30/ Bathrooms must have waterproof floors and walls up to 2 m painted with oil paint, tiled or otherwise water-insulated. They must be ventilated directly to the outside or with sufficiently large vents.” [62]
Upon issuing the building permit, the city laid down a total of 42 specific conditions, among which the requirement to lower the oval risalit of the staircase hall at least by 35 cm and to expand the apartment for the caretaker by one room at the expense of the cellar room was significant concerning changes to the submitted building documentation: “In the basement, a second room was established from the cellar in the caretaker's apartment, and minor changes in the internal distribution. These changes can be approved. Since it was found that the masonry was sufficiently dry and did not show wet stains, the city council of the main city of Brno grants building and sanitary police permission for the use of the said new building as of November 1, 1932. […]” [63]
In addition to changes driven by the conditions set by the city, the preserved building documentation indicates additional drawings for a pair of balconies oriented westward. The question remains whether the luxfer glazing of the ceiling of the oval risalit was ultimately realized as proposed in the building documentation.
Part of the set of construction documentation is also an undated situational plan depicting the sewer connection, stamped by builder Ing. Artur Eisler, which suggests that the construction was entrusted precisely to Artur Eisler's firm.[64] The building permit for the establishment of the gas pipeline, house drain, and connection to the street drain was issued in October 1932. In addition, Blum's drawing from August 1932 with a proposal for fencing, an entrance gate, and a driveway from Hroznová street has also been preserved. The building permit for it was issued in December of the same year. [65]
Johann Wittal completed the notification slip regarding the change of residence from the rental house on Františkánská street to his own villa on Hroznová on December 28, 1932, for the needs of the Brno Police Directorate. In his house, the family began to actually live sometime between November 1, when its use was officially approved, and that December 28 of the year 1932.
Two years after the completion of the villa, Heinrich Blum published in 1934 in the magazine Forum a pair of his Brno realizations, namely Deutsche Masaryk Volkshochschule, located at today’s Janáčkovo náměstí, and specifically the villa of the Wittal family, which he described thus: “The W. house in Brno-Pisárky was built between April to October 1932. It contains two similarly arranged four-room apartments, a two-room apartment, and in the attic a garage, under which there is also a room for the storage of plants. The problem here was to find the most economical and formally advantageous way to integrate the house into the extremely rugged terrain. The height difference between the street and the garden (southern) front is 8 meters. In the middle height between both apartments, an access for cars was created as a courtyard. The winter garden features three-meter-wide iron sliding windows and offers a magnificent view of the countryside in all directions.” [66]
It seems that for the publication purposes of the building, a series of photographs of the construction from various perspectives was produced during the summer of 1933, at the latest by spring 1934. Only two photographs were taken of the interior of the building, one with a view of the staircase hall and the second depicting the winter garden in the ground-floor apartment. Currently, a collection of six of these photographs is stored in the Technical Museum in Brno.
In 1934, Valerie Aschkenes married again, this time in Vienna, to a local painter Otto Rudolf Schatz. This fact was noted in the land registry: “According to the marriage certificate from December 21, 1934, it is noted that Valerie Aschkenes is now married to Schatz.” [67]
Her second husband, Otto Rudolf Schatz, was born on January 18, 1900, in Vienna. During the 1920s and 1930s, he illustrated various books and worked for leftist-oriented periodicals and publishing houses. From 1925, he was a member of the Bund Österreichischer Künstler and from 1928 to 1938 a member of the art group Hagenbund.[68] After marrying Valerie Aschkenes, the couple likely alternated living between Vienna and Brno. Biographical sources about Schatz frequently mention that due to his marriage, Schatz received financial support from Valerie’s parents: “Although he became famous as a book illustrator and painter with exhibitions in Hagenbund and Neue Galerie Otto Kallira-Nirenstein, his income remains modest. With the support of his father-in-law, he is now able to undertake long excursions. In November 1936, the young couple boarded a ship and traveled to New York, where they stayed until spring 1937.” [69]
However, it is questionable whether this marriage was positively accepted by Johann and Friederike Wittal. Schatz was a left-leaning artist and a Catholic by faith. Undoubtedly, he lived with his wife Valerie between Vienna and Brno during 1934-1939, and together they undertook numerous trips abroad, where Schatz created: “The couple visited the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1937, he painted views of New York in an abstract, modernist style, which he presented at the Artists' Gallery. He then exhibited it at Neue Galerie in Vienna to considerable media interest. In 1937, he participated in the Hagenbund exhibition in Brussels, and that same year, a collection of his New York paintings was exhibited in Hagenbund in Vienna.” [70] However, only one notification slip of Schatz is found in the City Archive of Brno, dated February 4, 1938, just before Austria's annexation to Nazi Germany. Schatz was said to have been banned from creating in his native Austria, and thus moved to Brno with Valerie. However, in the notification slip, he did not provide the address Hroznová 39. He listed the Grand Hotel in Brno as his previous residence and indicated Mathonova 2a as his current address. In October 1940, he traveled to Prague together with Valerie. Further, relatives of the Wittals, Brigid Grauman, noted: “Wittal's faith was so radical that he broke off relations with Vally, his only daughter, when she married a Christian.” [71] Ultimately, the strained family relations [72] may also be suggested by the fact that in the spring of 1938, Valerie Schatz sold half of the property at Hroznová 39 to her father Johann, thereby completely relinquishing her ownership stake in the building.[73]
To what extent Valerie Aschkenes, later Schatz, utilized the villa on Hroznová street in the years 1932-1939 is thus a question. With certainty, however, her parents lived here until the fateful year of 1939. The previously mentioned Brigid Grauman describes an event involving Johann Wittal's nephew, Johann Graumann, which was supposed to occur at the Wittal house at the close of the 1930s. “This was Johann Wittal's uncle, a coarse, unpolished but very devout man who dealt in textile goods and owned a store selling children's clothing in the center of Brno. […] He lived with his wife Friederike and daughter Vally in great comfort in a functionalist villa, located on a slope with a beautiful view of Brno. They had a driver and gardener, several cars, electric refrigerators, and all modern appliances. My father Bob spent many weekends in Brno, where his family on his father’s side lived. His father arrived from Vienna in his Steyr 200 to see his mother, brothers, and sister. When my father, who was then six or seven years old, was in the store of Brüder Wittal, Johann Wittal called out to him from behind the counter. He held a book bound in leather and growled: ‘Can you read this?’ Bob failed to recognize the unfamiliar script. ‘Bist du kein Jud?’ Johann Wittal yelled. ‘No,’ the child replied with wide eyes. A day or two later, when Bob was having dinner in the dining room at Johann Wittal’s, his aunt Friederike warned him not to leave the table immediately after the meal. Apparently, Johann wanted to say a few words. After Johann Wittal finished his meal, he spoke long in a foreign language. Bob just sat there quietly and then went to sleep thinking it was a Jewish prayer. Back home in Vienna, he then staged the scene from the Wittals for his big brother, imitating Hebrew and pantomiming, and they laughed heartily. […] Seventy years later, my father wondered what motivated Uncle Wittal to recite to him in Hebrew. Did he want to give him a blessing? Was he perhaps worried about the survival of the Jewish ethnicity?” [74]
Likely concurrently with the construction of the Wittal villa, or immediately after its completion, a decorative garden was also created on the extensive land surrounding it. It was designed by an unknown architect. The project utilized the sloping terrain to create several terraces connected via a staircase oriented axially towards the large oval terrace of the villa. One of the terraces, located south of the villa, was equipped along its entire length with a structure for creeping plants. Nearby, a pool was situated, oriented toward the neighboring villa of Eduard Münz.
