SURVIVOR OF NAZIS DIES
CITY BUSINESSMAN LEO KUTNER SURVIVED CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Leo Mayer Kutner grew up in a Jewish family in the free state of Danzig, Poland. As Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, life for Jews became increasingly perilous. His mother died in the 1930s. His father, Albert, managed to move to the United States.
Leo, his wife, Henja, and their young sons, Simon and David, anxiously awaited their exit visas to move to the United States as well. But the German invasion of Poland trapped the Kutners in a World War II maelstrom. Mr. Kutner lost his entire family and survived three concentration camps. Eventually, he moved to this country and settled in Richmond.
Mr. Kutner, a partner in the former Ace Upholstering Co. and owner of the former Artisan Upholstering and Interiors, died Saturday at a local hospital. He was 84.
A funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Richmond Beth-El Chapel in Forest Lawn Cemetery, 4000 Pilots Lane.
On the day Germany invaded Poland, Mr. Kutner was identified as a Jew and arrested when he and a female neighbor, also Jewish, went to investigate the sounds of shelling along the Danzig waterfront.
Mr. Kutner's son, Ben T. Kutner of Richmond, related the story. "The woman convinced the police that she was not Jewish and was not arrested. My father was taken to the police station and sent as a laborer on a farm." His wife visited him twice at the farm, once bringing him new glasses because his old ones had been broken when he was beaten during his arrest. He never saw his family again.
Sent to the Flossenburg concentration camp in Poland, Mr. Kutner, an upholsterer's apprentice, was put in charge of a work detail that processed raw materials to make mattress stuffing.
"He and others were put on a train car headed to Auschwitz, for extermination," his son said. "But his overseer, a higher-ranking prisoner, came and got him off the train. He told the Nazis that my father was a good worker." He later went to Dachau and, finally, to Auschwitz.
At the intake section of one of the camps, Mr. Kutner saw soldiers numbering men's foreheads with ones, twos and threes in lipstick. They marked his with a two. Thinking that one was a better designation, he erased his number with spit and took a nail to scratch a one on his head in blood. "He was sent on a work detail instead of to extermination," his son said.
Surviving to the war's end by the usefulness of his craftsman's skills to the Nazis, he was among 35 Auschwitz inmates being marched away from the Allied liberation who escaped their guards and melted into the woods. When most of the men decided to seek food at a nearby farmhouse, Mr. Kutner and a small group hung back. The decision saved his life. A carful of Nazis pulled up to the house and killed the men at the farmhouse. He hid until he saw the white stars on American tanks and followed them to freedom in Cham, Germany. In a displaced persons camp in Cham, he met and married Esther Talkoffski in 1946. They and a son came to the United States in spring 1949.
Settling in Richmond, he and a partner had established Ace Upholstering Co. by the early 1950s. Upon his partner's death, he closed Ace and formed Artisan Upholstering and Interiors in 1968. He specialized in converting needlepoint works into one-of-a-kind rugs, cushions, altar covers and kneelers. He worked until he was about 80 years old. Examples of his work graced public buildings from the National Cathedral to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
An ardent numismatist specializing in foreign coins, he became a consultant to collectors and dealers.
Survivors besides his wife and son include another son, Lee N. Kutner; and a daughter, Fay Kessler, both of Richmond; and three granddaughters.
Richmond Times-Dispatch - April 16, 2002
CITY BUSINESSMAN LEO KUTNER SURVIVED CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Leo Mayer Kutner grew up in a Jewish family in the free state of Danzig, Poland. As Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, life for Jews became increasingly perilous. His mother died in the 1930s. His father, Albert, managed to move to the United States.
Leo, his wife, Henja, and their young sons, Simon and David, anxiously awaited their exit visas to move to the United States as well. But the German invasion of Poland trapped the Kutners in a World War II maelstrom. Mr. Kutner lost his entire family and survived three concentration camps. Eventually, he moved to this country and settled in Richmond.
Mr. Kutner, a partner in the former Ace Upholstering Co. and owner of the former Artisan Upholstering and Interiors, died Saturday at a local hospital. He was 84.
A funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Richmond Beth-El Chapel in Forest Lawn Cemetery, 4000 Pilots Lane.
On the day Germany invaded Poland, Mr. Kutner was identified as a Jew and arrested when he and a female neighbor, also Jewish, went to investigate the sounds of shelling along the Danzig waterfront.
