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Irene Kronheim - Holländer

Irene Holländer was s first cousin of Edith Frank-Holländer.

Person

Fotograaf onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting
  • Irene Kronheim - Holländer
  • Born on: June 13, 1900
  • Born in: Oberhausen, Duitsland
  • Died on: March 9, 1974
  • Died in: Boston, MA, USA

Pasfoto uit het rijbewijs van Irene Kronheim-Holländer, Arnsberg, uitgegeven op 8 juli 1926

Fotograaf onbekend. Fotocollectie Anne Frank Stichting

Publiek domein

Ernst Holländer was a daughter of Moses Max Holländer, a sibling of Abraham Holländer, Edith' s father. Max was married to Mathilde Berg and they had four children: Alfred, Irene, Ernst and Richard.[1] Irene was one of the cousins Edith played tennis with as a young woman.[2] 

Irene was a modern and emancipated woman: she was one of the first women to get her driver's licence[3] and she also had a commercial education.[2] In 1922, she married lawyer Walter Kronheim.[4] Kronheim had as a front-line soldier, having volunteered to fight for the Kaiser during the first week of World War I. He lost his right arm on the battlefield of Verdun in 1917 and received the “Iron Cross 1st Class” (EK-I) for it.[5] After the war, Kronheim studied law and received his doctorate in 1925 in Frankfurt am Main. That same year Irene and Walter were among the guests at the wedding of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer on 8 May 1925.

Irene Holländer and Walter Kronheim had two daughters, Ursula Ruth (1924) and Dorothée-Inge (1930).[4] Irene divorced Walter in October 1933, because he had cheated on her with his secretary. In that same year he started his own law firm in Wanne-Eickel and married Else Werner, née Schmidt, a Gentile woman. Until 1944, they lived in Wanne-Eickel at Adolf Hitler-Platz, but when things threatened to get too hot for them, they took refuge at a farmstead near Bad Oeynhausen. On 1 April 1945, two days before American troops reached Bad Oeynhausen, Kronheim came out of hiding to greet the American tank units. The Americans then promptly appointed him mayor.[6]

In order to escape the Nazis, in 1936 Irene had already decided to leave Germany, but failed to secure safe passage for all of her familiy members on a ship leaving Europe. Early 1937, accompanied by her mother Mathilde Holländer-Berg and her youngest daughter Dorothée, Irene sailed to Peru, where brother Richard already had settled, while elderst daughter Ursula was sent to Amsterdam to live with the Frank family for the time being. When, after a while, she wanted Ursula to come over as well, her ex-husband Walter Kronheim tried to stop her from leaving. The story goes that Otto Frank managed to bring him to his senses and ensure that Ursula could leave.[7]

In Peru, Irene Holländer married physician Siegfried Holzer in 1937. During a Holiday on Ice tour of South America in 1958, Buddy Elias, a cousin of Otto Frank, visited Irene Holländer in Lima, as well as her brother Richard.[8] Otto referred to Buddy's visit to Lima a a letter to Irene.[9] Otto Frank kept in touch with Edith's cousin. In 1968, he wrote to her: 'Ausser mit Walter bist Du die einzige der Familie, mit der ich in Kontakt stehe. Man ist ja zuweitauseinander, um regelmäßig Fühung zu halten'.[10] 

After the war, daughter Ursula moved to Massaschusetts in the United States, where Julius and Walter Holländer, Edith's siblings also lived, and there she married  Arthur Malcom Alpert, a member of the Corps of Engineers.[11] Because Alpert was assigned to contruct a bridge that would connect Galveston to Pelican Island, the couple moved to Texas.[12] Mother Irene and stepfather Siegfried ultimately settled in Boston. 

After finishing high school in Lima, Dorothée met Luis Fraifeld: they got married in 1953. While Luis, a general practioner, was busy caring for hus patients,  Dorothée raised their two sons, Eduardo and Carlos. Then disaster struck: Luis suddenly died in 1962 from a heart attack. Four years later, Dorothhée left Peru and setled Miami Beach, Florida, to start a new life for herself and het two young children. Not long after, the family to Houston, Texas. They boys grew up, went to university, got married and started their won families.[13] In 2001, Dorothée, who by now called herself Dorothy, married Robert Jenkins.[14] In October 2011,  she travelled to Amsterdam to attend the opening of an exhibition about her second cousin Edith Frank-Holländer in the Anne Frank House.[15] On that occasion she was accompanied by her son, Ed(uardo) Fraifeld, and grandson Benjamin.[16]

Source personal data.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Familienbuch Euregio: Moses Max Holländer.
  2. a, b Melissa Müller, Anne Frank: de biografie, 5e geh. herz. dr., Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2013, p. 65.
  3. ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. nr. A_FamilieledenFrank_I_032; Rijbewijs van Irene Kronheim-Holländer.
  4. a, b, c Familienbuch Euregio: Irene Holländer.
  5. ^ The Iron Cross was awarded for bravery in battle as well as other military contributions in a battlefield environment. The Iron Cross, 1st class, and the Iron Cross, 2nd class, were awarded without regard to rank. One had to possess the 2nd Class already in order to receive the 1st Class (though in some cases both could be awarded simultaneously). Wikipedia: Iron Cross.
  6. ^ Bad Oeynhausener erforscht Leben des ersten Nachkriegs-Bürgermeisters, Neue Westfälische, 9 januari 2016; Stadt Bad Oeynhausen, Hilfe in höchster Not: wie Dr. Walther Kronheim den Holocaust in Bad Oeynhausen überlebt.
  7. ^ Müller, Anne Frank: de biografie, p. 94-95.
  8. ^ Mirjam Pressler, 'Groeten en liefs aan allen. Het verhaal van de familie van Anne Frank, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2010, p. 364.
  9. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), reg. nr. A_FamilieledenFrank_I_040: Brief van Otto Frank aan Irene Holzer-Holländer, 13 juni 1958.
  10. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. nr. A_FamilieledenFrank_I_045: Otto Frank aan Irene Holzer-Holländer, 16 januari 1968.
  11. ^ Find a grave: Arthur Malcolm Alpert.
  12. ^ 'Galvestonian cousin met Anne in 1937', Houston Post, 3 August 1969.
  13. ^ People you should know: Dorothy Fraifeld Jenkins: Across the sea from Germany to Peru to Texas, Jewish-Herald Voice, 1 april 2021.
  14. ^ Legacy.com: Robert Jenkins Obituary, 6 april 2019.
  15. ^ Houston family shares familial connection to Anne Frank, Jewish-Herald Voice, 13 oktober 2011; Tentoonstelling over moeder Anne Frank, NOS Nieuws, 3 oktober  2011; Nicht van Edith Frank over relatie Anne met haar moeder, NOS Nieuws, 3 oktober 2011.
  16. ^ Danville doctor related to Anne Frank, The News and Advance (Lynchburg), 15 oktober 2011.