Photographs from the collections of the Technical Museum in Brno allow for partial comparisons of the construction and garden immediately after its completion with the present situation. For example, from the photograph, it is evident that the central staircase in the garden consisted only of stone blocks at the time of the photos’ capture and lacked metal railing. Thus, the concrete staircase must have been constructed later, sometime between 1933-1939.
The collection of archival photographs also served as a starting point for a partial analysis of the vegetation of the garden of the Wittal villa, conducted by authorized landscape architect Daniel Matějka[75]. From the photographs, it is clear that the garden, at least in the immediate vicinity of the building, had decorative and recreational purposes.
The driveway from Hroznová street to the villa was lined with a series of western thuja (Thuja occidentalis), possibly cypresses (Chamaecyparis). At the oval terrace was planted a spruce (Picea) or fir (Abies), and the western gable wall of the villa was covered with Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus tricuspidata).
The first terrace south of the villa had the character of a rock garden, where junipers (Juniperus), heucheras (Heuchera), bergenias (Bergenia), tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa), and yucca filamentosa (Yucca filamentosa) were planted. Tamarisk (Tamarix) or smoke bush (Cotinus) and foxglove (Digitalis) were also identified here. On both sides, at the end of the central staircase, there were boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens).
In a photograph depicting the villa from the southwest, sakura (Prunus serrulata Kanzan), rose (Rosa), elm (Ulmus), silver birch (Betula pendula), bergenia (Bergenia), sage (Salvia), oleaster (Elaeagnus), sea buckthorn (Hippophae), and walnut (Juglans regia) were recognized.
On the paved areas under the terrace at the entrance to the villa's basement, pots contained common oleander (Nerium oleander) and giant yucca (Yucca elephantipes). For these and other exotic plants, a greenhouse likely served for wintering.
In connection with the garden of the Wittal villa, I managed to record personal narratives from the sisters Ivy Šenkýřová and Nina Klevetová, both born Kříž, who have lived since their birth in 1945 in the neighboring building at Hroznová 41.[76] Their father, František Kříž, was the builder of the neighboring building at Hroznová 41 in 1929, and according to their words, he was acquainted with the Wittals and supplied plants to their garden: “Father did their garden. He made all those rock gardens, supplied them with flowers. He started making that garden. They did have some gardener who did trees and things like that, but father made all the rock gardens and provided them with flowers from us. Father was a famous rock gardener. […] We had various rare flowers from the Caucasus and elsewhere.”[77] The narrators' recollections are mediated by their father and pertain to a time when both narrators were not yet alive, but nevertheless, they provide a valuable testimony reflecting the mutual neighborhood ties between the Wittal and Kříž families.
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The Wittals and the Beginning of Their Business
According to the census document from 1880, the couple Josef Löbl Wittal lived in the South Moravian community of Kostice, at house number 9, with his wife Terezii and their three children. Their oldest daughter Regina was born on March 26, 1871, in Lanžhot. Their son Johann was born there as well, but three years later[1]. Finally, in 1878, this time in Kostice, their second son Adolf Wittal was born[2]. The whole family belonged to the nearby town of Podivín[3], where the Wittals had settled no later than the second half of the 18th century, and where one of the centers of the Jewish community in southern Moravia was located[4]. Josef Löbl Wittal was likely drawn to Kostice by livelihood, as he stated in the census document that he co-owned and operated a bakery here with his wife[5]. The Wittals indicated Czech as their language of communication, except for their oldest daughter Regina, who, in 1880, was reported to be attending a school in Hungarian Šaštín, where German is noted as her language of communication.[6]After the birth of their second son Adolf, Josef and Terezii Wittal were to have five more children in quick succession, all of whom unfortunately died by the age of three at the latest[7]. Thus, only the three oldest children, namely Regina[8], Johann, and Adolf reached adulthood. Unfortunately, we currently lack more detailed information regarding the adolescence of the Wittal siblings during the 1880s and 1890s. Only at the very end of the century do city directories provide evidence of their presence in Brno. For the very first time, only Adolf Wittal is mentioned in the Adressbuch von Brünn in 1900[9]. His residence was then located at Starobrněnská street number 20, and his name is also mentioned in the directory in a list of apron manufacturers “Schürzen-Erzeugung und Handlungen” with the address Františkánská 17[10].
A year later, the Brno directory mentions both brothers. For both, the occupation is listed as Schürzenerzeuger, and their residential address is the same at today's Bezručova 11.[11] The newspaper Brünner Zeitung on October 20, 1900 reported that on October 16, a partnership named Brüder Wittal, in Czech Bratři Wittal, was entered into the commercial register at the Imperial and Royal Regional Court in Brno, having its main office in the city[12]. The company was established as a public one, with the subject of producing aprons. The partners of the firm were siblings Adolf and Johann Wittal, both residing at Starobrněnská street 5.[13]
The beginnings of Brüder Wittal were probably characterized by establishing itself in the Brno market and creating a solid personnel base. In October 1901, a notice appeared in the Tagesbote aus Mähren: “I am looking for an accountant who speaks both languages. Wittal Starobrněnská.”
Shortly after arriving in Brno and establishing a joint firm, both brothers married in quick succession. The older Johann married in Brno on February 17, 1901, to Friederike Bass, a native of Boskovice. The younger Adolf then married the Brno native Ida Klar on March 13, 1904, according to “Israeli laws and customs”.[15] Their marriages had a direct positive impact on the further development of the firm, as in March 1904, both brothers decided to conclude marriage contracts, which were also registered in the commercial register.[16] Friederike Bass transferred to her husband Johann a capital of 6000 koruna.[17] Ida Klar was even more generous, transferring to her husband Adolf 15,000 koruna.[18] Soon thereafter, the company was able to expand its business activities and moved its shop and headquarters to a more prestigious address, to a new building of the Valentina Falkensteiner Foundation at Kapucínské náměstí 2. While still in April 1904, the company was registered as “Brüder Wittal-Bratři Wittal. Subject of the operation: Production of aprons”[19] with headquarters at Starobrněnská 10,[20] just a few months later, in October of the same year, the newspaper Brünner Zeitung informed that the Wittals decided to adjust the company's name to Erste Brünner Schürzen-, Blusen- und Böckeerzeugung Brüder Wittal, in Czech version První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratři Wittal[21] with a new headquarters at Kapucínské náměstí. The business portal of the Wittal brothers at their new address at Kapucínské náměstí can at least partially be seen in a photograph by Josef Kunzfeld from 1913.
