After starting with law in 1901, he moved on to philosophy, psychology, art history and archeology, returning to Prague to study at Charles University in 1903, where Anton Marty was one of his teachers.

[5][6] During his studies, he was member of a philosophical circle, strongly influenced by Franz Brentano, that met at the Café Louvre [cs] and included Kafka and Oskar Kraus.

[11] Supported by Max Dessoir, he found a teaching position at the University of Rostock in 1910 and obtained the habilitation qualification in November 1910.

Although he had converted to Protestantism,[15] he was considered Jewish in the context of the so-called Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service and was suspended in April 1933, then forced into unpaid retirement in October 1933.

[5] His PhD students include Hermann Boeschenstein (Die Aesthetik des J. P. de Crousaz, The Aesthetics of J. P. de Crousaz, Rostock 1924)[16][17] and Johannes Güthling (Vergleichende Untersuchungen über das Augenmaß für Strecken und Flächen, Comparative Studies of the Visual Judgement for Distance and Area, Halle 1927).

When the reading room opened in June 1943, use was restricted to readers who could pay a deposit and pass an interview with Utitz or another librarian.

[23] Utitz, who was one of the "prominent" prisoners given special treatment, was involved in cultural activities in Theresienstadt, for example as judge in a poetry contest in 1944.

[26] The manuscript of Viktor Ullmann's opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis was saved by Utitz when Ullman was deported to Auschwitz in October 1944 and later given to H. G.

[29] Utitz later wrote a book about the psychology of life in Theresienstadt, which appeared in a Czech edition in 1947 and in German translation in 1948.