
The Gutmann Family’s Tragic Loss
Clip: Season 22 Episode 6 | 4m 58sVideo has Closed Captions
Simon Goodman recounts the story of his grandparents’ tragic deception by Nazi forces.
Fritz Goodman’s silver collection was highly sought by Hermann Göring during the Nazi looting of Europe. As his grandson Simon Goodman explains, Gutmann was promised safe passage to Italy if he would sign over the silver. Instead, in a move of pure deception, he and his wife were sent to Berlin for interrogation by Göring’s agents—including Bruno Lohse—and ultimately to Terezin concentration camp.
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The Gutmann Family’s Tragic Loss
Clip: Season 22 Episode 6 | 4m 58sVideo has Closed Captions
Fritz Goodman’s silver collection was highly sought by Hermann Göring during the Nazi looting of Europe. As his grandson Simon Goodman explains, Gutmann was promised safe passage to Italy if he would sign over the silver. Instead, in a move of pure deception, he and his wife were sent to Berlin for interrogation by Göring’s agents—including Bruno Lohse—and ultimately to Terezin concentration camp.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship-So, I knew the Bavarian authorities were looking into filing charges for murder against Lohse.
And I could see the pressure mounting on Lohse.
Then, in 2006, after a particularly intense discussion, Peter Griebert took me outside and he said, "Jonathan, you don't realize how dark, how sinister Lohse really is.
Let me tell you a story."
And he recounted the tragic history of the Gutmann family...
The Gutmanns, who had been living in the Netherlands.
And, in exchange for relinquishing their art collection and their property, had been promised safe passage to Italy.
-All of these stories are tragic, but in the case of the Gutmanns, it's probably more tragic because there was pure deception.
They still had this wonderful silverware collection, and Goering wanted, terribly, this collection.
So, he would not stop at anything in order to get whatever he wanted.
And the only way that they could get it was by offering them a fake safe conduct to join their daughter in Florence.
-Mussolini himself had signed an entry visa.
So this is where they thought they were going.
Instead, the train took them to Berlin.
So, there's a whole slew of top-ranking Nazis on the platform greeting my grandparents as they arrive.
Amongst them was an SS officer representing Hermann Goering and Seyss-Inquart, the Nazi Governor of the Netherlands.
This was quite a reception committee.
-According to Griebert, the Gutmanns were taken away for interrogation.
Fritz Gutmann was beaten very badly as the Gestapo tries to induce him to sign over the silver.
-So, my grandfather refuses to sign this contract.
My grandparents are put on another train, not such a nice train, with a new SS escort.
And this train takes them to the concentration camp.
-Peter Griebert became extraordinarily emotional, and with tears running down his cheeks, he said to me, "When the train arrived at the Berlin station, who was the representative of Goering?
Bruno Lohse."
And that Lohse was not only at the station, but, in fact, Lohse was standing in the back of the interrogation room watching this all transpire.
-This was my grandfather's cell.
My aunt went to the station every morning in Florence, waiting for the train.
And my grandparents never arrived.
This is where my grandfather spent the last three weeks of his life.
Oh, my God.
And then, pretty much on the last day of April, he was beaten to death by the guards, by the kapos.
-With the authorities bearing down on him, Lohse was a man who doesn't want to end his life being interrogated about his past.
It was also clear that he was scared.
Then, March 2007, he claims that he's ill and needs to go to the hospital.
And two days later, he was dead.
How Americans Profited Off Looted Art
Video has Closed Captions
With the explosion of American museums in the 1950s, provenance took a backseat. (1m 46s)
Preview | Plunderer: The Life and Times of a Nazi Art Thief (Part Two)
Video has Closed Captions
Historian Jonathan Petropoulos investigates the post-war life of former Nazi art dealer Bruno Lohse. (32s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSECRETS OF THE DEAD is made possible, in part, by public television viewers.