For Adolf Wittal, marriage also meant moving from his previous residence on Starobrněnská street to a rental house on nearby Pekařská number 5, where the family lived until 1932.[22]
Johann Wittal had two daughters with his wife Friederike. Valerie was born on July 2, 1903, in the Regional Maternity Hospital at what is now Obilní trh.[23] Two years later, on October 1, 1905, their younger daughter Stefanie was born in a house on Starobrněnská. According to the Jewish registry, her midwife was Käthe Drška, and the witnesses/godparents were Saul Klein and uncle Adolf Wittal.[24]
Adolf and Ida Wittal welcomed their daughter Edith on April 2, 1906, followed by their son Kurt in 1907, and finally another daughter Ilse in 1911.
The oldest notification slip archived in the City Archive of Brno relating to Johann Wittal comes from January 28, 1909, when he relocated with his wife and two daughters from Starobrněnská 7 to a more prestigious address, to a rental house built between 1904-1905, located at the corner of today’s Masaryk and Františkánská streets. The family lived in this house until the construction of their own villa on Hroznová street in 1932.[25]
Until the establishment of the republic, we lack detailed reports on how the Wittal brothers' business performed compared to other Brno companies focused on the manufacturing and sale of textile goods. In the period press, we can find only occasional calls that the firm is looking for suitable personnel, such as: “Brüder Wittal, Kapucínské náměstí immediately accepts seamstresses for apron production” or “A young single merchant capable of speaking and writing both national languages is taken by Brdr. Wittal, Kapucínské náměstí.”[27] We also learn that in 1913, the firm complained to the Ministry of the Interior about pension insurance.[28]
In 1905, Johann Wittal was supposed to be proposed as a representative of the insolvency administrator, Dr. Johann Sweck, in the insolvency proceedings that were initiated against Franziska Seykora from Husovice. His role likely included oversight of certain aspects of the bankruptcy proceedings, communication with creditors, or administrative support to the main insolvency administrator. As a public partner in the company Brüder Wittal, he may have had business or legal experience that could have been useful for this bankruptcy process.[29]
More reports in the period press of Brno tended to focus more on the social life of the Wittals. The more engaged of the two brothers was probably Adolf Wittal, who, for example, was a member of the Brno branch of the Association of Traveling Merchants of Austria-Hungary in 1913.[30] Furthermore, we learn that in August 1914, Adolf and Ida Wittal donated their rings to support drafted soldiers,[31] and likewise, in August of the same year, the firm Brüder Wittal contributed an amount of 50 koruna, intended as a donation for families that found themselves in need due to the war mobilization. The same amount was also sent to the Red Cross.[32] Johann Wittal, on the other hand, donated 10 koruna in 1919 to the Brno Volunteer Rescue Society.[33] After the establishment of the republic, Adolf Wittal became involved in the initiative of the Jewish Religious Community in Brno and the Zionist Organization in Brno, focused on financial support for the “re-establishment of Palestine.”[34] In Brno directories from 1927 until Adolf's death in 1934, his name is also mentioned as a member of the council and chairman of the educational section within the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde.
Tragic moments did not spare the family life of the Wittals. Johann and Friederike Wittal's youngest daughter, Stefanie, passed away at the mere age of eight on October 21, 1913. In the case of the three children of Adolf and Ida Wittal, only two daughters, Edith and Ilse, reached adulthood. Their only son Kurt died at the age of two on February 24, 1909.
The Interwar Period
Significant changes in the family of the Wittal brothers, as well as in their business and the development of the company, occurred only in the period following the end of the First World War. As early as 1919, they had the business name supplemented at the Commercial Court to include the activity of “Manufakturwarenhandel”, that is, trade in handicraft goods[35], which they later dropped. So from 1927, the company consistently presented itself as První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratří Wittal. In 1922, Adolf and Ida Wittal decided to purchase a rental house on today’s Antonína Slavíka 9 from Rudolf Křenek.[36]At that time, Valerie, the only daughter of Johann and Friederike Wittal, married on January 20, 1924, in the Brno synagogue to trader Otto Aschkenes.[37] Their officiant was supposed to be the chief rabbi of Brno, Dr. Ludwig Levy.
Valerie Wittal's husband, Otto Aschkenes, was born on January 31, 1897, in Brno and traded agricultural products and milling products together with his father Arnold.[38] In the People's Newspaper from 1934, Otto Aschkenes announced to “his business friends that he opened on January 1, 1934 a wholesale shop for agricultural products and grain. Office: Brno, V hlinkách 27.”[39] Otto Aschkenes lived at Hlinkách 27 and owned this house since 1923. It is likely that the newlyweds Otto and Valerie Aschkenes lived here after their wedding. Three years after their marriage, on April 2, 1926, the couple had a son Robert. Between 1929-1930, Otto Aschkenes had an apartment building constructed at the intersection of today’s Výstavní and Veletržní streets by the academic architect Robert Farský.[40] Soon after the completion of this building, however, the marriage of Otto and Valerie Aschkenes fell apart.[41]
In the notification slip of Otto Aschkenes from January 21, 1924, there is a later note “Divorced” dated September 24, 1930, and also information that Valerie moved to Vienna.[42]
The oldest daughter of Adolf and Ida Wittal, Edith, married on April 11, 1927, to Siegfried Soffer, a Brno trader and producer of liqueurs.[43] Together with his father Julius Soffer, he owned and operated the firm Soffer & Bittner at today’s Štefánikova 66.[44] Edith and Siegfried Soffer also lived in the Soffer house on Štefánikova street. In 1930, they welcomed their son Felix Tomas, and in 1932, their son Robert.
The younger daughter of Adolf and Ida Wittal, Ilse, experienced somewhat more challenging partnerships as she went through three marriages. Ilse first married at the age of seventeen, on November 11, 1928, to Ferdinand Hájek from Kyjov. Hájek lived in Brno since 1919 and was initially listed in official documents as a clerk, later as a trader. In March 1929, the couple moved into the rental house of Ilse Wittal’s parents, at Antonína Slavíka 9. However, their marriage ended less than three years after their wedding, on August 5, 1931.[45] Ilse Wittal then moved to Merhautova 13.
Two years later, Ilse Wittal married on December 18, 1933, this time during a civil wedding, to chemical engineer Karel Matejka.[46] Her second husband Karel Matejka was born in Brno on December 23, 1908. However, this marriage also ended relatively soon, on May 4, 1936.[47]
It was only her third marriage, concluded on April 6, 1938, with Ernst Loria that seemed to remain stable. Loria was the oldest of Ilse Wittal's previous husbands, having been born on August 6, 1896, in Brno into the family of a Jewish merchant, Sigmund Loria, and his wife Theresi.
Despite Ilse Wittal's unsuccessful first marriage to Ferdinand Hájek, their marriage significantly influenced the progress of the company Brüder Wittal. In the same year that Ilse Wittal and Ferdinand Hájek married, the company announced that it had registered its business including the production of aprons, blouses, and skirts, as well as including the manufacturing of underwear and petticoats, and newly registered its business listed as the production of underwear, aprons, and petticoats, and the trade in children’s clothing, knitted, woven, and all goods related.[48] Moreover, Ferdinand Hájek entered the company Brüder Wittal as its third public shareholder and invested a capital share of 400,000 koruna while still being married to Ilse Wittal.
