Edith Frank-Holländer

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Edith Frank-Holländer , b. Holländer , (born January 16, 1900 in Aachen , † January 6, 1945 in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp ) was a German victim of the Holocaust . She became famous as the mother of Margot and Anne Frank .

Life

Time until 1942

House at Merwedeplein 37

Frank-Holländer was born in Aachen as the youngest of four children of the businessman Abraham Holländer and Rosa Stern. Their ancestors lived in the Netherlands and moved to Germany around 1800. Her father was "a prominent member of Aachen's Jewish community" and Frank-Holländer was also raised religiously. Her prayer book was among the belongings that she took with her to the hiding place in the Secret Annex in 1942. Frank-Holländer attended the Evangelical Higher School for Daughters in Aachen, the Viktoriaschule which still exists today and which she graduated from high school in 1916 . On May 12, 1925, she married the banker's son Otto Frank, eleven years her senior, in the Aachen synagogue . She moved out of her parents 'house and initially lived with her husband in his parents' house on Beethovenplatz in Frankfurt . After the birth of their daughter Margot in 1926, the family moved into a rented apartment at Marbachweg 307 in Frankfurt in mid-1927. In 1929 their second daughter Annelies Marie, called Anne, was born.

After the “ seizure of power ” in January 1933, Frank-Holländer and her daughters first moved to Aachen to live with their family and followed her husband to Amsterdam on December 5, 1933 , where they moved into an apartment on Merwedeplein 37. Margot followed at Christmas 1933 and Anne in February 1934. For Frank-Holländer, the escape to the Netherlands was a difficult time. She lived separately from her relatives who had stayed behind in Germany, in more cramped conditions without domestic help and spoke no Dutch. She broke off a language course prematurely. Anne Frank mentioned in her diary in 1942 that her mother “spoke a terrible Dutch”. Frank-Holländer only rarely went on trips with his family in December 1935 to Otto Frank's relatives in Switzerland , in the summer of 1936 with her daughters to Sils Maria and a little later in the year alone to Frankfurt am Main to visit a friend.

She kept in close contact with her mother Rosa Holländer, who had stayed in Aachen. Frank Holländer's brothers Julius and Walter Holländer had already been arrested during the November pogroms in 1938 . While Julius Hollaender was released as a war veteran a short time later, the entrepreneur Walter Holländer was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . In December 1938 he was expelled to the Netherlands, where he lived in a refugee camp in the simplest of circumstances. He was only allowed to travel to the USA in December 1939 . His trading company B. Holländer was dissolved in January 1939 on the basis of the regulation that came into force in 1938 to eliminate Jews from German economic life . Julius Holländer also managed to travel to the USA in 1939. Rosa Holländer was one of the few who was allowed to travel to the Netherlands in March 1939. She lived here in Frank-Holländer's household and died of cancer on January 29, 1942. She was buried in the cemetery of the Jewish community in Hoofddorp .

The time in the Secret Annex

Prinsengracht 263, in the back of which Edith Frank-Holländer was hiding

On July 5, 1942, Frank-Holländer accepted the compulsory obligation to work in Germany addressed to Margot Frank. In the absence of her husband, she informed her friends, the Van Pels family, that the families now had to go into hiding as quickly as possible, even if the hiding place in the back house of Otto Franks' company, which had been set up in the summer of 1941, was not yet ready. She explained to Anne and Margot Frank that the appeal was for Otto Frank. On July 6, 1942, Frank-Holländer went into hiding with her husband and two daughters. Later the van Pels family and finally the dentist Fritz Pfeffer joined them.

The time in the Secret Annex was difficult for Frank-Holländer. "I noticed how dull and depressed Edith Frank was in those first days [of going into hiding]," said Miep Gies in her memoirs, in which she described Frank-Holländer as "friendly, orderly, very quiet, but a keen observer, who didn't miss a thing so quickly, ”described. During the months he was in hiding, Frank-Holländer became more melancholy and pessimistic than other residents of the Secret Annex. “Edith Frank took bad news the most. As winter [1942] approached, she gradually sank into deeper and deeper dejection. [...] No news item, no matter how promising, was able to awaken the slightest glimmer of hope in her [...] for her there was only the long, dark tunnel, but no light on the horizon, ”said helper Miep Gies in her memories.

