Baron Viktor Gutmann

Baron Viktor Gutmann von Gelse und Belišće (3 October 1891 – 17 February 1946) was a Croatian industrialist.

Early life Baron von Gutmann was born in Belišće on 3 October 1891 to a Croatian noble Jewish family named Gutmann. His father, Baron Alfred Gutmann von Gelse und Belišće (1857-1919), was the youngest son of Salamon Heinrich Gutman and brother of Baron Edmund von Gutmann. The entire Gutmann family was awarded with a hereditary peer Baron von Gelse und Belišće. His mother was Ottilie Pollak von Rudin (1864-1921).

Baron Gutmann was married to Luise Bloch-Bauer (1907-1998), who was the daughter of Marie Therese (née Bauer 1874–1961) and Gustav Bloch (1862–1938). Luise was also the sister of Maria Altmann and niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer, After graduation he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern Front during World War I. Baron Gutmann was awarded with Military Merit Medal and several other valor medals.

During the Second World War During World War II Baron Gutmann company was nationalised by the Independent State of Croatia regime. As Jews, Baron Gutmann, his wife and children were arrested and taken by Ustaše to prison at Savska street in 1943. The verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of PR Croatia on 16 January 1946. He was executed by firing squad by the Communist regime in 1946 in Zagreb.

Family Nelly Gutmman von Gelse and Beliscse (1928-2023) was born in Vienna. Nelly enrolled in medical school at the University of Zagreb in 1946, where she studied for three years till 1949. In 1950 Nelly moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where she married in 1955 to Prince Johananes Weikhardt von Auersperg (1930-2017), the son of Prince Eduard von Auersperg (1893-1948) and his wife, Countess Sophie von Clamm und Gallas (1900-1980). Johannes is a descendant of Prince Heinrich Joseph Johann von Auersperg and grand-grandnephew of two Minister-Presidents of Austria, Prince Karl of Auersperg and Prince Adolf of Auersperg. After completing a PhD in cell biology at the University of British Columbia, Nelly assumed a position there as associate professor in 1968. Franz Gutmann von Gelse and Beliscse (1934-2014); had issue

Legacy In June 2016 the Council of the County Court in Zagreb accepted request for review of Gutmann's trial and quashed the verdict from 1946 thus rendering him innocent of all charges. The review of the trial was requested by Nelly, Baron Gutmann's daughter.