In 1929, after 25 years, the firm moved its headquarters from Kapucínské náměstí to larger commercial premises in a newly built building at Josefská street number 21. It seems that it was indeed Hájek and his financial capital that helped define further directions for the family business. Despite the fact that the marriage of Ilse Wittal and Ferdinand Hájek fell apart just a year after Hájek joined his father-in-law's company as a partner, he remained active in the firm until the Nazi occupation in 1939.
The house at Josefská 21 was built by Anton Linka, a Brno trader in druggists’ goods and owner of the firm Linka & Rosola, Drogerie “Zum schwarzen Adler”. In 1927, he had the older structure on the site demolished, and in its place, a four-story rental house was built a year later, authored by builder Leopold Eschke. It was approved in November 1928, and in December, permission was granted for its use. The builder of the house planned the extensive commercial premises in the new building, located on the basement and ground floors, practically passing through the entire depth of the building. The firm Brüder Wittal moved into these premises no later than the beginning of 1929. As early as March 1929, the firm began attracting Brno customers to the new premises on Josefská street in the People's Newspaper: “Only Wittal offers you perfect joy from summer stays with its specialties for ladies and children. Our shop windows will confirm that. Wittal in Brno, Josefská 21 (next to the exit from the Appolo cinema).”[49]
The shop windows mentioned in the company's advertising were probably created directly at the company's request by architect of Jewish descent Zoltan Egri. A photograph of the commercial portal on Josefská street was published in the magazine Forum in 1931. [50]
From the published photograph, one can get at least a rough idea of the appearance of the commercial portal, which was composed based on the four-axis facade of the house. The portal was divided by the entrance to the residential part of the house and a trio of large-format display windows with a low parapet, interrupted by a rounded entrance into the Wittal store.
The aforementioned changes were then registered by the firm in March 1930 with the Commercial Court: “Company name: Erste Brünner Schürzen-Blusen- und Röckeerzeugung Brüder Wittal, t=ž: První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratří Wittal. The change is as follows: The business also includes: Factory manufacturing of underwear, women’s and children’s clothing. Date of registration 5. 3. 1930.” [51] With new impulses, the company began to massively utilize advertising means, especially advertising in practically all periodical publications in Brno. The company's new advertising strategy began focusing predominantly on children's fashion and female clientele from the 1930s. The company organized various sales and discount events or fashion shows taking place in the new commercial premises on Josefská street: “The children’s fashion show is included in section I of the program. It is organized in Brno by the well-liked firm Bratří Wittal, Josefská street. We therefore ask our female readers to attend this event in large numbers, not to miss such a precious opportunity as our fashion shows will be this time and then the rest of the program.” [52] Women’s magazine Moravanka gave readers a detailed account of the autumn fashion show of 1930: “[…] And in all this pomp of the grand show, the big ones did not forget about the little and smallest darlings. The firm Bří Wittal presented a number of charming, warm, and flattering knitted sets, fabric outfits, and festive silk dresses, so surely every mother chose something for her little one.” [53]
In January 1932, Adolf and Ida Wittal decided to leave their apartment in the rental building on Pekařská street and moved into their own house at Antonína Slavíka 9. However, the couple spent only two years living here together. In 1934, the family and the company were struck by the loss of Adolf Wittal: “Deeply saddened, I hereby wish to inform on behalf of my children and all relatives that my dearly beloved, good husband, Mr. Adolf Wittal, wholesaler, passed away suddenly last night. He left us after a life devoted to the well-being of family and work. The funeral will take place on Monday, July 23, at 3 p.m. from the Jewish cemetery’s ceremonial hall in Brno. Brno, July 21, 1934. Ida Wittal. I kindly request to refrain from condolence visits.” [54]
The Wittal Villa
During the interwar expansion of the firm Brüder Wittal, the older of the brothers, Johann Wittal, also decided to secure his own property. Instead of purchasing an already existing building as Adolf did ten years earlier, on February 15, 1932, Johann Wittal purchased the newly designated parcel number 585/3 in the cadastral area of Křížová, now known as Pisárky.[55] The land, which used to be a vineyard and garden, measuring 32 ares, was bought by Johann Wittal and his wife Friederike, each acquiring a quarter, and their daughter Valerie Aschkenes, at that time already divorced for about a year and a half, for 320,000 koruna from Brno merchants Franz Wallaschka and Emil Pollak. [56]Documentation for the construction has been preserved both in the form of plumbing plans stored in the Brno Waterworks and Sewage Archive and in the form of 13 construction plans filed in the City Archive of Brno.[57] The construction documentation, marked as “Plan für die Erbauung eines Wohnhauses auf der Gr.P. No 585/3 Kat. Gem. Kreuzgasse in Brünn Traubengasse. Besitzer: Iohann Wittal, Friederike Wittal und Valerie Aschkenes-Wittal, Brünn Franziskanergasse 1” is dated February 1932 and stamped by Architect Dr. Ing. H. Blum.
The house is built in an L-shaped layout, consisting of a simple rectangular volume to which oval garden terrace bodies, rectangular risalits, and a block with the functional part of the house are attached. In the upper two floors, Blum placed a pair of nearly identical central apartments, which are accessible from a circular staircase.
The scheme of the pair of central apartments is divided into several functional parts. From the circular staircase, one enters a foyer, from which to the east (to the left) leads into the owners' private areas - a dressing room, bedroom, and bathroom. Conversely, to the west (to the right), there are areas designated for the service of the apartment - a maid’s room, kitchen, and facilities. Facing the garden, oriented to the south, are two main living spaces, separated by sliding doors, culminating - in the case of the ground floor apartment - in the space of a winter garden. In the apartment located on the first floor, instead of the winter garden, there is a bedroom.
The dominant feature of the winter garden is a corner sliding window. From the winter garden, there is also access to the oval terrace and from there directly into the garden of the villa.
In the basement, the architect placed cellar rooms, a laundry room, drying room, and boiler room. At the same time, it is possible to enter the garden from here or into the caretaker's apartment. Above the entrance to the garden, the architect placed a decorative grille with a stylized letter W, referring to the name of the house owner.
The caretaker's apartment, containing a hallway with a toilet, a pantry, two rooms, and a kitchen, is located in the mass facing west. The entrance to this service part of the house is provided from the garden, additionally from the basement, as well as via a service staircase that leads to the northern courtyard. Who was the caretaker of the Wittal family from 1932-1939 unfortunately remains unknown so far.
The caretaker's apartment adjoins a room under the garages, which Blum in his article in the magazine Forum refers to as “the room for the storage of plants.” This room is dominated by a large window in a delicate metal frame. It seems that there was also a greenhouse where, among other things, exotic plants were kept. The chronological sequence between the sale of the mentioned land on Hroznová street and the start of the construction process is indeed surprising due to the very short time span, during which it would not have been possible to design a building of this type properly. The Wittals became the owners of the plot in mid-February 1932. By February of the same year, the construction plans are also dated, and the application for a building permit was submitted on March 1.
