EN

Philosophy of life, Edith Frank

Edith Frank was professedly Jewish. She regularly attended synagogue and read religious books.

Subject
Fotograaf: Allard Bovenberg. Collectie: Anne Frank Stichting.

Gebedenboek van Edith Frank

Fotograaf: Allard Bovenberg. Collectie: Anne Frank Stichting. Copyright: AFS rechthebbende

Edith Frank attended the evangelical Viktoriaschule in Aachen, where education in the Jewish religion was given by Dr Heinrich Jaulus.[1]

According to Otto Frank, Edith grew up in a family with a kosher household, but the family was not Orthodox.[2] He said of Edith: "(...) my wife was progressive and had a deep religious feeling."[3]

Compared to her husband, Edith Frank was much more concerned with her faith. She was broad-minded in doing so. She did not require Otto to participate in fasting and she knew that if he went with her to synagogue, he did so only for her.[4] Hanneli Goslar said in an interview, "(...) and then I found Mr Frank and Anne, and they made food for Margot and the mother who fasted in the synagogue." [5] Edith attended the liberal synagogue on Tolstraat in Amsterdam.[6]

Edith read philosophical and religious books. Some copies have survived: Spinoza's Ethics with her name in it;[7] the Torah in Hebrew and German, with on the flyleaf in ink, E. Frank-Holländer Aachen Frankfurt/M Amsterdam[8] and, in Hebrew and German, the Festtägliches Gebetbuch. Gebete für das Wochenfest mit Deutscher übersetzung.[9]

According to Anne, her mother wanted her to read the prayer book. In her diary, she writes: "Today I have to read things in the prayer book, I have no idea why Mummy wants to force me to do that, but I'll do it to oblige her and above all for Pim."[10]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Aachener Adreesbuch unter benutzung amtlicher Quellen 1914. Jaulus was ten tijde van Ediths huwelijk rabbijn in Aachen.    
  2. ^ AFS, Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_211: Interview met Otto Frank, afgenomen door Arthur Unger (1978) (transcriptie p.105). 
  3. ^ Anne Frank-Fonds, Bazel, Hacketts Korrespondenz 1954-1960, Doos 51, Meyer Levin Div. (S. Mermin), Play: Otto Frank aan Frances Goodrich en Albert Hackett, 6 februari 1954.
  4. ^ AFS, AFC, Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_072: Otto Frank aan Leni Elias-Frank, 14 september 1945.
  5. ^ Hanneli Goslar in: Het Klokhuis: Anne Frank (uitgezonden door de NOS op 30 en 31 oktober 2005).
  6. ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Martha van Collem, Ruth Wiener, Susie Ast-Klein e.a. Susie Ast-Klein zegt dat Edith zeer actief was binnen de liberale gemeente.
  7. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_EFrank_VII_008.
  8. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_EFrank_VII_011.
  9. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code A_EFrank_VII_021. 
  10. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 3 October 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019. Pim is the pet name Anne used for her father.