Curt Herzstark (January 26, 1902 – October 27, 1988) was an Austrian engineer. During World War II, he developed plans for a mechanical calculator that fits in a pocket, called the Curta.

Life and career

Herzstark was born in Vienna, the son of Marie and Samuel Jakob Herzstark. His father was Jewish, and his mother, who was born Catholic, changed her religion to Lutheranism and raised Herzstark as a Lutheran.

In 1938, Herzstark was the technical manager of his father’s company, Rechenmaschinenwerk Austria Herzstark & Co. At that time, he had already finished designing the Curta, but he could not make it because Nazi Germany took control of Austria. Instead, the company was ordered to produce measuring tools for the German Army. In 1943, Herzstark was arrested by the Nazis, possibly because his father was a Jewish person who supported liberal ideas. The Nazis accused him of "helping Jews and people who opposed the government" and "having unacceptable relationships with non-Jewish women." He was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. However, reports from the army about the company’s ability to make precise tools and Herzstark’s technical skills led the Nazis to treat him as a "forced worker with special skills."

His time in Buchenwald harmed his health, but his condition improved when he was assigned to work in a factory connected to the camp, named after Wilhelm Gustloff. There, he was ordered to draw the design of his calculator so the Nazis could give the machine to the Führer as a gift after the war ended successfully. This special treatment helped him survive until the camp was freed in 1945. By that time, he had redrawn the entire design from memory.

Herzstark died in Nendeln, Liechtenstein.

In popular culture

The Curta is mentioned in chapter four of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. The chapter is named "Math Grenades," which describes how the main character, Cayce Pollard, thought a box of them looked like hand grenades at first.