Mr. Kutner's son, Ben T. Kutner of Richmond, related the story. "The woman convinced the police that she was not Jewish and was not arrested. My father was taken to the police station and sent as a laborer on a farm." His wife visited him twice at the farm, once bringing him new glasses because his old ones had been broken when he was beaten during his arrest. He never saw his family again.
Sent to the Flossenburg concentration camp in Poland, Mr. Kutner, an upholsterer's apprentice, was put in charge of a work detail that processed raw materials to make mattress stuffing.
"He and others were put on a train car headed to Auschwitz, for extermination," his son said. "But his overseer, a higher-ranking prisoner, came and got him off the train. He told the Nazis that my father was a good worker." He later went to Dachau and, finally, to Auschwitz.
At the intake section of one of the camps, Mr. Kutner saw soldiers numbering men's foreheads with ones, twos and threes in lipstick. They marked his with a two. Thinking that one was a better designation, he erased his number with spit and took a nail to scratch a one on his head in blood. "He was sent on a work detail instead of to extermination," his son said.
Surviving to the war's end by the usefulness of his craftsman's skills to the Nazis, he was among 35 Auschwitz inmates being marched away from the Allied liberation who escaped their guards and melted into the woods. When most of the men decided to seek food at a nearby farmhouse, Mr. Kutner and a small group hung back. The decision saved his life. A carful of Nazis pulled up to the house and killed the men at the farmhouse. He hid until he saw the white stars on American tanks and followed them to freedom in Cham, Germany. In a displaced persons camp in Cham, he met and married Esther Talkoffski in 1946. They and a son came to the United States in spring 1949.
Settling in Richmond, he and a partner had established Ace Upholstering Co. by the early 1950s. Upon his partner's death, he closed Ace and formed Artisan Upholstering and Interiors in 1968. He specialized in converting needlepoint works into one-of-a-kind rugs, cushions, altar covers and kneelers. He worked until he was about 80 years old. Examples of his work graced public buildings from the National Cathedral to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
An ardent numismatist specializing in foreign coins, he became a consultant to collectors and dealers.
Survivors besides his wife and son include another son, Lee N. Kutner; and a daughter, Fay Kessler, both of Richmond; and three granddaughters.
Richmond Times-Dispatch - April 16, 2002
SURVIVOR OF NAZIS DIES
CITY BUSINESSMAN LEO KUTNER SURVIVED CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Leo Mayer Kutner grew up in a Jewish family in the free state of Danzig, Poland. As Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, life for Jews became increasingly perilous. His mother died in the 1930s. His father, Albert, managed to move to the United States.
Leo, his wife, Henja, and their young sons, Simon and David, anxiously awaited their exit visas to move to the United States as well. But the German invasion of Poland trapped the Kutners in a World War II maelstrom. Mr. Kutner lost his entire family and survived three concentration camps. Eventually, he moved to this country and settled in Richmond.
Mr. Kutner, a partner in the former Ace Upholstering Co. and owner of the former Artisan Upholstering and Interiors, died Saturday at a local hospital. He was 84.
A funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Richmond Beth-El Chapel in Forest Lawn Cemetery, 4000 Pilots Lane.
On the day Germany invaded Poland, Mr. Kutner was identified as a Jew and arrested when he and a female neighbor, also Jewish, went to investigate the sounds of shelling along the Danzig waterfront.
Mr. Kutner's son, Ben T. Kutner of Richmond, related the story. "The woman convinced the police that she was not Jewish and was not arrested. My father was taken to the police station and sent as a laborer on a farm." His wife visited him twice at the farm, once bringing him new glasses because his old ones had been broken when he was beaten during his arrest. He never saw his family again.
Sent to the Flossenburg concentration camp in Poland, Mr. Kutner, an upholsterer's apprentice, was put in charge of a work detail that processed raw materials to make mattress stuffing.
"He and others were put on a train car headed to Auschwitz, for extermination," his son said. "But his overseer, a higher-ranking prisoner, came and got him off the train. He told the Nazis that my father was a good worker." He later went to Dachau and, finally, to Auschwitz.
At the intake section of one of the camps, Mr. Kutner saw soldiers numbering men's foreheads with ones, twos and threes in lipstick. They marked his with a two. Thinking that one was a better designation, he erased his number with spit and took a nail to scratch a one on his head in blood. "He was sent on a work detail instead of to extermination," his son said.
