Otto Eisler
{{short description|Czech architect}}
{{Infobox architect
|name = Otto Eisler
|image =
|image_size = (if image is smaller than 250px)
|caption =
|nationality = Czech
|birth_date = {{birth date|1893|6|1|df=y}}
|birth_place = Bystřice nad Pernštejnem, Moravia, Austria-Hungary
|death_date = {{death date and age|1968|7|27|1893|6|1|df=y}}
|death_place = Brno, Czechoslovakia
|practice =
|significant_buildings=
|significant_projects =
|significant_design =
|awards =
}}
Otto Eisler (1 June 1893 – 27 July 1968) was a Czech architect, noted for his contributions to International style in architecture.{{cite book |last1= Kroupa |first1= Jiří |title= Otto Eisler a racionální purismus, aneb: problém obytného domu ve 30. letech|trans-title=Otto Eisler and Rational Purism or Questions of the Residential Home in the 1930s|series= Výtvarné Brno 1918-1938 |isbn= 80-7027-007-1 }}{{cite news |title=In a Czech city, '30s modernism lives on |first= Ruth Ellen |last= Gruber |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/travel/09iht-trbrno.1.11804780.html?_r=1 |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 2008-04-09 |access-date= 2010-04-03 }} He was Jewish and is a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp.
Biography
File:Brno Skořepka Agudas achim 1.jpg
File:Namesti Svobody. Fortepan 51347 crop.jpg
Eisler was educated at the Deutsche Technische Hochschule Brünn over the course of ten years, with a likely interruption for military service during World War I. During his studies, he worked at studios in Vienna. Upon graduation, he worked in the architectural practices of Heinrich Tessenow and Walter Gropius before founding his own firm. He also took part in managing his family's business, including his brothers' (Artur, Hugo, Leo, and Moriz) construction company.{{cite web |url= http://www.archiweb.cz/architects.php?type=arch&action=show&id=450|title= Otto Eisler |publisher= Archiweb |language= cs |access-date= 2010-04-03}}
He was subject to Nazi persecution during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia because he was both Jewish and a suspected homosexual. In April 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the prison at Špilberk, where he was apparently tortured. When furloughed, he fled to Norway, where he arrived on 21 February 1940. After Norway was invaded by Germany, he tried to flee to Sweden but was shot and wounded only a few yards from the border, and then deported to Auschwitz on the SS Donau. There he was reunited with his brother Mořic (Moriz), with whom he survived the death march to Buchenwald.{{cite news |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n52_v10/ai_16284369/|title=Philip Johnson: Life and Work (book review) |first= Eric |last= Gibson |date= 26 December 1994 |work= Insight on the News|access-date= 2010-04-03 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.docomomo.cz/index/architect/58?lang=en/|title=Otto Eisler |publisher= Docomomo |access-date= 2010-04-03 }}{{cite web |url= http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-db20100218331645.jpg |title= Spørreskjema for jøder i Norge |date= 6 March 1942 |publisher= Riksarkivet |location= Oslo |language= no |trans-title=Questionnaire for Jews in Norway }}
He was liberated from Buchenwald and returned to Brno to resume his architectural career; he also took over the woodcutting business his deceased brother left to his heirs. He married his cousin Gertruda Kenderová, née Hermannová, in 1946. The family company was nationalized in 1948, and Eisler found work first in his own business, and subsequently at the Botanical Gardens of Masaryk University. He acted as the chairman of Brno Zoo from 1950 to 1953.{{cite web|url=http://www.zoobrno.cz/about-us/history/|title=History of the Brno Zoo|publisher=Brno Zoo|location=Brno|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421045001/http://www.zoobrno.cz/about-us/history/|archive-date=2010-04-21|access-date=2010-04-03|url-status=dead}}
In addition to his professional interests in architecture, Eisler was also an avid painter, gardener, book collector, and horticulturist. Several works of art that were stolen by the Nazis were restored to his estate in the 2000s. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Brno.{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/acultbrnoarch.htm|title=Evening programs, March 2009 |publisher= Jewish Museum in Czechoslovakia |location= Prague |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612004046/http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/acultbrnoarch.htm|archive-date=2007-06-12|access-date= 2010-04-03 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.brna.cz/home-mmb/?acc=profil_osobnosti&load=3188&cel_publication=1|title=Ing. arch Otto Eisler |date= 27 July 2009 |publisher= Osobnosti |location= Prague |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718170049/http://www.brna.cz/home%2Dmmb/?acc%3Dprofil_osobnosti%26load%3D3188%26cel_publication%3D1|archive-date=2011-07-18|access-date= 2010-04-03 |url-status=dead}}
Notable works
- House for two brothers, Neumannova 10, Brno, 1930–1931 (built for himself and Mořic Eisler).
- Synagogue in 13 Skořepka street, Brno, 1934 (the only remaining synagogue in Brno).{{cite web|url=http://brnonow.com/2009/10/ethnic-minorities-in-brno-jews/|title=Ethnic minorities in Brno: Jews|first=Michal|last=Kašpárek|work=Let me show you some cool places in Brno|date=2009-10-15|access-date=2016-05-25}}
- Synagogue, Uherský Brod, 1946.
- Brno Zoo, 1949–1966.
Gallery
Adidas Masarykova 19-21 Brno - fasáda 2.jpg|Dům Wittreich a Deutsch, Masarykova 19-21
Adidas Masarykova 19-21 Brno 1.jpg|Dům Wittreich a Deutsch, Masarykova 19-21
Brno, Údolní 72.JPG|Údolní 72
Brno, Botanická 6.jpg|Botanická 6
Nájemní dům Kamenomlýnská 14 Brno 1.jpg|Kamenomlýnská 14
SZPI building in Brno.jpg|Běhounská 10
Eislerova vila - brána.jpg|Neumannova 10, Villa of Otto Eisler
References
{{Reflist}}
Literature
- KAMENÍK, Jan. Vzpomínka na architekta Eislera, jednoho ze zakladatelů ZOO Brno. ZOOreport. Září 2008, roč. X., čís. 3, s. 8.
- KLENOVSKÝ, Jaroslav. Brno židovské, historie a památky osídlení města Brna. Brno: ERA, 2002.
- PELČÁK, Petr; ŠKRABAL, Jindřich; WAHLA, Ivan. Otto Eisler. Brno: Obecní dům Brno, 1998.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisler, Otto}}
Category:People from Bystřice nad Pernštejnem
Category:People from the Margraviate of Moravia
Category:20th-century Czech architects
Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Norway