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{
"id": 396124531,
"image": null,
"url": "https://research.annefrank.org/en/onderwerpen/0fd2bbb6-d458-4424-ab71-ff39cc305b39/",
"published": true,
"uuid": "0fd2bbb6-d458-4424-ab71-ff39cc305b39",
"name": "Otto Frank and the Liberal Jewish Congregation",
"name_nl": "Otto Frank en de Liberaal Joodse Gemeente",
"name_en": "Otto Frank and the Liberal Jewish Congregation",
"description": "<p>Otto Frank grew up in Frankfurt's Westend, a neighbourhood about a fifth of which consisted of - mostly liberal - Jews. His own family also belonged to the liberal Jewish community. His parents considered themselves primarily German <em>Bildungsbürger</em>, for whom Jewish faith played no important role. According to him, his grandmother only attended synagogue on the occasion of her wedding and never again. He himself did not initially concern himself with religious matters either.<sup data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup><br />\r\n<br />\r\nYet at the Lessing Grammar School, like all students, he received religious instruction in his own faith. He received the Jewish lessons there from Cäsar Seligmann, an old acquaintance of his father. Seligmann was the leading liberal rabbi of the Frankfurt Hauptsynagogue and the liberal Western Synagogue, inaugurated in <strong>1910</strong>. Seligmann was considered one of the leading representatives of the liberal Jewish movement in Germany in the early 20th century.<sup data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<p>The arrival of Jews expelled from Germany promoted the liberal Jewish movement in the Netherlands. In <strong>May 1934</strong>, the liberal rabbi Ludwig Jakob Mehler came to Amsterdam from Frankfurt and his arrival brought momentum to the building of the long-standing liberal movement in that city. These developments elicited negative comments from the orthodox press. Otto Frank was disturbed by this and wrote to the <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em> in <strong>December 1937</strong>: '<em>I am a convinced Liberal Jew and I find your magazine's way of writing against Liberalism anything but distinguished'.</em> He announced that he no longer wanted to be a subscriber. Clearly agitated, the editors retorted, dismissing Liberal Judaism as a German import:</p>\r\n\r\n<blockquote>'Criticism of our magazine is always agreeable to us. But who gives you<em> the right to express this criticism in a form that does not correspond to the facts. Certainly, we reject religious liberalism, but we have found among the Jews who have immigrated here - and almost only among these are the "convinced liberals" - the contact we have sought from the beginning. And that our efforts are right proves the success, even if a single person expresses his "conviction" in his own form".<sup data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup></em></blockquote>\r\n\r\n<p>When a few months later about 40 members of the Amsterdam LJG signed a petition, Otto Frank was one of them. In doing so, the signatories supported their board who asked Queen Wilhelmina to recognise their congregation as an independent denomination.<sup data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\"><a href=\"#footnote-4\" id=\"footnote-marker-4-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[4]</a></sup> In the <strong>autumn of 1945</strong>, he rejoined the LJG.<sup data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\"><a href=\"#footnote-5\" id=\"footnote-marker-5-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[5]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: Aachener-Frankfurter Tageblatt, Erste und einzige Ausgabe, Auflage 50 Exemplare, erscheint am 12. Mai 1925.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Manfred Capellmann u.a., <em>Wer war Henry Wolfskehl? Auf der Suche nach jüdischen Schülern und Lehrern am Lessing-Gymnasium 1897-1938. Eine Ausstellung der Archiv-AG des Lessing-Gymnasiums Frankfurt am Main im Museum Judengasse. 20. Januar bis 06. März 2000</em>, Frankfurt am Main: Selbstverlag, 2000, p. 47. Zie ook het biografisch lemma over Seligmann op <a href=\"http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm\">http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm</a> (geraadpleegd op 20 juli 2022).</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>“Correspondentie”, <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em> <em>in Nederland, </em>23 december 1937, p. 9.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\" id=\"footnote-4\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-4-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Nationaal Archief (NA), Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, dossiers Kerkgenootschappen, 1866-1988, toegang 2.09.35.01, inv. nr. 68: Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, 1938-1939, steunverklaring d.d. 28 mei 1938.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\" id=\"footnote-5\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-5-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, Amsterdam: briefkaart (Plikart), O. Frank p/a N.V. Ned. Opekta Mij. aan M. Goudeket, 17 november 1945.