PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE XXXVI: Hugo Gutmann
Hugo Gutmann was born on November 19, 1880 in Nuremberg. In 1902, he joined the Bavarian Army and had risen to the rank of highest ranking NCO (Feldwebel) by 1904, when Gutmann was transferred to the reserves.
When the Great War began, Gutmann was recalled and joined the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. It was also known as the “List” Regiment, in honor of its first commander (Colonel Julius List), who died from a chest wound in the Battle of Gheluvelt on October 31, 1914.
Gutmann was promoted to lieutenant (Leutnant) on April 15, 1915. He was also appointed company commander and acting adjutant for the regiment’s artillery battalion.
From January 29 to August 31, 1918, Leutnant Gutmann served as a direct superior to Corporal Adolf Hitler. Gutmann later recommended Hitler for the Iron Cross, First Class… a decoration rarely awarded to men with the rank of Gefreiter. The award was presented to Hitler on August 4, 1918 near Soissons, France by the regimental commander, Major von Tubeuf. Hitler wore this medal throughout the remainder of his career, including his time as Führer of Nazi Germany.
Gutmann himself was an Iron Cross recipient. He won the Iron Cross, Second Class on December 2, 1914 (ironically, the same day Hitler received the same decoration), and the Iron Cross, First Class on December 4, 1915.
Gutmann was demobilized from the German Army three months after the armistice. However, he still remained on the army rolls as a reserve lieutenant. Later in 1919, Gutmann married… and during the 1920s, he owned and operated an office-furniture shop in Vordere Steingasse 3 in Nuremberg.
In the autumn of 1933, Gutmann applied for and was granted a veteran’s war pension. President Paul von Hindenburg had passed several decrees protecting Jewish war veterans from the rising tide of anti-Semitism. But in late 1935 (after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws), Gutmann lost his German citizenship and was formally discharged from the veteran rolls of the army. However, he still continued to receive a pension, possibly due to Hitler’s influence.
Gutmann was arrested by the Gestapo in 1938, but he was released as a result of the influence of SS personnel who knew his history. One year later, Gutmann and his family left for Belgium with the outbreak of the Second World War. In early 1940, he migrated to the United States just prior to the invasion of the Low Countries.
Gutmann lived in St. Louis and worked as a typewriter salesman. He also had his name anglicized to Henry G. Grant. Sadly on June 22, 1962, Gutmann died at the age of eighty-one. He is buried at the Home of Peace Cemetery in San Diego, California.