Manhattan, NY – An Auschwitz survivor was discovered bound and bludgeoned to death last night in his upper East Side apartment, police said.
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Guido Felix Brinkmann, 90, was discovered in his E. 65th St. apartment around 5 p.m. – he was fully clothed, his hands bound behind him and his head was drenched in blood, police said.
“The super found him,” said a source. “Face down on the floor in the bedroom.”
Brinkmann was close to famed ex-NYPD detective turned security consultant Beau Dietl, who called Brinkmann “a remarkable man.”
“He was an Auschwitz survivor – he met his wife there. She died just last year. Not bitter. An amazing man,” said Dietl, 58.
“He was on the line to be killed, and they pulled him off the extermination line four times,” said Dietl, who hailed Brinkmann as the godfather of his son.
“He survived and these creeps killed him,” Dietl said.
Police sources said they believe Brinkmann let a man and woman into his apartment who then robbed the elderly man.
Police said there were no signs of a break-in and Brinkmann’s apartment door was open, his drawers were pulled out and the rooms were ransacked.
Cops said they later learned that Brinkmann’s Honda Accord – with the distinctive plate FELIXB – was missing from the building’s garage.
Police said they had received a 911 call from Dietl asking them to check on Brinkmann, and a relative met with officers when they arrived at the building, sources said.
Neighbors said they were shocked to see detectives walking through their hallways.
“This is New York,” said lawyer Ken Fields. “But it is always surprising when it happens in your own backyard.”
Fields pointed out that the doorman routinely phones residents to ask permission to send visitors up to apartments.
“This is a very safe building,” he said.
Sad and scary, hope those thugs are caught asap.
mizken, poor guy. so sad. bde
Not a Yid, I gather. Terrible…to survive such horrors & to die like that?! We need the death penalty enforced!
Even though they robbed him, still I think it was a hate crime, they would’nt have killed an elderly man for no reason, they could’ve left him bound and alive. They should catch the thugs and make an example out of them.
Probably a Northern Italian from the Tyrol region or even Venice. Why does it matter. There is still a thriving Jewish community in Italy and yes a few thousand Italian JEWS were sent to teh camps. EVer hear of Primo Levi?
Jew or Not!! What a shame!! This is terrible!!
oy tatte tatte ehubin shoin genug noi gembach
with all the democracy here in usa there is all theese horrible crimes i dont know what to say other then this country needs toughter laws with people who commit such horrific crimes as this
I hope Bo Deitl through his contacts in NYPD will get the best resources out there to find the murderers! How tragic that a man survived Hitler 4 times and was murdered by worthless scum.
A Terrible Shonda for ANY HUMAN BEING -JEW OR NOT-to die like that–WAKE-UP my people!! OY-VEY es MIR–May His soul REst in Peace and Those Sick Maniacs May Hashem Take care of them in his Own Divine Manor!
Hi. I am Dr. Rick Brinkman, the son of Felix Brinkmann.
Felix survived 3 Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and Ebensee for 12 months even though a healthy prisoner was supposed to be worked to death in 6 months. He was picked for the gas chamber 5 times and got out of it because he could speak perfect German and was an electrician, so his skills were of great value.
He actually was 90.5 years at his death. His birthdate was recorded incorrectly when he came to the US in 1947.
For more information, amazing stories of survival, pictures and video, please see: http://rickbrinkman.com/blog
There is a category called “concentration camp survival” where you will find stories about my father and mother. They met in the ghetto, were sent to Auschwitz and separated. My mother escaped from a death march and then went back and let herself be recaptured so she could tell her sisters about the opportunity. They found each other after the war through a string of miracles. You can find out about this at: http://rickbrinkman.com/blog
Thanks for caring.
There’s a little inconvenient truth about the “sainted” Guido Felix Brinkmann. According to the New York Times, Brinkmann was born in Latvia and moved to Germany and later Poland where he was a supporter of the Third Reich. The Gestapo did a little checking, learned his mother was Jewish, so off to the Warsaw Ghetto Brinkmann went, and later to Auschwitz.
Yeah, he was a Holocaust survivor.