Rene & Renate Guttmann (Czechia, 1937)
Rene Guttmann (M / Czechia, 1937), Holocaust survivor
Renate Guttmann (F / Czechia, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Theresienstadt> <Auschwitz> <Mengele Twins>
Biography
Rene and Renate were twins from Prague. They were deported to <Theresienstadt> and then to <Auschwitz> where they were selected for medical experiments as <Mengele Twins>. Both survived but were separated. Rene survived a death march and was adopted by a Czech family. Renate remained at Auschwitz and was taken care by a Polish family and then went an orphanage in France. Finally, six years after the end of the war, the twins were reunited in America in 1950. Irene and René have been prominent speakers about their Holocaust experiences. They have recorded several testimonies with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and are the subjects of a documentary titled René and I.
Candles Holocaust Museum
Twins René Slotkin and Irene Hizme were born René and Renate Guttmann on December 21, 1937, in Teplice-Sanov, Czechoslovakia. Before the twins were born, their parents Herbert and Ita Guttmann had fled Dresden, Germany, to escape the Nazi government's policies against Jews. Before leaving Germany to live in Czechoslovakia, Herbert worked in the import-export business, and Ita was an accountant.
Soon after the birth of the twins, the Guttmann family moved to Prague, where they were living when the Germans occupied the area in 1939. Herbert was arrested and taken from his family. Ita and her children were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, 40 miles north of Prague. They never saw Herbert again. They later learned that he was killed in Auschwitz in December 1941.
In December 1943, Ita and the twins were deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz on a transport with 2,491 Czech Jews. They lived together in the Czech family camp in Birkenau for six months until Dr. Josef Mengele moved René and Renate to separate barracks that housed subjects of his gruesome genetic experiments. Ita was sent to the gas chambers. The twins at the time were only six years old. Mengele experimented on Renate and kept René as the control. Renate remembered sitting naked in Mengele’s office, with doctors measuring her and drawing blood from her neck. She received injections that made her very sick. One day, a nurse hid Renate under her long skirt to save her from being taken away and killed.
They lived separately in girls and boys barracks and hardly ever saw each other. Renate saw her brother once through a barbed-wire fence. She recalled, “It was just a look. We knew we belonged to each other, and this reaffirmed it — that we would be together again.”
In January 1945, René survived a death march during which thousands of prisoners died of exposure and disease. René was eventually taken to an orphanage in Czechoslovakia, where he met an administrator named Dr. Kalina. Dr. Kalina and his wife had no children of their own and decided to bring René home to care for him. After Communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1947, Dr. Kalina and his wife were forced to flee, leaving René with Kalina’s sister and her family in Kosice, near Prague. This family—the Mann family—later adopted him and cared for him for years.
In the meantime, after liberation, a Polish woman named Mrs. Mucha found Renate and took her ther house in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) to recover. Mrs. Mucha changed Renate’s name to Irenka. Mrs. Mucha was very, very strict, and while she never demonstrated affection toward Renate, she did nurse her back to health. In 1946, a Jewish organization took Irenka from the home in Poland to a Jewish orphanage in France. The people running the orphanage changed Irenka’s name to Irena.
In October 1947, a representative from an organization called Rescue Children chose Irene and a boy named Charles Karo to come to the United States to raise money for other Jewish orphans in Europe. Irene and Charles were taken on a ten-day tour; they were treated to stuffed animals and fancy clothes and featured in a Life Magazine spread. They even visited the White House. All the while they promised Irena that she would return to France.
However, after serving as model children for the Rescue Children effort, Irene and Charles were not taken back to France as promised. Rather, they were adopted by Jewish families in America. The Slotkin family from Long Island adopted Irene, and when they learned she had a twin, they hired a private investigator to look for René.
Dr. Kalina, who had emigrated to Israel, happened to see the Life Magazine article about Irene “Guttmann” and made the connection to the little boy he helped after liberation. Dr. Kalina contacted authorities in the U.S. and told them that René was living with this sister in Czechoslovakia. The Slotkins worked through much red tape to reunite René with his sister. On March 29, 1950, after more than six years apart, the twins were reunited.
In the decades since, Irene and René have been prominent speakers about their Holocaust experiences. They have recorded several testimonies with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and are the subjects of a documentary titled René and I.
René’s tattoo number is 169061
Renate’s number: 70917
USHMM's ID Card (Rene)
Rene, his twin sister, Renate, and their German-Jewish parents lived in Prague. Shortly before the twins were born, Rene's parents had fled Dresden, Germany, to escape the Nazi government's policies against Jews. Before leaving Germany to live in Czechoslovakia, Rene's father, Herbert, had worked in the import-export business. His mother, Ita, was an accountant.
1933-39: Rene's family lived in a six-story apartment building along the #22 trolley line in Prague. A long, steep flight of stairs led up to their apartment, where Rene and his sister, Renate, shared a crib in their parents' bedroom; a terrace overlooked the yard outside. Rene and Renate wore matching outfits and were always well-dressed. Their days were often spent playing in a nearby park. In March 1939 the German army occupied Prague.
1940-45: Just before Rene turned 6, his family was deported to Auschwitz from the Theresienstadt ghetto. His arm was tattooed with the number 169061. There, he was separated from his sister and mother and put into a barracks with older boys--many seemed to be twins. Rene didn't understand what was going on. Sometimes he was taken to a hospital, even though he wasn't sick, and was measured everywhere and X-rayed. Once, Rene and other boys watched when Soviet and Polish soldiers were shot into a pit outside.
Rene and his sister survived and were reunited in America in 1950. They learned that as one pair of the "Mengele Twins," they had been used for medical experiments.
USHMM's ID Card (Renate)
Renate, her twin brother, Rene, and their German-Jewish parents lived in Prague. Shortly before the twins were born, Renate's parents had fled Dresden, Germany, to escape the Nazi government's policies against Jews. Before leaving Germany to live in Czechoslovakia, Renate's father, Herbert, worked in the import-export business. Her mother, Ita, was an accountant.
1933-39: Renate's family lived in a six-story apartment building along the #22 trolley line in Prague. A long, steep flight of stairs led up to their apartment, where Renate and her brother, Rene, shared a crib in their parents' bedroom; a terrace overlooked the yard outside. Renate and Rene wore matching outfits and were always well-dressed. Their days were often spent playing in a nearby park. In March 1939 the German army occupied Prague.
1940-45: Just before Renate turned 6, her family was sent to Auschwitz from the Theresienstadt ghetto. There, she became #70917. She was separated from her brother and mother and taken to a hospital where she was measured and X-rayed; blood was taken from her neck. Once, she was strapped to a table and cut with a knife. She got injections that made her throw up and have diarrhea. While Renate was ill in the hospital after an injection, guards came in to take the sick to be killed. The nurse caring for her hid her under her long skirt and she was quiet until the guards left.
Renate and her brother survived and were reunited in America in 1950. They learned that as one pair of the "Mengele Twins," they had been used for medical experiments.