Hence, we can express two possible hypotheses. One is whether the Wittals had previously shown interest in the mentioned plot, entered into negotiations with its owners about the sale, and entrusted Heinrich Blum with the villa's design even before the purchase agreement was concluded. Moreover, one of the two sellers of the plot, Emil Pollak, was, like Adolf Wittal, involved in the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, and the whole business transaction may thus have occurred in a friendly context. Alternatively, there is the second possibility that the Wittals purchased the plot in February 1932 along with a prepared building project.
However, I personally lean more towards the first variant, suggesting that the Wittals themselves were the clients of the building, and Heinrich Blum designed the villa directly for the Wittal family. This is also supported by the fact that it is a house with a pair of central, similarly arranged apartments. One of them was intended for the couple Johann and Friederike Wittal, while the other was for their 29-year-old daughter Valerie Aschkenes.
Furthermore, an important aspect that leans toward the second theory is the recollection of Brigid Grauman[58], which simultaneously attests to the relationship between the builders and the architect: “Blum also designed the house of Ilka and Edgar Oser at Preslova 9. Friederike Wittal and Charlotte Graumann were very close. They saw each other all the time. When Charlotte’s daughter Ilona married Edgar Oser, they asked their friend Heinrich Blum to build them a house. Charlotte was very proud of this house, and it made a big impression on her sister Friederike. The Wittals then commissioned Blum to build their own house.”[59]
Indeed, in 1928, Heinrich Blum proposed a trio of villas on Preslova street, where the house number 9 was owned by the couples Edgar and Ilse Oser. Despite the fact that the Oser house has a more intimate scale compared to the Wittal villa and Blum worked with more traditional forms in its design, similar elements can be found in its layout. A striking parallel can be seen in the shallow right-angled risalit oriented towards the garden, which - similar to the Wittal villa - integrates a winter garden. Robert Graumann - the cousin of Ilse Oser - remembered their house with these words: “The house was large and modern, with a winter garden full of cacti and tropical plants, a swimming pool, and a gardener who took care of the unusual plantings of tomatoes, grapefruits, etc. Besides Ilka, Edgar, and their two sons, grandmother Graumann lived in the house, architect and the youngest brother of Ilka and my father, Ferry, who was divorced and ran a shoe store in Brno.”[60]
It seems that for the significant commission Blum received from the Wittal family, he did not draw his inspiration from the trio of older family houses on Preslova street, but rather from the nearby villas of architect Ernst Wiesner.
The Wittal villa indeed follows Wiesner's typology, which works with the composition of the main residential volume for the family and the connecting side service wing. The mass of the house is reduced to elementary geometric shapes, thereby achieving a distinct architectural purity. The most pronounced parallel can be seen in relation to the villa of director of the Union Bank of Czechoslovakia, Eduard Münz, built between 1924-1926 at Hroznová 19, whose plot was almost adjacent to the site designated for the Wittal villa. Both buildings are designed in an L-shaped layout and set in a southward sloping garden. The northern entrance courtyard delineates the operational and service wing, while the main living spaces are oriented towards the garden.
As mentioned above, the application for a building permit was submitted by the builders on March 1, 1932. The commission process took place on March 29, and on May 11, the City of Brno issued the building permit, in which it intended to meet specific conditions: “[…] 2/ The conditions for garages must be fulfilled, 3/ The access road to the garage must be reduced to the dimensions as drawn in the situational plan, 4/ The mass of the staircase must be reduced by at least 35 cm for architectural reasons, 5/ The living rooms in the basement must exceed the garden terrain with their half-light height, 6/ A proper and safe access to the roof for the chimney sweep must be provided for the purposes of cleaning chimneys. […] 30/ Bathrooms must have waterproof floors and walls up to 2 m painted with oil paint, tiled or otherwise water-insulated. They must be ventilated directly to the outside or with sufficiently large vents.” [62]
Upon issuing the building permit, the city laid down a total of 42 specific conditions, among which the requirement to lower the oval risalit of the staircase hall at least by 35 cm and to expand the apartment for the caretaker by one room at the expense of the cellar room was significant concerning changes to the submitted building documentation: “In the basement, a second room was established from the cellar in the caretaker's apartment, and minor changes in the internal distribution. These changes can be approved. Since it was found that the masonry was sufficiently dry and did not show wet stains, the city council of the main city of Brno grants building and sanitary police permission for the use of the said new building as of November 1, 1932. […]” [63]
In addition to changes driven by the conditions set by the city, the preserved building documentation indicates additional drawings for a pair of balconies oriented westward. The question remains whether the luxfer glazing of the ceiling of the oval risalit was ultimately realized as proposed in the building documentation.
Part of the set of construction documentation is also an undated situational plan depicting the sewer connection, stamped by builder Ing. Artur Eisler, which suggests that the construction was entrusted precisely to Artur Eisler's firm.[64] The building permit for the establishment of the gas pipeline, house drain, and connection to the street drain was issued in October 1932. In addition, Blum's drawing from August 1932 with a proposal for fencing, an entrance gate, and a driveway from Hroznová street has also been preserved. The building permit for it was issued in December of the same year. [65]
Johann Wittal completed the notification slip regarding the change of residence from the rental house on Františkánská street to his own villa on Hroznová on December 28, 1932, for the needs of the Brno Police Directorate. In his house, the family began to actually live sometime between November 1, when its use was officially approved, and that December 28 of the year 1932.
Two years after the completion of the villa, Heinrich Blum published in 1934 in the magazine Forum a pair of his Brno realizations, namely Deutsche Masaryk Volkshochschule, located at today’s Janáčkovo náměstí, and specifically the villa of the Wittal family, which he described thus: “The W. house in Brno-Pisárky was built between April to October 1932. It contains two similarly arranged four-room apartments, a two-room apartment, and in the attic a garage, under which there is also a room for the storage of plants. The problem here was to find the most economical and formally advantageous way to integrate the house into the extremely rugged terrain. The height difference between the street and the garden (southern) front is 8 meters. In the middle height between both apartments, an access for cars was created as a courtyard. The winter garden features three-meter-wide iron sliding windows and offers a magnificent view of the countryside in all directions.” [66]
It seems that for the publication purposes of the building, a series of photographs of the construction from various perspectives was produced during the summer of 1933, at the latest by spring 1934. Only two photographs were taken of the interior of the building, one with a view of the staircase hall and the second depicting the winter garden in the ground-floor apartment. Currently, a collection of six of these photographs is stored in the Technical Museum in Brno.
