EN

Robert Frank

Robert Frank was the oldest brother of Otto Frank.

Person

Fototgraaf: onbekend. Collectie: Anne Frank Stichting.
  • Robert Hermann Frank
  • Born on: Oct. 7, 1886
  • Born in: Frankfurt am Main, Duitsland
  • Died on: May 23, 1953
  • Died in: Londen, Groot-Brittannië

Foto van Otto en Robert Frank in uniform, niet gedateerd

Fototgraaf: onbekend. Collectie: Anne Frank Stichting.

Publiek Domein

Robert (Rob, Robo) Frank was Otto's older brother and the oldest child in the family. Like Otto, Robert attended Lessing Gymnasium.[1] Hij was artistic. Between 1895 – 1897 he wrote poems in a school notebook and on loose sheets of paper, which he then pasted into the notebook.[2] He created illustrations for a number of poems and stories. Other illustrations that he made were also kept. One of those was entitled Der sterbende Gallier (The Dying Gaul).[3] In later illustrations he depicted his wartime experiences. For example, he drew his sleeping accommodation, which was a trench under a church graveyard.[4]

Like his brothers Herbert and Otto, Robert served in the First World War. According to Milly Stanfield, his second cousin, he had volunteered as a pallbearer with the medical service.[5] On 4 September 1916 he sent his sister Leni a postcard of himself on a horse. At the time he was a non-commissioned officer with the Jäger-regiment zu Pferde, a cavalry regiment.[6] On 27 June 1918 Otto sent him a postcard of himself in the uniform of a luitenant.[7]

On 18 July 1922 Robert married Anna Charlotte (Lotte) Witt (1900-1974) from Magdeburg.[8] Owing to his artisitc interests, he ended up working for the art and antiques dealer Louis Ricard in the Frankfurtse Kaiserstrasse. His father invested money in that company.[9] For his young nephew Stephan Elias (nicknamed “Bübü”), he made a booklet entitled: Robo nimmt ihn. Das Bilderbuch für Bübü, with drawings and verses.[10]

Robert and Lotte left for London in 1933, where he started his own independent art dealership, specializing in Victorian art, in St. James's Street.[11] Robert Frank contributed to the revival of interest in the work of John Martin, a British painter of the Romantic school.[12] He succeeded in acquiring Martin's most important canvases, including the triptych The Last Judgment, consisting of the paintings The Great Day of His Wrath, The Last Judgment and The Plains of Heaven. In 1945 Robert Frank sold The Great Day of His Wrath to the Tate Gallery.[13] Robert and Charlotte Frank's collection was part of exhibitions at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951 and the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1953.[14] After Robert's untimely death, even before the opening of the Wihtechapel exhibition, Charlotte donated The Last Judgement and The Plains of Heaven to the Tate Gallery.[15] Until her death in 1974, she continued to promote John Martin's work.[14] In 2011-2012 the triptych was part of an exhibition about Martin.[16]

When Otto Frank came back from Auschwitz, there was limited opportunity to send letters to his family in Switzerland. Therefore, he corresponded chiefly with his brother and sister-in-law in London.  They received Otto's message of Edith's death on 6 June 1945. Otto had returned to Amsterdam just three days beforehand. On 21 June 1945 Otto received a telegram from them.[17] They also sent him a package of relief supplies.[18] From correspondence it can be derived that Otto asked Robert in July 1945 to inform the family of the deaths of Margot and Anne.

