Kurt Wolf
Kurt Wolf has been written about a lot in the past couple of months. When I began studying his family, I wanted to tell the story of the siblings, Kurt, Otto and Felicitas Wolf.
Kurt, being the oldest, and the one who would die first, is an interesting man.
First off, he was born during WWI and he was the one who really tried to do something with his life.
Kurt was born on February 13, 1915 in Lipnik, Czech Republic. He was the oldest of three children. With his good looks and smarts, he was a good kid. From all accounts I could find on Kurt, it all said this : “He had a great relationship with his mom and his siblings. He loved his dad, but was more close with his mother and siblings.”
I’ve also found this out about Kurt: “ He was always thinking of others. He wanted to help them and cure them.”
In 1935, Kurt enrolled at Masaryk University in Brno, where he wanted to become a doctor. According to the archivist, she said this:
“I have found another file about Kurt Wolf´s awarding the title MUDr. in memoriam. There was a letter of Kurt´s father from January 1946 in this file. The father asked the Faculty of Medicine for the Kurt´s MUDr. degree in memoriam. He wrote about Kurt´s life in this letter. I suppose, that the most of these facts about Kurt´s life familiar to you, but I write it here:
1) Kurt attended primary school in Lipník nad Bečvou and in Mohelnice.
2) He left The Protectorate Bohemia nad Moravia on 1th July 1939.
3 )In Suchodol in SSSR (near by Stalingrad) he worked as medical worker (= feldčer, I don´t know, how to translate it correctly)
4) His mother Růžena Wolfová died in September 1945 because of the stroke.
5) The Kurt´s MUDr. degree diploma was given to his father on 15th February 1947 at the Rector´s Office of the Masaryk University. There was no public ceremony for the families of those, who was awarded by degree at Masaryk University in memoriam because of the merits for the homeland. The rector of Masaryk University and the dean of the faculty in person gave the diploma to the invited member of the family.
In attachement I send you scans of documents about Kurt´s activities in SSSR. Nr. 1 is from 5th August 1940 and it is confirmation, that he works as “feldčer” in Olchov (Stalingrad med. Sovchoz) and he goes to the business trip to Stalingrad. Nr. 2 is from 19h August 1940 and it is confirmation, that he worked as “feldčer” and he was a head of medical department (but there is no other information about this position, so I don´t know, what exactly it means). Here are the information on this document, that he worked there from 15th April to 15th August 1940 and “he worked good”.
Attachement Nr. 3 is Kurt´s handwritten confirmation from 24th June 1939, that he received his index (university list of exams) and dimissorium (leaving of the university).
I would like to specify, that Kurt Wolf visited lectures and seminas at the Faculty of Medicine from autumn 1935 to summer 1938. He got the dimissorium (leaving the univesity) in spring 1939. There are two dates of dimissorium in the documents in our archives: 9th April 1939, 9th June 1939. I don´t know, which one is correct. Maybe it was the mistake in the transcription from one document into another: April IV x June VI — the months were written in Roman numerals. There are no information, what Kurt Wolf did in auumn 1938 and spring 1939 — if he was somehow in connection with the Masaryk university etc.
We have no other information concerning to Kurt´s studium at the Faculty of Medicine of the Masaryk University, except of those, that I sent you previously. He took The First Rigorosum — Biology (11. 10. 1937, failed), Physics (15. 10. 1937, passed). Studens of Medicine had to take three exams called Rigorosum (each Rigorosum consisted of 6–8 exams). Those students, who were awarded the title MUDr. in memoriam because of their merits during the war, had had to pass at least one exam during their studium.
Her is detailed overview of the studium at the Faculty of Medicine at the czechoslovak universities before the WWII.
The medical studium was divided in two parts — the first part lasted four semesters and the second part lasted six semesters. The students took three exams called „Rigorosum“ during the medical studium. The first part of the studium was ended with he exam called „The First Rigorosum“. This exam consisted of General Biology, Physics for doctors, Chemistry for doctors, Anatomy, Histology and Physiology. If the students had failed this exam, they could resit it twice. If they hadn´t been succesfull, they could study Medicine at the czechoslovak universities never more. After passing „The First Rigorosum“ the students could continue the studium. In the sixth semester after passing The First Rigorosum (therefore before the end of the studium) the students took the exam called „The Second Rigorosum“ (Pathological Anatomy and Histology, General and Experimental Pathology, Pharmacology, Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Neuropathology). After the end of the studium (this end was called „Absolutorium — the students completed all lectures and practical exercises), the students took the exam „The Third Rigorosum“ (Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophtalmology, Dermatology, Hygiene, Forensic Medicine). The students had to pass The Third Rigorosum no later than four years after The Second Rigorosum, otherwise they could get the title of MUDr. at the czechoslovak universities never more.
Each type of faculty (Faculty of Arts, Medicine, Science etc.) had special degree plan, for example there was different number of Rigorosum-exams and so on.”
Kurt only had one more exam before he graduated, but sadly, was not able to complete it, due to the Nazis forbading Jews to go to school.
He left Brno in 1939 and made his way though Europe, until he reached the Soviet Union.
He got into it when, like thousands of other people, he first fled the protectorate, until then he lived with his family in Mohelnice. As a Jew, Kurt Wolf had a legitimate fear for his life.
During his escape, he first went to Poland, after the German occupation, he continued, as did a number of refugees to the Soviet Union. Here, thanks to his knowledge of medicine, he first began to work as a healer in the countryside, making him very popular among the locals.
Kurt’s knowledge of medicine did not go unnoticed by the locals. I think he used it for good and a way to support himself while he was away.
His courage is also evidenced by the fact that when the battalion command offered him a position in the medical unit due to his medical education, he refused. And that he may be a doctor after the war, but now he wants to settle accounts with the Nazis in the fight.
His task was to prevent the Germans from advancing on Kharkov. Wolf and his comrades-in-arms were in charge of a ten-kilometer-wide belt on the Arťuchovka — Sokolovo line. The Association for Military Places of Worship then states that Kurt Wolf was one of those non-commissioned officers who encouraged soldiers primarily by his own example.
On March 9, 1943, the second day of the battle, his company received an extremely dangerous order: a surprise attack on German positions. The risk of them falling was enormous for Wolf’s soldiers. The main enemy forces were to follow each other, while units of the Soviet 25th Guards Division were to strike a decisive strike on the neighboring section
Wolf’s group advanced across the icy terrain directly at the head of the attacking wave. But the soldiers came under heavy fire. Hell broke loose, and they faced dozens of tanks.
When Wolf ordered the attack, he was severely wounded by mortar shrapnel. The last cruel moments of his life were later described by his comrade-in-arms Alexander Beer, with whom Wolf became friends during training. He had a terrible wound in his stomach, his uniform soaking in blood. As he tore his blouse, his intestines were exposed. He asked me to shoot him, that as a doctor he knew very well that he was done and that he did not want to be captured by the Nazis in any way,”Beer said a few years ago. But Beer took his friend with him as he retreated and dragged him across the frozen river. A bloody smudge ran across the ice. Wolf kept urging Beer to shoot him. But he was in a terrible dilemma. He himself was at the end of his strength, but he did not want to leave the dying friend. Eventually, he left Kurt with a rifle and stumbled to the other side with his injured leg. Even after decades, he did not stop blaming the decision to listen to his friend to leave his friend and survive on his own. Only a few steps behind him, he heard a shot.
Kurt ended his own life, rather than die by enemy fire. He was 28 years old.
His remaining family found out about his death after the war. As his surviving sister, Felicitas (later Garda) recalled:
They immediately brought us straw bales so that we could have something to lie on. Meanwhile, Dad talked to the major and asked him if he had ever heard Kurt Wolf ‘s name . The major thought about it and said that on March 9, 1943 , a Czechoslovak unit near Sokolov was deployed to fight under General Svoboda, and Kurt Wolf was one of the hero commanders who laid down his life there. Crying and crying, my parents fell from one heart attack to another.”
Kurt’s death was a blow to the family. After hearing this news, his mother, Ruzena, suffered a horrible stroke that she never fully recovered from.
After the war, Kurt was posthumously given the Sokolov Memorial Medial, the Order of the White Lion, the Czech War Cross and the Order of the Red Banner, all very high honors ever awarded to someone in the military.
On February 15, 1947, four years after his death, the faculty of the medical school that Kurt attended (Masaryk School of Medicine in Brno), gave him the title of MUDR, which is a Doctorate in Medicine in his honor.
(Kurt in the Army. Here he is as a soldier, ready to fight. This is the only known photo of him in the Soviet Union. Kurt was killed on March 9, 1943. He was twenty-eight years old) .
His brother, Otto, remembered him in his diary. Otto wrote how the family wished that Kurt was alright and how they hoped to see him again.
In 1995, the then seventy-five years old Felicitas donated his photo to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Kurt’s bravery was not unnoticed and his awards are proof of his valor.
Kurt was only twenty-eight.
In Mohelnice, Czech Republic, there is a memorial to both Kurt and Otto.
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(Kurt and Otto Memorial. Both boys were awarded military honors).
(Kurt- year unknown, but this was the photo that Felicitas donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC in 1995. When I first saw this photo, I thought it was Otto! )
(A document on Kurt, while he was in Brno)
(Kurt’s records while in Brno)
As for the short film that is in progress, we have picked Kit Connor, who is recently on the new Netflix show Heartstopper . We have yet to reach out to his agent to see if he is even available ?
Kit looks a lot like Kurt and even though Kit is not the age that Kurt was when he died, he is almost the age when Kurt enrolled in Medical school.
Hopefully, the film will become easy when the book is here.