Treason and death

On August 4, 1944, the eight people in hiding were betrayed. Frank-Holländer and her family were transferred to the prison in the Weteringschans and from there to the Westerbork transit camp , where they met Lenie de Jong-van Naarden for the first time. She later described Frank-Holländer as “a very special woman”: “She took great care of her children. She was always busy with the girls ”. On September 3, 1944, the eight people in hiding were deported to Auschwitz , where Frank-Holländer and their daughters were separated from the men of the group and taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau women's camp . The three of them always stayed there, as Bloeme Evers-Emden, who knew Margot and Anne Frank from the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam, described in retrospect:

“There were always three of you, mother and daughters. What kind of strife you can see in the 'Secret Annex' [meaning the diary], that had disappeared due to existential hardship, there were always three of them and they definitely gave each other a lot of support. [...] Because they supported each other, they were able to keep each other alive - even if no one can fight typhus . "

- Bloeme Evers-Emden

And Lenie de Jong-van Naarden wrote about Frank-Holländer's time in Auschwitz-Birkenau together with her daughters: “During the time we were in Auschwitz - about two months - Ms. Frank went to great lengths to keep her children alive to keep, to stay with them, to protect them. ”When Anne developed a rash and was transferred to the“ scabies block ”, Margot went with her voluntarily. Frank-Holländer, in turn, passed the small bread rations on to her daughters through a self-dug hole under the wooden wall of the hospital barracks. According to other reports, she even stole food for her sick daughters. While Anne and Margot Frank were deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of October 1944 , Edith Frank-Holländer was the only one of the eight people in hiding to remain in the Auschwitz-Birkenau women's camp.

During this time she made friends with Rosa de Winter, who wrote in her memories of the camp in 1945: “Constant selection ... Edith, a good friend, is also with me, she had to give up two daughters, 15 and 18 years old. We comfort each other and become friends, we prepare for the worst ... Edith and I are always together ”. In November 1944 Frank-Holländer fell ill and had a high fever. Despite the fear of being gassed in a selection by Josef Mengele , she let Rosa de Winter take her to the sick barracks. When de Winter later became ill himself, the contact was lost. At the beginning of January 1945 new patients were brought to de Winter's sick bay. “Suddenly I recognize Edith, she comes from another hospital ward. She is just a shadow. A few days later she dies, completely exhausted, ”said Rosa de Winter.

After the end of the Second World War and the liberation of the concentration camps, de Winter met Otto Frank on the return journey, to whom she told about the death of his wife.

Presentation in the diary

Anne Frank gave all the residents of the Secret Annex new names in her diary. Edith Frank-Holländer became Nora (Aulis) Robin. In her diary she emphasized the harmony between her parents, mentioned the arguments between Frank-Holländer and Auguste van Pels as well as scenes in which Frank-Holländer and Otto Frank defended her against criticism from van Pels.

In large parts of the diary, however, Anne Frank describes her tense relationship with her mother. While she had a good relationship with her father Otto , there were arguments between her and Frank-Holländer before they were in hiding. In August 1942, a few weeks after the time in the Secret Annex began, Anne Frank noted in her diary: “Mom gave me another miserable sermon this morning. We always hold the opposite opinion. Papa is a treasure, even if he is angry with me for five minutes ", and in September 1942 the statement" I have a completely different nature than Margot and Mother, they are so strange to me. "

There was no way for mother and daughter to withdraw physically during puberty and thus avoid conflicts. Anne Frank's diary therefore served essentially as an outlet, so she wrote after an argument with her mother:

“I finally told Papi that I much prefer 'him' to Mother. Then he said it would pass again, but I don't think so. I just can't stand mother, and I have to force myself not to sniff at her and stay calm. I could punch her straight in the face. I don't know how it comes about that I have such a terrible dislike for her. "

- Anne Frank, October 3, 1942

Many years later Otto Frank reported that Frank-Holländer had reacted with “maternal understanding” to Anne Frank's rejection, which she regarded as a temporary phase attributable to puberty . She was therefore glad that Anne Frank at least confided in her father, even if she suffered from her daughter's rejection.

At times, mother and daughter got along better, “but we're never confidential, ” Anne Frank wrote in a diary entry on November 5, 1942. Two days later she wrote: “I'm the exact opposite of her, and that's why we naturally clash . I don't judge her character because I can't judge that, I just see her as a mother. For me she is just not a mother. "

Anne Frank noted her ideal of a mother on December 24th, 1943: “[I] think… in everything I do and what I write that later on I want to be the mother to my children as I imagine them to be. The mum who doesn't take everything that is said so seriously and yet takes seriously what comes from me. ”At the same time, she envisaged a completely different life plan for herself than that of her mother:

“I cannot imagine that I have to live like my mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the other women who do their jobs and are later forgotten. In addition to a husband and children, I have to have something to which I can fully devote myself! Oh yes, I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. "

- Anne Frank, April 5, 1944.