Robert applied for naturalisation in Britain. For the procedure, an advertisment appeared in the press, inviting poeple to submit objections on the grounds that they were valid.[19] He received British nationality on 17 August 1946.[20] Robert Frank died on 23 May 1953 and was cremated on 28 May.[21]

Source personal data.[22] Addresses: Frankfurt am Main; 1B King Street, St. James Square, London SW1 (1938);[23] 39 Royal Gardens, SW7 (about 1947).[24]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Manfred Capellmann u.a., Wer war Henry Wolfskehl? Auf der Suche nach jüdischen Schülern und Lehrern am Lessing-Gymnasium 1897-1938. Eine Ausstellung der Archiv-AG des Lessing-Gymnasiums Frankfurt am Main im Museum Judengasse. 20. Januar bis 06. März 2000, Frankfurt am Main: Selbstverlag, 2000, p. 73; Verzeichnis der für Reif erklärten Schüler der Oberprima des Lessing-Gymnasiums zu Frankfurt a. M., p. 26-27.
  2. ^ Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds (AFF), FEFA, RoF_pdoc_001: Schrift met ‘Gedichte’.
  3. ^ AFF, FEFA, RoF_pdoc_001: Potloodtekening “Der sterbende Gallier”.
  4. ^ AFF, FEFA, AlF_corr_006: Briefkaart “Durchschnitt durch meine Bude unter der Kirchhofmauer”.
  5. ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. code A_FamiliedenFrank_VII_001: Milly Stanfield, Looking back at ninety, 1991 (ongepubliceerd manuscript), p. 28.
  6. ^ AFF, FEFA, LeF_corr_001: Bnsichtkaart “Unteroffz. Frank 1. Eskadron Jäger Regt. zu Pferde 5.”
  7. ^ AFF, FEFA, RoF_corr_001: Ansichtkaart “Lt. Frank, Lichtmesstrupp 139, D. Feldpost 2046”.
  8. ^ Huwelijksindex Hessen. Geraadpleegd via MyHeritage.
  9. ^ AFF, FEFA, AlF_corr_005: Brief op briefpapier Ricard d.d. 26 augustus 1902; Mirjam Pressler, 'Groeten en liefs aan allen': het verhaal van de familie van Anne Frank, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2010, p. 93-96, 101; Maarten van Buuren, Een ruimte voor de ziel: opkomst en ondergang van Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941), Amsterdam: Lemniscaat, 2013, p. 247-248.
  10. ^ AFF, FEFA, StE_pdoc_001: “Robo nimmt ihn. Bilderbuch für das Bübü”.
  11. ^ Van Buuren, Een ruimte voor de ziel, p. 248.
  12. ^ Laia Anguix-Vilches, Rediscovering John Martin: Collecting the apocalypse in post-war Britain, in: Journal of the History of Collections, 36 (2024) 1 (March), p. 179–192. Zie ook: Van Buuren, Een ruimte voor de ziel, p. 249-251. Voor John Martin, zie Wikipedia: John Martin (painter).
  13. ^ Wikipedia: The Great Day of His Wrath; Tate Britain: The Great Day of His Wrath, 1851-3, John Martin.
  14. a, b Anguix-Vilches, Rediscovering John Martin.
  15. ^ Wikipedia: The Last Judgement (Martin paintings); Tate Britain: The Last Judgment, John Martin, 1853 en The Plains of Heaven, John Martin, 1851-3.
  16. ^ Tate Britain: John Martin: Apocalypse.
  17. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_071: Telegram Robert en Lotte Frank aan Otto Frank, in Otto’s handschrift “21/VI 45”.
  18. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_071: Otto Frank aan Robert en Lotte Frank, 26 juli 1945.
  19. ^ AFF, FEFA, AlF_corr_007, Uitgeknipte annonce, bron en datum niet bekend.
  20. ^ National Archives UK, Londen, Home Office, Immigration and Nationality Department, referentie HO 334/164/19091: naturalisatiecertificaat voor R.H. Frank, 17 augustus 1946.
  21. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_010: Agenda 1953, 28 mei.
  22. ^ AFF, FEFA_AlF_pdoc_002: Familien-Stammbuch Michael Frank en Alice Betty Frank-Stern; AFS, AFC, , reg. code OFA_010: Agenda 1953, 23 en 24 mei.
  23. ^ AFF, FEFA, AlF_corr_007: Briefpapier R.H. Frank.
  24. ^ AFF, FEFA, AlF_corr_007: Knipsel van onbekende datum en herkomst.