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Leni Elias - Frank

Leni Frank was Otto Frank's younger sister.

Person

Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam
  • Helene Elias - Frank
  • Frankfurt am Main, Duitsland Sept. 8, 1893
  • Bazel, Zwitserland Oct. 2, 1986

Foto van Leni Frank, rond 1919.

Vervaardiger onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam

Rechthebbende(n) onbekend

Helene Elias-Frank (Leni, Lunni) ) was the younger sister of Otto Frank.[1] Her parents placed great importance on a good education and, like her three brothers, she learned languages and took private music lessons. While her brothers served in the German army during the First World War, Leni and her mother Alice volunteered as auxiliary nurses in a Red Cross hospital.[2]

After the war, on 28 November 1920, she became engaged to Erich Elias, who was from Zweibrücken. He worked as a stockbroker on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where he had become friends with Otto Frank in the winter of 1919.[3] She got engaged to Erich Elias on 28 November 1920. On 16 March 1921, Helene married him in Frankfurt.[4] They had two sons, Stephan (1921-1980) and Bernd (Buddy) (1925-2015).[5]

Like Otto and Herbert, Erich had started working at Bankhaus Michael Frank, but the consequences of the First World War and the economic crises that followed the stock market crash of 1929 caused the family bank to run into difficulties, ultimately forcing it to close. Erich Elias saw the writing on the wall and decided to move to Basel in 1929 to set up a branch of Pomosin/Opekta-Werke, a company that produced gelling agents for jam. Leni followed him two years later with little Buddy, Stephan followed in 1932, and in 1933 Leni's mother Alice finally moved to Basel as well.[6]

Erich's mother also came to Basel, and from 1938 onwards, the family lived with both grandmothers in a house at Herbstgasse 11. Leni Elias contributed to the household income by selling clothing and valuable items. In the years that followed, Leni expanded these activities and in 1943 she opened an antique shop in Spalenvorstadt.[7]

Otto Frank and his family sent a card to Leni on 5 July 1942 (the day before they went into hiding), which indicated in cryptic terms that something was going on.[8]  Because of the business she was running at the time, Otto characterised his sister in 1945 as "ein gewaltiges Handelsfrauchen".[9]

Source personal data.[10] Addresses: Basel: Gundeldingerstrasse 139 (1936);[11] Herbstgasse 11.[8]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Wikipedia: Helene Frank. Anne refers to her as Aunt Leni. Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 19-30 June 1942, 2nd, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  2. ^ Mirjam Pressler, "Groeten en liefs aan allen": het verhaal van de familie van Anne Frank, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2010, p. 113-114.
  3. ^ Melissa Müller, Anne Frank: de biografie, 5e, geh. herz. druk, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2013, p. 53.
  4. ^ AFF, Bazel, Erich Elias, AFF_ErE_odoc_07: Formulier „Bürgerrechtsbureau Basel“, gestempeld 17 oktober 1941.
  5. ^ Mirjam Pressler, Treasures from the attic : the extraordinary story of Anne Frank's family, New York, NY: Doubleday, 2011.
  6. ^ Pressler, 'Groeten en liefs aan allen', p. 135-137.
  7. ^ Anne Frank Fonds: Leni Elias-Frank.
  8. a, b Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds (AFF), Bazel, Leni Frank, AFF_LeF_corr_05: Briefkaart.
  9. ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, Otto Frank Archief, reg. code OFA_072: Otto Frank aan Erich Elias, 11 augustus 1945.
  10. ^ AFF, Erich Elias, AFF_ErE_odoc_07: Formulier „Bürgerrechtsbureau Basel“, gestempeld 17 oktober 1941; Pressler, "Groeten en liefs aan allen", p. 405.
  11. ^ AFF, Erich Elias, AFF_ErE_odoc_07: Vorberufung, 10 februari 1936.

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