Wedding-day of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer
Otto Frank and Edith Holländer married, four weeks after their engagement, on 8 May 1925 in Aachen.
Foto van de huwelijksdag van Otto Frank en Edith Holländer, Aken, 12 mei 1925.
Vervaardiger: Wilhelm Preim. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam Copyright: Rechthebbende(n) onvindbaar
Engagement
Otto Frank and Edith Holländer met for the first time when Otto's brother Herbert Frank was engaged to Hortense Rah Schott, a friend of Edith's from Aachen. A song written on the occasion of Otto and Edith's engagement on 5 April 1925 in Aachen commemorates this first meeting:
Seit Hortens' Verlobung sich kannten die Zwei,
Sie konnten ihr Herz längst erproben,
Doch glaubten sie beiden von Liebe sich frei
Und dachten nicht an das "Verloben"[1]
The same source revealed that Otto and Edith had become engaged during a holiday in San Remo, Italy.
Wedding
Four weeks after their engagement, Otto and Edith were married in Aachen on 8 May 1925. The witnesses were Erich Elias (brother-in-law of the groom) and Abraham Holländer (father of the bride).[2]
The blessing of the marriage and the 'Hochzeits-Feier' took place on 12 May 1925, which was also Otto Frank's 36th birthday. It is always assumed that the marriage was celebrated on this day in the Aachen synagogue. Although very likely, there are no sources for this. The only clue is that the booklet made on the occasion of the wedding stated that Heinrich Jaulus, Aachen's Chief Rabbi and Edith's former religious teacher at the Viktoriaschule, gave a speech at 1 pm.[3] This wedding party booklet also contained a number of anecdotes about the bride and groom.
The menu was as follows:
- Cream pie
- Soup
- Rhine salmon with mayonnaise
- Roast beef with vegetables
- Veal ragout with mushrooms, truffles and morels
- Ducklings with compote and salad
- Ice cream, cakes and mocha.[4]
A photograph has been preserved showing the bride and groom and all the guests.[5]
In a letter from Otto to Edith dated 12 May 1939, on the occasion of his 50th birthday which coincided with their 14th wedding anniversary, Otto characterised their marriage, 'despite difficult times', as: 'harmonious, united, tolerant and devoted'.[6]
In her diary, Anne Frank writes a detailed and critical account of her parents' marriage. In it, she assumes that her mother took the place of Otto's unattainable true love.[7]
Footnotes
- ^ Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds (AFF) Bazel, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: Zur Verlobung von Edith Holländer und Otto Frank, Aachen, 5. April 1925. Het huwelijk van Herbert Frank en Hortense Schott werd gesloten op 12 april 1922; de scheiding werd uitgesproken op 24 september 1932. Standesamtsbezirke I-VI, Frankfurt am Main, Heiratsurkunde, 10 mei 1946. Hortense woonde in Aken en was bevriend met Edith, blijkens een condoleancebrief aan Fritzi. AFS, Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_065, Ernst en Martha Holländer aan Fritzi Frank, 23 augustus 1980.
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_058: Familien-Stammbuch der Familie Frank en huwelijksakte van Otto Frank en Edith Holländer.
- ^ Aachener-Frankfurter Tageblat, erste und einzige Ausgabe-Auflage 50 Exemplare-erscheint am 12.Mai 1925; AFF, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: Aachener-Frankfurter Tageblatt.
- ^ AFF, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_pdoc_09: "Zur Hochzeits-Feier von Edith Holländer und Otto Frank am 12. Mai 1925".
- ^ AFS, afd. Collecties, Documentatie familie Frank & Holländer.
- ^ AFF, Otto Frank, AFF_OtF_corr_04: Otto Frank aan Edith Frank, 12 mei 1939.
- ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 8 februari 1944, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.