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Leisure activities, Margot Frank

Margot Frank was sporty: she played tennis, rowed, swam and ice skated.

Subject
Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam

Margot Frank en haar vriendin Hetty Ludel, winter 1937-1938.

Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam Copyright: Status onduidelijk

Swimming

On 22 August 1935, Margot passed a swimming test consisting of 60 metres breaststroke and 40 metres backstroke.[1] It is not clear where this took place, but probably in the Amstelparkbad (now De Mirandabad).

According to Greet Bezema, a friend of hers at the Girls' High School: 'We went swimming in Diemen once and I remember Margot had a very nice swimming costume, a sunbathing suit.'[2]

Ice skating

Edith Frank wrote in a letter dated 18 January 1937 to former neighbour Gertrud Naumann that Margot went ice skating once a week that winter.[3] There is a photograph of Margot, dated winter of 1937-'38, showing her with Hetty Ludel at the ice rink. In it, she can be seen wearing figure skates.[4]

The ice rink where Margot went ice skating was an initiative of the 'N.V. Sportfondsen Kunstijsbaan'. It was an open-air swimming pool that was used as an ice skating rink in winter. The ice rink was in use from 1934 to 1940.[5] The rink was opened on the weekend of 24-25 November 1934. On 26 November, Sonja Henie performed for an audience of schoolchildren. As a result of this performance, Henie became hugely popular among Amsterdam schoolgirls. In spring 1940, the rink was shut down and the installation moved to the Apollo Hall.[6] Later (while in hiding), Anne Frank pasted a picture of Sonja Henie on the wall of her little room.

Margot initially skated on ice skates that had to be bolted on with a spanner.

Rowing

Margot Frank rowed with the Vereeniging ter Bevordering van de Watersport onder Jongeren (VBWJ).[7] Margot was in second position in a 'four' with Bella Kohlwey on stroke, Jaaike van Bork on bow and Anna Harting on three. They were trained by Roos (Rozette) van Gelder. They won a silver medal in school races.[7] All four rowers were at the Girls' High School.[8] They used the facilities of the VBWJ under the Berlagebrug in Amsterdam. This rowing activity was initiated from the Meisjeslyceum, but its exact status is unclear. On 8 September 1940, they participated in races of the Zaanlandsche Zeil Vereeniging (ZZV) in Zaandam.[9] They won a medal in the 'style rowing' event in the girls 14-16 category.[10] It is not known whether this competition participation took place in the context of school rowing.

Just before the 1941 races, Margot, being Jewish, was no longer allowed to row at the club. Her friends subsequently refused to participate in the races any more.[7] Roos van Gelder, as a Jew, was also no longer allowed to coach. Her replacement was not accepted by the remaining rowers.[7] In September 1941, the inspector for physical education asked alderman Smit whether Jewish children were allowed to use (among other things) the rowing facility under the Berlage Bridge. Smit replied in the negative.[11]

In anticipation of the new season, the VBWJ secretary asked the Government Commissioner of Amsterdam Municipality on 1 March 1942 whether it would not be possible for Jewish students to row separately and with Jewish instructors at certain times, at which time the boathouse would remain closed to "the others". An unknown person, someone at the Education Department or perhaps Mayor Vôute, wrote in the margin 'Seems possible to me. V '. A reply to the letter is not known.[12]

Tennis

In the spring of 1941, Margot was a member of a 'tennis club with lessons', namely Tennisvereniging Temminck on Zuidelijke Wandelweg in Amsterdam.[13] A number of classmates from the Girls' High School, including Henny Corts, were also members of this club.[14] Jan Temmink was also the owner of a sports shop at Weteringschans 76 and founder of Amsterdam's first golf course in the 'railway bend' near Duivendrecht; Hetty Last said that she (Hetty) was the initiator of playing tennis; a court was rented for a whole group of girls and whoever wanted could join in.[15]

There is a photo showing, in addition to Margot: Lidy Schuit, Hennie Coster, Bea van Overbeek, Ineke Beugelink, Annemarie van Ees, Fita Weddepohl, An van der Burg, Tineke Cohen, Jetteke Frijda and Tine ten Kley. They are all wearing sports/tennis clothes and posing near a net on a tennis court.[16]

Reading

In the summer of 1945, Otto Frank wrote to his family in Basel: 'Edith u Margot waren beide starke Leser.'[17] Anne writes in her diary about Margot: 'Reads everything, preferably on religion and medicine.'[18] And in an earlier diary entry, Anne writes: 'I laid with Margot on the divan together and read "The Stormers".'[19]

Of the following books, we know that Margot has owned and/or read them:

