Gertrud and her older brother Hans were brought up in a cosmopolitan, secular, German-speaking household, and were encouraged by their parents to pursue cultural and artistic interests.

Gertrud first studied in Munich, at the Ladies Academy (Damenakademie) of the Münchner Künstlerinnenverein (Female Artists Assosciation) one of the few schools in Central Europe which provided a formal education in art to women.

Gertrud continued her studies in Paris, where she came under the influence of post-impressionism, before returning to Prague to attend the newly founded Ukrainian Art Academy.

In 1938, Gertrud was chosen to represent Czechoslovakia in the “Exposition des Femmes Artistes de la Petite Entente”, a traveling exhibition supported by a group of Eastern European governments to promote their art.

In 1939, following Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland, Gertrud’s nephew, Cornelius Kauders, the only son of her brother Hans, escaped Prague for England.

However, by 1941 the threat the Nazi regime posed to any and all Czech Jews had become impossible to ignore and Gertrud, fearing deportation, enlisted the help of her friend Natalie Jahudkova in preserving her life’s work.

Quite by chance, in November 2019, Peter During’s eldest child, Simon During, came across Czech news stories reporting the discovery of Gertrud’s works.

As a 2023 press release by the Prague Jewish Museum stated, “In its entirety the collection represents an authentic imprint of the artist’s studio”.