Heinz Prossnitz: Czech Teen Hero and Holocaust Victim
Czech Jewish teen Heinz — Jindrich in Czech — Prossnitz born in Prague in 1926 is featured in the book TRAPPED: ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY OF THE CZECH JEWS, 1939-1945, which are the years of World War II.
The book published in 2008 was written by Ruth Bondy, an author, journalist and translator born in Prague in 1923 who survived Terezin and Auschwitz-Birkenau as a teen.
The chapter about Heinz is titled: “THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES: Heinz Prossnitz’ package aid.”
Terezin is the Czech name – the German name is Theresienstadt – of a ghetto for Jews established by the Nazis near Prague in what was formerly a Czech military garrison. Thousands of Jews were transported from Terezin to their deaths in Auschwitz-Birkenau, including Heinz.
Before Heinz was murdered by the Nazis, his efforts as a teen many have saved the lives of many other Czech teens.
As Ruth Bondy says in the first paragraph of her chapter about Heinz:
In May 1945, when it turned out that Heinz Prossnitz had not survived, Erika Wolf and Edith Brezina, the last of his friends to remain in Prague after all the rest were deported to the Terezin ghetto and the extermination camps, wrote a brief survey in place of a eulogy:
4,400 kilograms of foodstuffs directly to Theresienstadt
830 kilograms of foodstuffs to Birkenau and the Lodz ghetto
600 kilograms of clothing and foodstuffs to Sachsenhausen and Hamburg
Without any public means
Without any public support
At his own initiative
At his own risk
During the economic control
And restrictions on the Jews
Under the Damocles sword of the Gestapo.
Even in Czechia today the miraculous exploits of Heinz Prossnitz are little known. One such person working to rectify this is Czech Tereza Rafoth in Prague, who feels strongly that Heinz is an important role model for teens today. Heinz took action and became an upstander in the face of life-and-death odds.
Tereza is the person who submitted a request for a Stolperstein to be installed for Heinz, which was done in the fall of 2022.
See photos of the Stolperstein installation for Heinz Prossnitz. Tereza brought bread to the installation to represent Heinz’s efforts.
And she is now interested in encouraging others to honor Heinz with their own projects.