Sigismund Frank

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Sigismund Frank (born January 11, 1848 in Krefeld , † February 8, 1930 in Stuttgart ) was a German private banker . From 1874 he was an authorized signatory, from 1876 a partner in the banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld in Stuttgart. He was the father of the writer Bruno Frank .

Life and work

origin

Sigismund Frank was born in Krefeld in the year of the German Revolution on January 11, 1848 to Jewish parents . They belonged to the Jewish community, which had about 500 members in 80 families for a total of 36,000 inhabitants. Krefeld was the largest of the three consistorial districts on the left bank of the Rhine and the seat of a rabbi . For parents see: #parents .

job

It is not known when and why Sigismund Frank left Krefeld and settled in Stuttgart. He is not yet entered in the address book of the city of Stuttgart from 1864, from 1870 he was listed as a member of the Museum Society (see #Privatleben ). In 1874, together with Abraham Einstein, he was appointed authorized signatory with individual power of attorney for the banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld in Stuttgart. Wilhelm Rosenfeld, the owner of the bank founded in 1856, transferred the banking business (excluding assets and liabilities) to Abraham Einstein and Sigismund Frank in 1876, who thereby became the sole owners.

The business of the banking house developed brilliantly up to the First World War. According to the Stuttgart historian Maria Zelzer , Sigismund Frank was one of the "newly emerging empires of the Stuttgart Jewish community" in 1914. At that time there were 250 millionaires in Stuttgart, including 33 Jews, and Sigismund Frank had a fortune of two million marks (this corresponds to almost 10 million euros) and an annual income of over 140,000 marks.

Private life

On September 3, 1886, Sigismund Frank, 17 years his senior, married Lina Frank, who was almost of legal age, at her mother's place of residence in Frankfurt am Main (see #Lina Frank ). The marriage produced five children between 1887 and 1908 (see #Children ). The family lived in a rented apartment on the first floor of a four-story house in the west of Stuttgart at Silberburgstrasse 159. In the following years, the family continued to live in the west of Stuttgart, but changed apartments several times. From 1892 the Franks lived at Tübinger Strasse 69, from 1895 at Johannesstrasse 26 and from 1902 in their own house at Forststrasse 68.

Gravestone of Sigismund Frank.

As assimilated Jews, Frank's parents had integrated themselves into bourgeois Stuttgart society and, because of their prosperity and social position, belonged to the so-called upper middle class. The family also participated in the city's cultural life. Sigismund Frank had been a member of the Stuttgart Museum Society, founded in 1807, since 1870, which was dedicated to “maintaining upscale entertainment” and “continuing education in the literary and artistic field”. The association, which had almost 1,500 members in 1876, was an important social factor in Stuttgart. Everything that had rank and name was represented in the association, including the "top of Jewish society" to which Sigismund Frank belonged.

Retirement

Sigismund Frank died on February 8, 1930 in Stuttgart at the age of 82. He was buried in section 20 of the urn grove in the Israelite section of the Prague cemetery in Stuttgart .

parents

Sigismund Frank's father was Levy (also Louis or Ludwig) Frank (1811–1895). The son of a Xanten school teacher was a grocer's dealer in Krefeld, and from around 1870 owner of a debt collection business. In 1844 he married Ebouline (also Eboline, Helene) Frank b. Herzog (1814–1869), the daughter of a wealthy and highly respected butcher and horse dealer in Krefeld.

Sigismund Frank had at least three siblings, including Jacob Frank (1849-1924). He initially left Krefeld, returned from Frankfurt to Krefeld in 1876 and founded the J. Frank Cie bank in 1892. All that is known about Sigismund Frank's brother Moritz Frank (* 1855) is that he moved from Krefeld to Cologne in 1880. It is possible that he is identical to Moritz Frank (mentioned 1871–1929), who was authorized signatory of the Rosenfeld banking house in Stuttgart from 1871 to 1874 .

Lina Frank

Lina Frank was born on July 14, 1865 in Hanau to Jewish parents. Her father was the fruit and coal merchant Salomon Rothschild (1835–1870), her mother was Jeannette Rothschild nee. Oppenheim. When her husband died in 1870 at the age of only 35, she moved to Frankfurt am Main with her five-year-old daughter. Shortly before she came of age, Lina Frank married Sigismund Frank, seventeen years her senior, on September 3, 1886. The marriage produced five children between 1887 and 1908 (see #Children ). In her memories of her childhood friend Bruno Frank , Nora von Beroldingen wrote in 1946: "His mother, a pompous, spirited lady, was prophetically nicknamed" the Swabian woman council "by the always ridiculous people of Stuttgart."

After the death of her husband in 1930, Lina Frank became a limited partner of the Rosenfeld banking house with an investment of 5000 Reichsmark and moved in November or December 1936 to her son Helmuth Frank, who had settled in Genoa in 1925. Lina Frank survived the war, sometimes under very difficult conditions, most recently in a Turin monastery to protect herself from being attacked by the Nazis. After the war she stayed at the Hotel Majestic in Turin. She received "limited reparations for suffering persecution by the Nazi regime" in Italy. Compensation for the collapse of the banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld, which was probably brought about by the Nazis, was not made (see #Recharge ). Nothing is known about their behavior after the war. She spent the last months of her life in the San Paolo clinic in Turin, where she died on March 17, 1960 at the old age of 94.

children

Lina Frank gave birth to five children between 1887 and 1908. The oldest child, the son Bruno Frank, was born one year after their marriage. Two years later she gave birth to a boy again, who however died after two years. The sons Helmuth and Lothar followed at intervals of one or eight years, and after another eight years the daughter Ruth.

Bruno Frank

Bruno Frank (1887–1945): eldest child, studied law and literature, 1912 Dr. phil. in Tübingen, until 1933 freelance writer in Feldafing and Munich, 1933 emigration, freelance writer in Switzerland, France, Salzburg and London, from 1938 in Beverly Hills .

Walter Friedrich Frank

The second son Walter Friedrich Frank was born on January 21, 1889 in Stuttgart and died two years later on March 4, 1891 in Stuttgart.

Helmuth Frank

Helmuth (Albrecht) Frank was born as the third child on January 7, 1892 in Stuttgart. He joined in 1919 as chief clerk single procuration in the Stuttgart Bankhaus Gebr. Rosenfeld one whose owner was his father Abraham and Einstein. In 1921 the sons of the owners, Helmuth Frank and Edgar Einstein, were added to the bank as further partners. Helmuth Frank left the bank in 1924 and emigrated to Genoa on August 31, where his mother Lina Frank followed him after her husband's death in 1930. Like his mother, he too suffered from the persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy. He survived the war and persecution by the Nazis (see #Retribution ). The last publicly known sign of life from Helmuth Frank is a letter he wrote after the end of the war in 1945 to Liesl Frank, the wife of his brother Bruno Frank , who had died a few months earlier .

Lothar Frank

Lothar Frank (1900–1985): fourth child, studied law and political science, 1924 Dr. rer. pole. in Tübingen, 1925–1927 Reich Statistical Office in Berlin, 1927–1930 banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld in Stuttgart, 1930–1936 Julius Petschek Group in Berlin, 1936 emigration, securities broker and investment advisor in Hollywood .

Ruth Frank

Ruth (Helene Johanna) Frank was born as the youngest child on August 22, 1908 in Stuttgart. She studied medicine in Munich and in Czechoslovakia. In 1938 she emigrated to New York, finished her studies and worked as an anesthetist. She was married twice and last named after her two husbands Welch-Hayman. Ruth Welch-Haymann died in Brooklyn (New York) in 2004 .

Reparation

Note: The following statements are mainly based on the compensation files of Lina and Helmuth Frank and the banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld.

Sigismund and Bruno Frank

The head of the Frank family was saved from the persecution of the Nazi regime: Sigismund Frank died in 1930, three years before the Nazis came to power. The other family members survived the Nazi terror, but suffered from it - to varying degrees. Sigismund Frank's eldest son, Bruno Frank , did not hesitate for a moment after the Reichstag fire in 1933: he first emigrated to other European countries and in 1937 to his exile in California in Beverly Hills . After the outbreak of war and the spread of Nazi terror in his beloved Germany, he more and more despaired of the "blight" of his fatherland. He died a month after the end of the war, not least of a broken heart. His friend Thomas Mann wrote in his obituary in 1945: “The German misery lasted too long, ate too deep; it drained him as well as all of us. "

expatriation

On March 9, 1938, the Nazis stripped Bruno Frank and his wife Liesl of their citizenship; on May 30, 1939, Lina, Helmuth and Ruth Frank also suffered the same fate, Lothar Frank was evidently overlooked during the expatriation campaign. As a result of the expatriation, the Franks became stateless, their assets were confiscated and later confiscated in favor of the state treasury. Bruno and Liesl Frank acquired American citizenship at the end of 1944, and Lothar and Ruth Frank will also have naturalized themselves. Helmuth Frank was re-naturalized by the Federal Republic of Germany on July 21, 1952, it is not known whether and when Lina Frank regained German citizenship.

Redress practice

From 1953 onwards, the (material) reparation of those persecuted by the Nazis was legally regulated by the Federal Compensation Act. For Lina, Helmuth, Lothar and Ruth Frank, the remaining members of the family, three of the possible reasons for compensation came into question (original terminology):

  • Damage to freedom
  • Damage to professional advancement
  • Damage to property and property

In contrast to the arbitrary justice of the Third Reich, the newly established democratic state of the Federal Republic of Germany adhered to law and order, including in the case of reparations. This often led to a second spiritual martyrdom and to renewed humiliation of those persecuted by the Nazis. In addition, there were many former Nazi officials in the reparations offices and the judiciary, whose goodwill was at least doubtful. Under these auspices, the reparation cases were processed, evidence was demanded that often could not be provided, and facts were played down under the guise of legal regulations so that they could not lead to reparation.

Lothar and Ruth Frank

Lothar Frank , who emigrated to Hollywood at the end of 1936 , and Ruth Frank, who emigrated to New York in 1938, could have asserted claims for “damage to property and assets”, as could the heirs of the late Bruno Frank. Since they were all well-off, however, they waived it in favor of Lina Frank. Lothar Frank could also have sued for “damage to freedom” because of the five-month pre-trial detention he had suffered, but he also failed to do so, especially since the prospects for subsequent rehabilitation were not favorable.

Lina Frank

Lina Frank moved to Genoa at the end of 1936 to live with her son Helmuth Frank. After the promulgation of the Italian race laws in 1938, the persecution of Jews began in Italy, and in 1943 the persecution was drastically intensified under the military "protection" of the German Reich. During the last two years of the war, Lina Frank found shelter in a monastery near Turin, where she believed she was safe from the stalking of the Gestapo and SS . She lived in the monastery in a damp potato cellar and earned her living by holding language courses. According to the court, this did not qualify as imprisonment, as she had evaded the Nazis' access and could therefore not be imprisoned (and murdered) by them.

When a Jew crossed the Reich border abroad, "wealth deterioration" occurred. Lina Frank therefore had to surrender her securities and lost her life insurance. This "damage to property and property" was recognized and replaced according to the current value. Compensation for the collapse of the banking house Gebr. Rosenfeld, which was probably brought about by the Nazis, was not given because it could not be proven that the Nazis had caused it. The files of the Schwäbische Treuhand-Aktiengesellschaft, which had been entrusted with the liquidation, were destroyed during the war, so that the assessment of the financial situation of the bank was only based on the memories of a former employee of the trust company.

Helmuth Frank

Helmuth Frank, who had emigrated to Genoa as early as 1924 and worked there as a representative and wholesaler in shellac, did not escape the persecution of Jews in fascist Italy. He was imprisoned in various camps from July 2, 1940 until Mussolini's fall in July 1943. In northern Italy, which was now occupied by the Germans, the Nazi authorities issued an order to the Italian authorities to hand over the racial internees of the SS . To avoid extradition, he fled “to a 900 m high mountain farm in the Apennines , Mezzoni, above Fontanigorda . He stayed there until the Allies arrived on April 25, 1945. Two days later he went home to Genoa on foot. "

The federal German authorities only partially recognized Helmuth Frank's claims for “damage to freedom”. His stay at the Berghof in Mezzoni - similar to his mother's - did not, in her view, constitute an offense of imprisonment. This cut the four years of deprivation of liberty by half. For each day of the recognized period of imprisonment, Helmuth Frank received compensation of five DM, resulting in compensation of 3,600 DM. There were no legal costs, the costs for attorneys, obtaining certificates and certification had to be borne by the “applicant” himself. Helmuth Frank withdrew his applications for "damage to professional advancement" and "damage to property and assets" in 1959 and 1962 due to the obvious hopelessness.