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"description_nl": "<p>Otto Frank groeide op in het Frankfurtse Westend, een buurt die voor ongeveer een vijfde deel uit, veelal liberale, joden bestond. Ook zijn eigen familie behoort tot de liberaal joodse geloofsrichting. Zijn ouders beschouwden zichzelf in eerste plaats als Duitse <em>Bildungsbürger</em>, voor wie het joodse geloof geen belangrijke rol speelde. Volgens hem kwam zijn grootmoeder alleen ter gelegenheid van haar huwelijk in de synagoge en verder nooit. Zelf hield hij zich aanvankelijk ook niet met godsdienstzaken bezig.<sup data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup><br />\r\n<br />\r\nToch kreeg hij op het Lessing-Gymnasium, net als alle leerlingen, godsdienstonderwijs in het eigen geloof. De joodse lessen kreeg hij daar van Cäsar Seligmann, een oude bekende van zijn vader. Seligmann was de vooraanstaande liberale rabbijn van de Frankfurter Hauptsynagoge en de in <strong>1910</strong> ingewijde liberale Westendsynagoge. Seligmann gold begin twintigste eeuw als een van de belangrijkste vertegenwoordigers van de liberaal-joodse beweging in Duitsland.<sup data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<p>De komst van uit Duitsland uitgeweken Joden bevorderde de liberaal-joodse stroming in Nederland. In <strong>mei 1934</strong> kwam de liberale rabbijn Ludwig Jakob Mehler van Frankfurt naar Amsterdam en zijn komst bracht vaart in de opbouw van de al langer bestaande liberale stroming in die stad. Die ontwikkelingen ontlokten negatieve commentaren aan de orthodoxe pers. Otto Frank stoorde zich daaraan en schreef in <strong>december 1937</strong> aan het <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em>: ‘<em>Ik ben een overtuigde liberale Jood en de manier van uw blad tegen het Liberalisme te schrijven, vind ik allesbehalve voornaam’</em>. Hij liet weten geen abonnee meer te willen zijn. Duidelijk geprikkeld voorzag de redactie hem van repliek en serveerde het liberale jodendom af als een Duits importproduct:</p>\r\n\r\n<blockquote>‘Critiek op ons blad is ons steeds aangenaam. Doch wie geeft U<em> het recht, deze critiek te uiten in een vorm, die niet in overeenstemming met de feiten is. Zeker, wij wijzen het religieus liberalisme af, doch wij hebben onder de hierheen geïmmigreerde Joden – en bijna alleen onder dezen bevinden zich de “overtuigd liberalen”, - het contact gevonden dat wij van beginne af gezocht hebben. En dat ons streven juist is, bewijst het succes, ook als een enkeling aan zijn “overtuiging” in de hem eigen vorm uiting geeft’.<sup data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup></em></blockquote>\r\n\r\n<p>Toen enkele maanden later ongeveer veertig leden van de Amsterdamse LJG een pettitie ondertekenden was Otto Frank van de partij. De ondertekenaars steunden hiermee hun bestuur dat aan koningin Wilhelmina vroeg hun gemeente als een zelfstandig kerkgenootschap te erkennen.<sup data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\"><a href=\"#footnote-4\" id=\"footnote-marker-4-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[4]</a></sup> In het <strong>najaar van 1945</strong> zou hij zich opnieuw aansluiten bij de LJG.<sup data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\"><a href=\"#footnote-5\" id=\"footnote-marker-5-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[5]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: Aachener-Frankfurter Tageblatt, Erste und einzige Ausgabe, Auflage 50 Exemplare, erscheint am 12. Mai 1925.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Manfred Capellmann u.a., <em>Wer war Henry Wolfskehl? Auf der Suche nach jüdischen Schülern und Lehrern am Lessing-Gymnasium 1897-1938. Eine Ausstellung der Archiv-AG des Lessing-Gymnasiums Frankfurt am Main im Museum Judengasse. 20. Januar bis 06. März 2000</em>, Frankfurt am Main: Selbstverlag, 2000, p. 47. Zie ook het biografisch lemma over Seligmann op <a href=\"http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm\">http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm</a> (geraadpleegd op 20 juli 2022).</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>“Correspondentie”, <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em> <em>in Nederland, </em>23 december 1937, p. 9.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\" id=\"footnote-4\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-4-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Nationaal Archief (NA), Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, dossiers Kerkgenootschappen, 1866-1988, toegang 2.09.35.01, inv. nr. 68: Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, 1938-1939, steunverklaring d.d. 28 mei 1938.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\" id=\"footnote-5\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-5-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, Amsterdam: briefkaart (Plikart), O. Frank p/a N.V. Ned. Opekta Mij. aan M. Goudeket, 17 november 1945.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"description_en": "<p>Otto Frank grew up in Frankfurt's Westend, a neighbourhood about a fifth of which consisted of - mostly liberal - Jews. His own family also belonged to the liberal Jewish community. His parents considered themselves primarily German <em>Bildungsbürger</em>, for whom Jewish faith played no important role. According to him, his grandmother only attended synagogue on the occasion of her wedding and never again. He himself did not initially concern himself with religious matters either.