It was not until late that she noticed her mother's efforts for her, even though she refused: “ Peter and I both miss a mother. His is too superficial, likes to flirt and doesn't care much about Peter's thoughts. Mine makes an effort for me, but has no tact, no sensitivity, no maternal understanding. ”Elsewhere it says contradictingly:“ Mother is against me and I'm against her. [...] Mother is sad because she still loves me, I'm not sad at all because she's done for me. "

Anne Frank's aggression towards her mother as described in the diary also subsided. In March 1944 Anne noted: “Above all, I want to keep the peace and not argue or clap. It's not difficult with father and Margot, but with mother it is. That's why it is very good that she pats me on the fingers sometimes. ”Last but not least, it was also important for her to keep outwardly largely peaceful:“ I don't want to give mother the idea that it looks completely different in one of her offspring as she imagines it. You would be completely amazed and still do not know how to approach the matter differently. "

reception

Stumbling block for Edith Frank-Holländer in Aachen
Stumbling blocks for the Frank family in Amsterdam

While the journalistic and public interest mainly related to Anne and her father Otto Frank, other people in hiding such as Fritz Pfeffer and Edith Frank-Holländer were only received and evaluated for a long time in the context of the diary. Since Anne Frank's life and development background was rarely taken into account and Otto Frank hardly spoke about his wife and older daughter Margot after the war ended, the public saw a negatively distorted image of Frank-Holländer.

For the first time in her book Das Mädchen Anne Frank , Melissa Müller attempted “to finally attach the importance to mother and her roots that she undoubtedly had for Anne and her development”.

In Edith Frank-Holländer's hometown Aachen, stumbling blocks in front of the last freely chosen apartment at Pastorplatz 1 have been a reminder of the fate of the Frank family since 2009 . In February 2015, Stolpersteine ​​were laid for Anne Frank, her sister Margot and her parents Edith and Otto at her last official place of residence in Amsterdam.

Edith Frank-Holländer in the film

The Diary of Anne Frank has been filmed several times. The following actors took on the role of Frank Holländers in the films:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d See annefrank.org
  2. ↑ See Anne Frank's diary entry on October 29, 1942: “In order to follow father's good example, mother pressed her prayer book into my hand.” In: Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank Tagebuch . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 70.
  3. ↑ Melissa Müller: The girl Anne Frank. The biography . Claassen, Munich 1998, p. 92.
  4. ^ Entry September 2, 1942. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Tagebuch . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 47.
  5. ↑ Melissa Müller: The girl Anne Frank. The biography . Claassen, Munich 1998, pp. 121-122.
  6. ^ Miep Gies: My time with Anne Frank . 9th edition. Heyne, Munich 1996, p. 104.
  7. ^ Miep Gies: My time with Anne Frank . 9th edition. Heyne, Munich 1996, p. 114.
  8. ^ Miep Gies: My time with Anne Frank . 9th edition. Heyne, Munich 1996, p. 133.
  9. ↑ Willy Lindwer: Anne Frank. The last seven months. Eyewitnesses report . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 180.
  10. ↑ Willy Lindwer: Anne Frank. The last seven months. Eyewitnesses report . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 165-166.
  11. ↑ Willy Lindwer: Anne Frank. The last seven months. Eyewitnesses report . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 191.
  12. ↑ See report by Ronnie Goldstein-van Cleef. In: Willy Lindwer: Anne Frank. The last seven months. Eyewitnesses report . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 228.
  13. ^ Entry August 21, 1942. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Tagebuch . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 44/46.
  14. ↑ September 27, 1942. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 54.
  15. ↑ Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 61.
  16. ↑ Melissa Müller: The girl Anne Frank. The biography . Claassen, Munich 1998, p. 278.
  17. ↑ Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 71.
  18. ↑ November 7, 1942. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 73.
  19. ↑ December 24, 1943. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 155.
  20. ↑ Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 238.
  21. ↑ February 27, 1944. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 193–194.
  22. ↑ March 28, 1944. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (ed.): Anne Frank diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 232.
  23. ↑ March 25, 1944. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Tagebuch . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 228.
  24. ↑ January 12, 1944. Otto H. Frank, Mirjam Pressler (Ed.): Anne Frank Diary . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 166.
  25. ↑ Melissa Müller: The girl Anne Frank. The biography . Claassen, Munich 1998, p. 13.
  26. ↑ Anne Frank: Merwedeplein 37, Amsterdam
personal data
SURNAME Frank-Holländer, Edith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frank, Edith; Dutchman, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Victim of the Holocaust, mother of Anne Frank
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1945
Place of death Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp