Rene Slotkin

Rene was born in Teplice-Kanov, Czechoslovakia in 1937.
His parents, Herbert and Ita Guttmann had succeeded in running away from the Nazi regime in Germany.
In their search for a way to flee from Dresden, Germany, they could only get into Czechoslovakia.
Their twins, Renate and Rene were born there.

Rene’s father was sent to Auschwitz as a political prisoner in 1941.
He was killed about six weeks after his arrival there.
By December of that year, the rest of the family was taken to Theriesenstadt. In this “model” concentration camp there was a group of dedicated teachers* who ran a kindergarten.
Rene attended that child care center.

The next year, Rene, his mother, and sister were deported to Auschwitz. They were part of the two big transports from Czechoslovakia of 4000 to 6000 people.
Renee arrived in Auschwitz in December of 1943.

Rene and his sister were part of Mengele’s experiments on twins.
He was the “control” of the two. As such, he was measured and had blood analyzed daily. All aspects of his growth were checked.
Irene was the one being experimented on. Everything they did to her was very painful and in her struggle to remain brave she actually became mute. The objective of the experiments was to see how fast she could die from what was being done to her.

As it became clear that the Nazi’s were losing the war, Mengele left Auschwitz.
The death camp was to be dissolved and the inmates removed by way of the infamous Death March.
Irene was too sick to move at this point.
Rene was taken on the Death March. He was about six and a half or seven years old at that time.
The Russian (Soviet) Army interfered and the prisoners scattered into the woods. The Russians took Rene back to a real Red Cross Hospital in Auschwitz.

He spent a long time in that hospital. In the meantime, his tattoo number was traced back and this gave information that he was originally taken out of Czechoslovakia. He was repatriated to a Czech convalescent home where he was cared for by nuns. When Rene was sent on to a home & hospital, he was placed into the private home of Dr. Kalina. Shortly thereafter, the Kalina family had to flee and hide from communists. They left Rene with their sister, Mrs. Mann. Renee stayed with her until an emissary from the Slotkin family found him. He was brought to America, adopted by the Slotkins, and reunited with his sister.

Rene grew up with a strong interest in math. This led to a career as an estimator for businesses. He also was a great athlete and continues in this field today. Rene currently teaches gym at Breuer’s High School. He is a father of 4 grown children and 9 grandchildren.