<sup data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup><br />\r\n<br />\r\nYet at the Lessing Grammar School, like all students, he received religious instruction in his own faith. He received the Jewish lessons there from Cäsar Seligmann, an old acquaintance of his father. Seligmann was the leading liberal rabbi of the Frankfurt Hauptsynagogue and the liberal Western Synagogue, inaugurated in <strong>1910</strong>. Seligmann was considered one of the leading representatives of the liberal Jewish movement in Germany in the early 20th century.<sup data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<p>The arrival of Jews expelled from Germany promoted the liberal Jewish movement in the Netherlands. In <strong>May 1934</strong>, the liberal rabbi Ludwig Jakob Mehler came to Amsterdam from Frankfurt and his arrival brought momentum to the building of the long-standing liberal movement in that city. These developments elicited negative comments from the orthodox press. Otto Frank was disturbed by this and wrote to the <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em> in <strong>December 1937</strong>: '<em>I am a convinced Liberal Jew and I find your magazine's way of writing against Liberalism anything but distinguished'.</em> He announced that he no longer wanted to be a subscriber. Clearly agitated, the editors retorted, dismissing Liberal Judaism as a German import:</p>\r\n\r\n<blockquote>'Criticism of our magazine is always agreeable to us. But who gives you<em> the right to express this criticism in a form that does not correspond to the facts. Certainly, we reject religious liberalism, but we have found among the Jews who have immigrated here - and almost only among these are the "convinced liberals" - the contact we have sought from the beginning. And that our efforts are right proves the success, even if a single person expresses his "conviction" in his own form".<sup data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup></em></blockquote>\r\n\r\n<p>When a few months later about 40 members of the Amsterdam LJG signed a petition, Otto Frank was one of them. In doing so, the signatories supported their board who asked Queen Wilhelmina to recognise their congregation as an independent denomination.<sup data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\"><a href=\"#footnote-4\" id=\"footnote-marker-4-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[4]</a></sup> In the <strong>autumn of 1945</strong>, he rejoined the LJG.<sup data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\"><a href=\"#footnote-5\" id=\"footnote-marker-5-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[5]</a></sup></p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"rl81n\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: Aachener-Frankfurter Tageblatt, Erste und einzige Ausgabe, Auflage 50 Exemplare, erscheint am 12. Mai 1925.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"kh3kq\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Manfred Capellmann u.a., <em>Wer war Henry Wolfskehl? Auf der Suche nach jüdischen Schülern und Lehrern am Lessing-Gymnasium 1897-1938. Eine Ausstellung der Archiv-AG des Lessing-Gymnasiums Frankfurt am Main im Museum Judengasse. 20. Januar bis 06. März 2000</em>, Frankfurt am Main: Selbstverlag, 2000, p. 47. Zie ook het biografisch lemma over Seligmann op <a href=\"http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm\">http://www.judengasse.de/dhtml/P145.htm</a> (geraadpleegd op 20 juli 2022).</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"0t4hz\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>“Correspondentie”, <em>Centraal Blad voor Israëlieten</em> <em>in Nederland, </em>23 december 1937, p. 9.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"mr6fj\" id=\"footnote-4\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-4-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Nationaal Archief (NA), Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, dossiers Kerkgenootschappen, 1866-1988, toegang 2.09.35.01, inv. nr. 68: Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, 1938-1939, steunverklaring d.d. 28 mei 1938.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"qon7j\" id=\"footnote-5\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-5-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, Amsterdam: briefkaart (Plikart), O. Frank p/a N.V. Ned. Opekta Mij. aan M. Goudeket, 17 november 1945.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"summary": "Otto Frank was not intensely involved in religion, but felt a strong connection to liberal Judaism in his adult life.",
"summary_nl": "Otto Frank hield zich niet intensief bezig met geloof, maar voelde zich in zijn volwassen leven wel sterk verbonden met het liberale Jodendom.",
"summary_en": "Otto Frank was not intensely involved in religion, but felt a strong connection to liberal Judaism in his adult life.",
"same_as": null,
"parent": 396124402,
"files": []
}