In 1934, Valerie Aschkenes married again, this time in Vienna, to a local painter Otto Rudolf Schatz. This fact was noted in the land registry: “According to the marriage certificate from December 21, 1934, it is noted that Valerie Aschkenes is now married to Schatz.” [67]
Her second husband, Otto Rudolf Schatz, was born on January 18, 1900, in Vienna. During the 1920s and 1930s, he illustrated various books and worked for leftist-oriented periodicals and publishing houses. From 1925, he was a member of the Bund Österreichischer Künstler and from 1928 to 1938 a member of the art group Hagenbund.[68] After marrying Valerie Aschkenes, the couple likely alternated living between Vienna and Brno. Biographical sources about Schatz frequently mention that due to his marriage, Schatz received financial support from Valerie’s parents: “Although he became famous as a book illustrator and painter with exhibitions in Hagenbund and Neue Galerie Otto Kallira-Nirenstein, his income remains modest. With the support of his father-in-law, he is now able to undertake long excursions. In November 1936, the young couple boarded a ship and traveled to New York, where they stayed until spring 1937.” [69]
However, it is questionable whether this marriage was positively accepted by Johann and Friederike Wittal. Schatz was a left-leaning artist and a Catholic by faith. Undoubtedly, he lived with his wife Valerie between Vienna and Brno during 1934-1939, and together they undertook numerous trips abroad, where Schatz created: “The couple visited the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1937, he painted views of New York in an abstract, modernist style, which he presented at the Artists' Gallery. He then exhibited it at Neue Galerie in Vienna to considerable media interest. In 1937, he participated in the Hagenbund exhibition in Brussels, and that same year, a collection of his New York paintings was exhibited in Hagenbund in Vienna.” [70] However, only one notification slip of Schatz is found in the City Archive of Brno, dated February 4, 1938, just before Austria's annexation to Nazi Germany. Schatz was said to have been banned from creating in his native Austria, and thus moved to Brno with Valerie. However, in the notification slip, he did not provide the address Hroznová 39. He listed the Grand Hotel in Brno as his previous residence and indicated Mathonova 2a as his current address. In October 1940, he traveled to Prague together with Valerie. Further, relatives of the Wittals, Brigid Grauman, noted: “Wittal's faith was so radical that he broke off relations with Vally, his only daughter, when she married a Christian.” [71] Ultimately, the strained family relations [72] may also be suggested by the fact that in the spring of 1938, Valerie Schatz sold half of the property at Hroznová 39 to her father Johann, thereby completely relinquishing her ownership stake in the building.[73]
To what extent Valerie Aschkenes, later Schatz, utilized the villa on Hroznová street in the years 1932-1939 is thus a question. With certainty, however, her parents lived here until the fateful year of 1939. The previously mentioned Brigid Grauman describes an event involving Johann Wittal's nephew, Johann Graumann, which was supposed to occur at the Wittal house at the close of the 1930s. “This was Johann Wittal's uncle, a coarse, unpolished but very devout man who dealt in textile goods and owned a store selling children's clothing in the center of Brno. […] He lived with his wife Friederike and daughter Vally in great comfort in a functionalist villa, located on a slope with a beautiful view of Brno. They had a driver and gardener, several cars, electric refrigerators, and all modern appliances. My father Bob spent many weekends in Brno, where his family on his father’s side lived. His father arrived from Vienna in his Steyr 200 to see his mother, brothers, and sister. When my father, who was then six or seven years old, was in the store of Brüder Wittal, Johann Wittal called out to him from behind the counter. He held a book bound in leather and growled: ‘Can you read this?’ Bob failed to recognize the unfamiliar script. ‘Bist du kein Jud?’ Johann Wittal yelled. ‘No,’ the child replied with wide eyes. A day or two later, when Bob was having dinner in the dining room at Johann Wittal’s, his aunt Friederike warned him not to leave the table immediately after the meal. Apparently, Johann wanted to say a few words. After Johann Wittal finished his meal, he spoke long in a foreign language. Bob just sat there quietly and then went to sleep thinking it was a Jewish prayer. Back home in Vienna, he then staged the scene from the Wittals for his big brother, imitating Hebrew and pantomiming, and they laughed heartily. […] Seventy years later, my father wondered what motivated Uncle Wittal to recite to him in Hebrew. Did he want to give him a blessing? Was he perhaps worried about the survival of the Jewish ethnicity?” [74]
The Garden of the Villa and Its Immediate Surroundings
The original extensive parcel number 585/1 with the vineyard and garden, stretching along the slope between today's Hroznová and Kamenomlýnská streets, was divided in 1932 into two separate building plots. On the newly created parcel number 585/3, the Wittal family's villa was constructed later that same year, and on the neighboring southern plot, a rental house designed by architect Otto Eisler was built four years later. At the time the Wittal villa was being constructed, the immediate vicinity featured the family house of František and Emanuela Kříž from 1926, designed by architect Oskar Pořísky, at Hroznová 41. East of the Wittal villa stood on parcel number 598 the villa of the director of the Czech Union Bank, Eduard Münz, designed by architect Ernst Wiesner, already for six years.Likely concurrently with the construction of the Wittal villa, or immediately after its completion, a decorative garden was also created on the extensive land surrounding it. It was designed by an unknown architect. The project utilized the sloping terrain to create several terraces connected via a staircase oriented axially towards the large oval terrace of the villa. One of the terraces, located south of the villa, was equipped along its entire length with a structure for creeping plants. Nearby, a pool was situated, oriented toward the neighboring villa of Eduard Münz.
Photographs from the collections of the Technical Museum in Brno allow for partial comparisons of the construction and garden immediately after its completion with the present situation. For example, from the photograph, it is evident that the central staircase in the garden consisted only of stone blocks at the time of the photos’ capture and lacked metal railing. Thus, the concrete staircase must have been constructed later, sometime between 1933-1939.
The collection of archival photographs also served as a starting point for a partial analysis of the vegetation of the garden of the Wittal villa, conducted by authorized landscape architect Daniel Matějka[75]. From the photographs, it is clear that the garden, at least in the immediate vicinity of the building, had decorative and recreational purposes.
The driveway from Hroznová street to the villa was lined with a series of western thuja (Thuja occidentalis), possibly cypresses (Chamaecyparis). At the oval terrace was planted a spruce (Picea) or fir (Abies), and the western gable wall of the villa was covered with Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus tricuspidata).
The first terrace south of the villa had the character of a rock garden, where junipers (Juniperus), heucheras (Heuchera), bergenias (Bergenia), tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa), and yucca filamentosa (Yucca filamentosa) were planted. Tamarisk (Tamarix) or smoke bush (Cotinus) and foxglove (Digitalis) were also identified here. On both sides, at the end of the central staircase, there were boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens).
In a photograph depicting the villa from the southwest, sakura (Prunus serrulata Kanzan), rose (Rosa), elm (Ulmus), silver birch (Betula pendula), bergenia (Bergenia), sage (Salvia), oleaster (Elaeagnus), sea buckthorn (Hippophae), and walnut (Juglans regia) were recognized.
On the paved areas under the terrace at the entrance to the villa's basement, pots contained common oleander (Nerium oleander) and giant yucca (Yucca elephantipes). For these and other exotic plants, a greenhouse likely served for wintering.