Surviving to the war's end by the usefulness of his craftsman's skills to the Nazis, he was among 35 Auschwitz inmates being marched away from the Allied liberation who escaped their guards and melted into the woods. When most of the men decided to seek food at a nearby farmhouse, Mr. Kutner and a small group hung back. The decision saved his life. A carful of Nazis pulled up to the house and killed the men at the farmhouse. He hid until he saw the white stars on American tanks and followed them to freedom in Cham, Germany. In a displaced persons camp in Cham, he met and married Esther Talkoffski in 1946. They and a son came to the United States in spring 1949.
Settling in Richmond, he and a partner had established Ace Upholstering Co. by the early 1950s. Upon his partner's death, he closed Ace and formed Artisan Upholstering and Interiors in 1968. He specialized in converting needlepoint works into one-of-a-kind rugs, cushions, altar covers and kneelers. He worked until he was about 80 years old. Examples of his work graced public buildings from the National Cathedral to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
An ardent numismatist specializing in foreign coins, he became a consultant to collectors and dealers.
Survivors besides his wife and son include another son, Lee N. Kutner; and a daughter, Fay Kessler, both of Richmond; and three granddaughters.
Richmond Times-Dispatch - April 16, 2002
CITY BUSINESSMAN LEO KUTNER SURVIVED CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Leo Mayer Kutner grew up in a Jewish family in the free state of Danzig, Poland. As Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, life for Jews became increasingly perilous. His mother died in the 1930s. His father, Albert, managed to move to the United States.
Leo, his wife, Henja, and their young sons, Simon and David, anxiously awaited their exit visas to move to the United States as well. But the German invasion of Poland trapped the Kutners in a World War II maelstrom. Mr. Kutner lost his entire family and survived three concentration camps. Eventually, he moved to this country and settled in Richmond.
Mr. Kutner, a partner in the former Ace Upholstering Co. and owner of the former Artisan Upholstering and Interiors, died Saturday at a local hospital. He was 84.
A funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Richmond Beth-El Chapel in Forest Lawn Cemetery, 4000 Pilots Lane.
On the day Germany invaded Poland, Mr. Kutner was identified as a Jew and arrested when he and a female neighbor, also Jewish, went to investigate the sounds of shelling along the Danzig waterfront.
Mr. Kutner's son, Ben T. Kutner of Richmond, related the story. "The woman convinced the police that she was not Jewish and was not arrested. My father was taken to the police station and sent as a laborer on a farm." His wife visited him twice at the farm, once bringing him new glasses because his old ones had been broken when he was beaten during his arrest. He never saw his family again.
Sent to the Flossenburg concentration camp in Poland, Mr. Kutner, an upholsterer's apprentice, was put in charge of a work detail that processed raw materials to make mattress stuffing.
"He and others were put on a train car headed to Auschwitz, for extermination," his son said. "But his overseer, a higher-ranking prisoner, came and got him off the train. He told the Nazis that my father was a good worker." He later went to Dachau and, finally, to Auschwitz.
At the intake section of one of the camps, Mr. Kutner saw soldiers numbering men's foreheads with ones, twos and threes in lipstick. They marked his with a two. Thinking that one was a better designation, he erased his number with spit and took a nail to scratch a one on his head in blood. "He was sent on a work detail instead of to extermination," his son said.
Surviving to the war's end by the usefulness of his craftsman's skills to the Nazis, he was among 35 Auschwitz inmates being marched away from the Allied liberation who escaped their guards and melted into the woods. When most of the men decided to seek food at a nearby farmhouse, Mr. Kutner and a small group hung back. The decision saved his life. A carful of Nazis pulled up to the house and killed the men at the farmhouse. He hid until he saw the white stars on American tanks and followed them to freedom in Cham, Germany. In a displaced persons camp in Cham, he met and married Esther Talkoffski in 1946. They and a son came to the United States in spring 1949.
Settling in Richmond, he and a partner had established Ace Upholstering Co. by the early 1950s. Upon his partner's death, he closed Ace and formed Artisan Upholstering and Interiors in 1968. He specialized in converting needlepoint works into one-of-a-kind rugs, cushions, altar covers and kneelers. He worked until he was about 80 years old. Examples of his work graced public buildings from the National Cathedral to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
An ardent numismatist specializing in foreign coins, he became a consultant to collectors and dealers.
Survivors besides his wife and son include another son, Lee N. Kutner; and a daughter, Fay Kessler, both of Richmond; and three granddaughters.
Richmond Times-Dispatch - April 16, 2002
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