  • Margot read a book by Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. This was a school book.
  • She had the English textbook English Passages for Translation.
  • She also had a book by A. de Chateaubriand, Monsieur de Lourdines, annotated by H. Noordhof. This was probably also a school book.[20]
  • Margot's books also included Gottfried Keller, Die drei gerechten Kammacher. Spiegel das Kätzchen (Leipzig 1922). Edith wrote in the front: "Margot Frank Amsterdam 16. Februar".[21]
  • We know from a diary entry by Anne that Margot owned a copy of Camera Obscura.[22] Anne received the Camera Obscura for her 13th birthday, but since Margot already had it, she swapped it for a volume of Dutch Sagas and Legends.
  • Margot and Peter, according to Anne, were allowed to read almost all the books Kleiman brought with him during the hiding period, except: a war book from the previous war, rather freely written or as Anne calls it in her diary: a special book on a female subject.[23]
  • Margot was allowed to read the book Gentlemen, Servants and Women while in hiding, but Anne was not.[24]
  • On Fritz Pfeffer's recommendation, Margot and Anne read Henri from the Other Side. Despite Pfeffer's commendations, according to Anne, neither thought it was a good book.[25]

A diary entry by Anne shows that she and Margot kept track of which books they both read. They did this in an old cartography box, with blank cards on one side.[26]

Diary

From Anne’s diary, we know that Margot also kept a diary. "Margot and I got in the same bed last evening, it was a frightful squash, but that was just the fun of it, she asked if she could read my diary sometime, I said yes at least bits of it, and then I asked if I could read hers."[27] Margot’s diary has not survived. 

Footnotes

  1. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. code A_MFrank_I_025: Getuigschrift, 22 August 1935.
  2. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Bezema: Interview of Greet Bezema by Dineke Stam, 10 May 1996.
  3. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_Getuigen_I_099: Edith Frank to Gertrud Naumann, 18 January 1937.
  4. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_AFrank_III_055: Foto's bij gashouder in "Blanco Electro Monster Huishoudboek 1937", p. 33.
  5. ^ Ernst Berends, "De eerste kunstijsbaan van Nederland, schaatsen op een zwembad".
  6. ^ Hansje Galesloot, 'Bevroren borstplaat', in: Ons Amsterdam, 179 (2008) 1 (January), p. 26-29.
  7. a, b, c, d AFS, AFC, Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_085: Bella Kohlwey to Otto Frank, 22 July 1967.
  8. ^ Gedenkboek ter gelegenheid van het 25-jarig bestaan van het Gemeentelijk Lyceum voor Meisjes te Amsterdam en het afscheid van Dr Magrita J. Freie als rectrix van deze school, Amsterdam 1950, p. 99; Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Archief Curatoren van het Lyceum voor Meisjes: Rapportenregisters van de HBS, 421 (AFS, AFC, reg. code A_MFrank_I_040-042).
  9. ^ Also see: Margot Frank en Jo Kleiman: de Zaanse links: Mei tot mei: verhalen over de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
  10. ^ De Zaanlander, 8 September 1940; AFS, AFC, reg. code A_MFrank_II_001: Medaille met o.a. twee roeiriemen en op achterzijde "Z.Z.V. 8-9-'40".
  11. ^ Dienke Hondius, Absent. Herinneringen aan het Joods Lyceum Amsterdam, 1941-1943, Amsterdam: Vassallucci, 2001, p. 35.
  12. ^ SAA, Afdeling onderwijs en rechtsvoorganger (toegang 5191), inv. nr.7552, volgnr. 1254: A.J.H. Dokkum (secretaris VBWJ) aan Den Heer Regeeringscommissaris der Gemeente Amsterdam, 1 March 1942.
  13. ^ Voluit N.V. Temminks Robak Tennispark, Zuidelijke Wandelweg 43. See photo from May 1954 in the Image Vault of the Amsterdam City Archives, no.  10122042197.
  14. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Corts: Statement by H.M. Swart-Corts, 11 February 2005.
  15. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Last, Hetty.
  16. ^ AFS, AFAC, reg. code A_MFrank_III_035: Group photo of Margot Frank and her friends on the tennis court, ca. 1941/42. The photo is from Tine ten Kley. She probably confused Hennie Corts with Hennie Coster.
  17. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_071: Otto Frank to "ihr Lieben', 19 August 1945.
  18. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 16 May 1944, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  19. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 4 October 1942, in: The Collected Works.
  20. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_MFrank_VII_002.
  21. ^  AFS, AFC, reg. code A_MFrank_VII_001. Judging by the date, it probably was a birthday gift.
  22. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 14 and 15 Juni 1942, in: The Collected Works.
  23. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 21 September 1942 and Diary Version B, 2 September 1942, in: The Collected Works. It was the trilogy Gij Vrouwen..!, Vrouwen in nood en Vrouwenroeping by Helen Zenna Smith, published in 1938 by the Arbeiderspers. The original English titles are: Not so quiet: stepdaughters of war (1930), Women of the aftermath (1932, and Shadow women (1932).
  24. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 21 Sseptember 1942, in: The Collected Works.
  25. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 27 Sseptember 1943, in: The Collected Works.
  26. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 27 February 1943, in: The Collected Works.
  27. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 28 September 1942, in: The Collected Works.