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Kurt Willy Hirsch

Kurt Hirsch was a neighbour of the Frank family in Amsterdam.

Person

  • Kurt Willy Hirsch
  • Born on: Sept. 3, 1905
  • Born in: Guttstadt (Oost-Pruisen), Duitsland

Kurt Hirsch (alias: Robert Harben), a lawyer, came to Amsterdam in August 1933. There he worked for Das neue Tagebuch, a political-economic magazine for immigrants. From June 1935 the housekeeper Julie Johanna van Groningen lived with him for about six months, before moving to the Frank family..[1]

His contacts with refugee authors led to the start of a literary agency. For Contact publishers, he edited a critical biography by the historian Konrad Heiden on Adolf Hitler. At the beginning of the war, he left for London, where he later established a literary agency again.[2] In May 1940 he adopted the name Robert Harben.[3]

In his home on Biesboschstraat, Hirsch opened a Deutsche Leihbibliothek ('D.L.B.').[4] In 1934 he married Lilli Luise Schönfeld. She brought with her a child from a previous marriage.[5] In January 1939 — after Kristallnacht — Hirsch's father Abraham also joined the household.[6] The marriage was dissolved in May 1939.[5] Hirsch's father, his ex-wife, her first husband, his second son and the twelve-year-old son of the divorced couple - living together once again after Hisrch had managed to escape to England in November 1940[7] - were killed in Sobibor on 23 July 1943.[8]

In November 1946, he was granted British citizenship.[9]

When Het Achterhuis was published in 1947, Harben/Hirsch contacted Otto Frank to discuss possible translations. Otto wrote back: "As I lived at Merwedeplein I know you and my wife used to come at your library."[10] Harben replied: "I also remember you and your wife from the old ‘leesbibliotheek’ days inspite of all the horrible things which have happened in the meantime."[11]

Source personal data.[5] Addresses: Guttstadt; Amsterdam (div. addresses, 1933-'37), Biesboschstraat 65hs (1937-'39), Borssenburgplein 17-III, Deurloostraat 35-III, Maasstraat 92-III (1939-'40), Londen (Nov. 1940),[5]  Baker Street 33, London (1947).[12]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Gezinskaarten (toegnagsnummer 5422): Gezinskaart J.J. van Groningen.  
  2. ^ Sandra van Voorst, Weten wat er in de wereld te koop is. Vier Nederlandse uitgeverijen en hun vertaalde fondsen 1945 - 1970, Den Haag: Sdu, 1997, p. 190.
  3. ^ Letterkundig Museum, Den Haag: Robert Harben aan Van Loghum Slaterus Uitgeversmaatschappij, 23 mei 1945.
  4. ^ Algemeen Adresboek voor de stad Amsterdam 1938, p. 288 en 545.
  5. a, b, c, d SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart K.W. Hirsch.
  6. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart A. Hirsch (1863).
  7. ^ Joods Monument: Lilli Luise Schönfeld.
  8. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaarten A. Hirsch (1863), L.L. Schönfeld (1906), H. Mendelsohn (1892), E.P. Mendelsohn (1937) en K.W. Mendelsohn (1930).
  9. ^ "Naturalization", The London Gazette, 20 december 1946, issue 37825, p. 6188.
  10. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_132: Otto Frank aan R. Harben, 10 oktober 1947.
  11. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_132: Robert Harben aan Otto Frank, 18 oktober 1947.
  12. ^ AFS, AFC, OFA, reg. code OFA_132: R. Harben aan Otto Frank, 18 oktober 1947.