literature

Life

  • Michael Brocke; Aubrey Pomerance: Stones like souls: the old Jewish cemetery in Krefeld; Funerary monuments and inscriptions. Krefeld 2003, pages 164, 248, 330.
  • Joachim Hahn : Friedhöfe in Stuttgart , Volume 3: Pragfriedhof, Israelite part . Stuttgart 1992, page 69.
  • Frank, Bruno. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 7: Feis – Frey. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-22687-X , pp. 250-268.
  • Nora Winkler von Kapp : My childhood friend Bruno Frank. In: Hochlandbote for the districts of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Miesbach, Schongau, Tölz and Weilheim , supplement “Der Frauenspiegel”, volume 2, number 62, August 2, 1946, page 7.
  • Sascha Kirchner: The citizen as an artist. Bruno Frank (1887–1945) - life and work. Düsseldorf 2009, pages 17–19, 26, 27, 30, 31, 34, 36, 42, 50, 55, 56, 159, 201 (photo), 227.
  • Carl Lotter: History of the Museum Society in Stuttgart. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company , Stuttgart 1907.
  • Maria Zelzer : Path and Fate of the Stuttgart Jews. A memorial book. Stuttgart 1964, pages 34, 63, 74, 465.

Archives

  • Monacensia , literature archive :
    • Letters from Italy from Lina Frank to Bruno Frank (1938–1940) and Liesl Frank (1938–1946).
    • Letters from Italy from Helmuth Frank to Bruno Frank (1938–1940) and Liesl Frank (1938–1945).
  • State Archives Ludwigsburg :
    • F 303 II Bü 35, commercial register files Bankhaus Gebr. Rosenfeld.
    • EL 350 I Bü 1033, 21023, 31777, 38319, compensation matters Lina Frank, Helmuth Frank, Bankhaus Gebr. Rosenfeld, Edgar Einstein.
    • F 201 Bü 419/194, F 215 Bü 72, 213, 467, passport files Sigismund and Lina Frank 1915-1932.

Footnotes

  1. ^ History of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area .
  2. ^ Address book 1964 . - Only owners and regular tenants, but no sub-tenants, were added to the address book.
  3. #Zelzer 1964 , pp. 72–74, comparisons of purchasing power of historical amounts of money .
  4. #Kirchner 2009 , page 17. - According to #Hahn 1992 , Sigismund Frank and Amalie Frank born. Stein, born on September 5, 1841, was married. However, this is not possible due to the children's dates of birth.
  5. ^ House Silberburgstrasse 159 .
  6. ^ Address books of the city of Stuttgart.
  7. #Zelzer 1964 , pages 63, 74, 465, #Lotter 1907 , 127, 164.
  8. # Hahn 1992 .
  9. #Brocke 2003 , Burkhard Ostrowski, Stadtarchiv Krefeld, NS Documentation Center ( Memento of the original from February 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Email dated February 9, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.krefeld.de
  10. ^ Rothschild, Salomon (1870) - Hanau. Jewish graves in Hesse. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  11. #Kirchner 2009 , page 17.
  12. #Kapp 1946 .
  13. # Rosenfeld Commercial Register .
  14. # Kirchner 2009 , pages 227–228, # compensation matters .
  15. # compensation matters , #Kirchner 2009 , page 345th
  16. # Compensation matters .
  17. # This year 1999 .
  18. # Compensation matters .
  19. ^ Letter from Helmuth Frank to Elisabeth Frank dated August 12, 1945 from Genoa, Monacensia, Literaturarchiv, Munich.
  20. #Heuer 1999 , page 250, #Kirchner 2009 , page 228, 278.
  21. # Compensation matters .
  22. Bruno Frank in his unpublished pamphlet “Lie als Staatsprinzip” ( Bruno Frank # Frank 1939.1 , page 17).
  23. Bruno Frank # Mann 1945.1 .
  24. Bruno Frank # Hepp 1985 .
  25. ^ # Compensation matters, EL 350 I Bü 21023.