In connection with the garden of the Wittal villa, I managed to record personal narratives from the sisters Ivy Šenkýřová and Nina Klevetová, both born Kříž, who have lived since their birth in 1945 in the neighboring building at Hroznová 41.[76] Their father, František Kříž, was the builder of the neighboring building at Hroznová 41 in 1929, and according to their words, he was acquainted with the Wittals and supplied plants to their garden: “Father did their garden. He made all those rock gardens, supplied them with flowers. He started making that garden. They did have some gardener who did trees and things like that, but father made all the rock gardens and provided them with flowers from us. Father was a famous rock gardener. […] We had various rare flowers from the Caucasus and elsewhere.”[77] The narrators' recollections are mediated by their father and pertain to a time when both narrators were not yet alive, but nevertheless, they provide a valuable testimony reflecting the mutual neighborhood ties between the Wittal and Kříž families.
| continue → Part 2 "Nazi Occupation" |
References
- In the census document from 1880, Johann Wittal's date of birth is listed as February 12, 1876. However, in the notification slips from 1932-1940, Johann Wittal himself stated his date of birth as November 25, 1874. In the Jewish registry, Johann Wittal's date of birth is also indicated as November 25, 1874, but added later in 1876; see https://www.mza.cz/…jp2. Therefore, I will state November 25, 1874, as Johann Wittal's date of birth.
- In the census document, Adolf Wittal's date of birth is specified as January 26, 1878. However, in the notification slip from 1931, Adolf Wittal himself stated his date of birth as February 26, 1878; see https://www.mza.cz/…jp2.
- Here, in 1787, Herschl Löbl was supposed to take on his new name, Joseph Wittal.
- In official documents, the Wittals often referred to the town of Podivín in its German form Kostl or Kostel.
- See https://www.mza.cz/…jp2.
- In the census document from 1880, the name is listed in the Czech form Vital; see https://www.mza.cz/…jp2.
- See https://www.geni.com/people/Josef-L%C3%B6bl-Wittal/6000000019543667923
- Regina Wittalová married in Hodonín in 1888 to a trader from Lanžhot, Josef Weiss. The couple lived together until their death in 1934 in Lanžhot; see https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=97502c9a-82ce-43be-8342-e91b4d6328d4&scan=ccbe19f737cf6e8111b11ab15c5a62fe
- Adressbuch von Brünn from 1900 mentions a certain Franziska Wittal with the address Franziskanergasse 17. Other directories do not mention this person anymore. Adressbuch von Brünn, 1900, vol. 9.
- The rental house at Františkánská street number 17 was owned by Josef and Franziska Schereda from 1888 to 1922. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Brno-city, book no. 437.
- The rental house at today’s Bezručova street number 11 was owned by Leopold Schwarz since 1898, and from 1915 by Karl Švarc. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Nové Sady, book no. 311.
- Via attorney Siegmund Czech, a letter regarding the establishment of the firm Brüder Wittal, in Czech Bratři Wittal, with headquarters at Starobrněnská 5 was delivered to the C.k. regional court in Brno on October 10, 1900. MZA, fund C 11 - District Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
- The rental house at Starobrněnská street number 5 was owned by Josef and Maria Kuhl from 1895 until 1911. From 1911, the minors Svatopluk and Libuše Kuhl owned it. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Brno-city, book no. 293.
- Tagesbote aus Mähren, October 19, 1901, vol. 51, no. 489.
- “Hereby we confirm that on March 13, 1904, Mr. Adolf Wittal, a merchant in Brno, son of Josef Löbl Wittal, as the groom […] and Ida Klar, daughter of Salomon and Theresi, born in Brno as the bride, in the presence of the witnesses Josef Heller and Abraham Deutsche […] were married in Brno according to Israeli laws and customs.” MZA, fund C 1 District Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
- “Business headquarters: Brno, Starobrněnská street no. 10. Company name: Brüder Wittal - Bratři Wittal. Subject of operation: Production of aprons. Special records: Marriage contracts between public partner Adolf Wittal and his wife Ida Wittal, nee Klar. In Brno, on March 10, 1904.” Brünner Zeitung, April 19, 1904, no. 89.
- The contract was concluded on March 28, 1904. MZA, fund C 11 - District Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
- The contract was executed on March 18, 1904: “a) Mr. Adolf Wittal, public partner of the firm Brüder Wittal in Brno Starobrněnská 10 as the groom on one side. b) Miss Ida Klar, private individual in Brno, Wranauerstrasse 3 as the bride intending to enter into marriage. Mr. Adolf Wittal and Ida Klar promised each other marriage. The bride, Miss Ida Klar, assigns to her groom Adolf Wittal a capital of 15,000 K. as marriage property, which she fully assigned to him by signing this contract.” [...] “In addition to this wedding property, the bride, Miss Ida Klar, also brings a set of furniture including golden and silver items, clothing, bedding, jewelry, beds, and wedding gifts, which are, however, her exclusive and unlimited property and must remain hers throughout the duration of the marriage.” [...] “Additionally, [Adolf Wittal] undertakes immediately after signing the contract to have this marriage contract registered at the Commercial Court with his firm Brüder Wittal in Brno for the purpose of securing the property rights of his future wife Mrs. Ida Wittal, nee Klar.” MZA, fund C 1 – District Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
- Brünner Zeitung, April 19, 1904, no. 89.
- The rental house at Starobrněnská street number 10 was owned by Josef Postolka since 1895. From 1904, the couples Čeněk and Marie Hluchoň owned it. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Brno-city, book no. 298.
- “On October 12, 1904: Headquarters of the company Brno, Kapucínské náměstí no. 2. Company name Brüder Wittal, in Czech: Bratři Wittal. Change of company to: Erste Brünner Schürzen-, Blusen- und Böckeerzeugung Brüder Wittal. In Czech: První brněnská výroba zástěr, halenek a sukeň Bratři Wittal. Subject of operation so far: Production of aprons. Now: production of aprons, blouses, and skirts.” Brünner Zeitung, October 21, 1904, no. 241.
- The rental house at Pekařská street number 5 was owned by Karl Popper from 1892 until 1917. From April 4, 1917, the owner of the property was Franz Popper. After the establishment of the protectorate, the owner became the Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Brno-city, book no. 645.
- It is interesting to note that her name was only added to the Jewish registry in 1905. Two lines below, there is a record of the birth of her younger sister Stefanie; see https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=ba4d5688-fe54-478b-b444-1bf05f6dd603&scan=02c0807fc363dde46f9d88e9c71ceb56
- See https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=ba4d5688-fe54-478b-b444-1bf05f6dd603&scan=02c0807fc363dde46f9d88e9c71ceb56
- The rental house at Františkánská street number 1 was owned by Cecilie Hože from 1893 to 1922. In 1922, it was purchased by the Agricultural Bank of Czechoslovakia in Prague. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area of Brno-city, book no. 377.
- Brünner Zeitung, August 22, 1906, no. 190.
- Tagesbote aus Mähren, February 10, 1913, vol. 63, no. 68.
- Tagesbote aus Mähren, January 26, 1913, vol. 63, no. 43.
- “From the courtroom. Vienna, January 25. From the administrative court. Public oral hearings took place at the administrative court on December 31. The Wittal brothers complained to the Ministry of the Interior in Brno regarding pension insurance.” Brünner Zeitung, December 15, 1905, no. 286.
- Tagesbote aus Mähren: New Series of News, January 5, 1913, vol. 63, no. 8.
- Brünner Zeitung, August 8, 1914, no. 181.
- Brüuner Zeitung, August 8, 1914, no. 181.
- Brünner Zeitung, June 28, 1919, no. 153.
- People's Newspaper, October 1, 1929, vol. 37, no. 493.
- Brünner Zeitung, March 14, 1919, no. 61.
- The rental house at Antonína Slavíka street number 9 was built in 1906 by builder Franz Pawlu, who also owned the house until 1916. In 1916, it was bought by Rudolf Křenek and based on the purchase agreement dated April 25, 1922, the owners of the property became Adolf and Ida Wittal. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Horní a Dolní Cejl, book no. 594.
- See https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=2c644317-4b0f-4770-846b-7273dccd54ee&scan=8438f4eda245ae5e32f11e5adccf61d3
- Otto Aschenknes was born in Brno on January 31, 1897, to Arnold and Bedřiška Aschkenes. On the day of Nazi occupation, March 15, 1939, he was supposed to be imprisoned with his father Arnold at 7:15 a.m. and released later that same day at 6:25 p.m. In 1941, he was forced to relinquish his properties on Hlinky and Výstavní streets and on March 23, 1942, was deported to Terezín. From there, on April 1, 1942, he was sent to the concentration camp Piaski, where he perished.
- People's Newspaper, January 12, 1934, vol. 42, no. 10.
- AMB, fund U9 map and plan collection, Výstavní 27.
- Son of Otto and Valerie Aschkenes, Robert, likely lived after his parents' divorce first with his father, and then with his second wife Käthe, nee Frisehová. This is inferred from Robert Aschkenes' police registration from August 6, 1941, in which he stated that he lived with his parents and listed Käthe Aschkenes as his mother.
- Otto Aschkenes was supposed to remarry in 1935 to Kathe Frisch.
- Siegfried Soffer was born in Brno on May 7, 1895. He perished in 1942 in the Rejowiec concentration camp; see https://www.holocaust.cz/databaze-obeti/obet/124582-vitezslav-soffer/
- “Soffer & Bittner. Owned by Julius Soffer, Rum-Rosoglio and fruit juices and tea trade. Pražská 66. Powers of attorney: Siegfried Soffer” Adressbuch von Gross-Brünn, 1934-1935.
- “The plaintiff states that this marriage, into which she entered at the youthful age of 17, being full of life, was not happy, as she soon realized that her character does not suit the character of the defendant, a serious man who has in his mind only a sense for his business and employment. Due to the differences in character, sharp disputes began between the parties already in 1929, and the parties might have entirely separated back then, had the plaintiff not become a mother at that time. Even after the birth of the child, their bleak situation did not improve. On the contrary, quarrels were almost a daily occurrence for them, and by June 1930, the plaintiff had come to the firm conviction that their marriage could not be maintained. She confided this to her father and Dr. Hugon Sonschein, both of whom took every possible effort to resolve the disputes between the parties, but all their well-meaning efforts missed completely.” [...] “The plaintiff ultimately left their shared household in May 1931 and has not returned to it since, but moved to Vienna, where she found certain employment.” MZA, fund C 11 - District Court Civil Brno, cart. 430, sign. Ck I a 1098/31.
- See https://www.mza.cz/actapublica/matrika/detail/10274?image=216000010-000253-003381-000000-017879-000000-VR-B08472-02110.jp2
- “A deep disruption arose in the marriage of the contentious parties. Both parties have different natures and different opinions. Soon after the wedding, differences arose between them. The parties are unable to live together and do not even cohabitate. There is also no hope that their relationship could improve.” MZA, fund C 11 - District Court Civil Brno, cart. 764, sign. Ck VIIa 686/36.
- SMUTNÝ, Bohumír. Brno Entrepreneurs and Their Businesses 1764-1948. Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs and Their Families, Brno 2012.
- People's Newspaper, June 13, 1929, vol. 37, no. 297.
- Forum: magazine for art, building, and interior, 1931, XI-XII, pp. 369.
- MZA, fund C 11 - District Court Civil Brno, cart. 115, sig. A XI 42.
- Moravanka, March 8, 1930, no. 279.
- Moravanka, October 31, 1930, no. 313.
- People's Newspaper, July 22, 1934, vol. 42, no. 363.
- On the same day, a purchase agreement for the neighboring south-oriented parcel number 585/1 was also concluded, of which the owners became siblings Mořic and Artur Eisler. A rental house designed by Leopold Blum was built on this land in 1936, following Otto Eisler's project. An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Křížová, book no. 1881.
- An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Křížová, book no. 1882.
- AMB, fund B 1/39 NVMB - Department of Spatial and Building Regulation, Hroznová 9.
- One of Friederike Wittal's sisters, Charlotte, married Hermann Graumann. Charlotte and Hermann Graumann's daughter, Ilona, married Edgar Oser.
- From written communication of Brigid Grauman.
- The architect refers to Heinrich Blum himself. According to the notification slip from February 1, 1939, Heinrich Blum indeed lived at the address Preslova 9 until June 27, 1940, when he moved to Veveří 77.
- Memory of Robert Graumann. Provided by Brigid Grauman.
- Building permit dated May 11, 1932. AMB, fund B 1/49 NVMB - Department of Spatial and Building Regulation, Hroznová 39.
- In Brno, on May 4, 1933. AMB, fund B 1/49 NVMB - Department of Spatial and Building Regulation, Hroznová 39.
- The name Artur Eisler is also mentioned in the application for the establishment of a water connection dated April 11, 1932, during the construction period: “Payment orders for the water consumed should be sent to the address: Ing. Artur Eisler, builder, Brno, Tovární 7” Archive BVK, Hroznová 39.
- “2/ The fencing should not have massive pillars on a low base and maintain uniformity. Fencing on property boundaries may only be established with a wire fence.” AMB, fund B 1/49 NVMB - Department of Spatial and Building Regulation, Hroznová 39.
- BLUM, Heinrich: Arbeiten des Architekten Dr. Heinrich Blum, Brünn, Forum 4, 1934, pp. 73-75.
- An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Křížová, book no. 1882.
- See https://www.ottorudolfschatz.at/en/biography
- See https://imkinsky.com/ergebnisse/103/437/7/58331
- https://werkverzeichnisse.belvedere.at/groups/otto-rudolf-schatz-widerstand/results
- https://brigidgrauman.com/a-jewish-blessing/
- “Vally Schatzová, as we may recall, was the unhappy cousin of our fathers, who married a coarse and impoverished Viennese artist, and her father disowned her.” From the memoirs of Johann Graumann, provided by Brigid Grauman.
- “According to the purchase agreement dated March 5, 1938, the ownership right of Valerie Schatz is placed on one half to Jan Wittal.” An extract from the land register of the comprehensively closed cadastral area Křížová, book no. 1882.
- See https://brigidgrauman.com/a-jewish-blessing/
- See https://atelierperpartes.cz/
- The interview with them took place together on February 20, 2025, in their home environment at Hroznová 41.
- Interview with Iva Šenkýřová, nee Křížová, and Nina Klevetová, nee Křížová, on February 20, 2025.
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