Carolina Reinhard - Frank

Carolina (Lina) Frank was a daughter of Zacharias Frank and Babette Hammelfett. She was the second youngest of ten children in a family made up of five girls and five boys, not counting a sister who died in infancy. Her sisters were: Rebecca (1842-1928), Rosalia (Rosa; 1844-1929), Sophie (1846-1927) and Caroline (1855-1929). Her brothers were: Jacob (1843-1878), Emil (1847-1906), Arnold (1850-1872), Michael (1851-1909) and Leon (1853-1915).^[1]

Little is known about the early years of Carolina or her siblings, but like most of them, she left her hometown of Landau. She married Albert Reinhard, born 9 August 1853, in Hamm, Germany, and moved to Luxembourg, where Reinhard had opened a tannery and dye shop in 1882. In the 1890s he bought more tanneries in the area, expanding his business, including a glove factory.^[2]

In December 1904, his business burned down, but it was rebuilt and expanded. The downtown factory on Plaetisgaass (Rue Plaetis) was completed in 1910. The Reinhard glove factory exported all over the world. In Brussels, London, Manchester, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Montreal or New York: the Reinhard gloves were well-known and sought after everywhere. Twenty percent of production was reserved for the customs union with Belgium and the Netherlands, the remainder went to the rest of the world. Consequently, the company was hit hard by Luxembourg's economic isolation during World War I. That business was down during the war is also evidenced by the fact that Leon Frank, a brother of Carolina, listed “Mme Reinhard” as one of his dependent relatives when applying for French citizenship.^[3] 

From the marriage of Carolina Frank and Albert Reinhard, two children were born: Lucie (1882-1949) and Irma (1884-1943).^[4]

Albert Reinhard died, 70 years of age, on 26 July 1924;^[5] Caroline four years later on 20 October 1930.^[6] A few years before, she was mentioned in Luxembourg newspapers as a member of the Comité des Dames Patronesses van de Crèche de Luxembourg^[7] and the Société Coopérative portant Création de Restaurants sans Alcool.^[8]

Following  Albert's death, the company became the property of brothers Siegmund (1869-1944) and Hermann Geiershöfer (1876-1942), originally from Nuremberg, who were each married to a daughter of Carolina and Albert Reinhard: Siegfried to Lucie, and Hermann, who renamed himself Armand after naturalizing as a Luxembourger in 1912,^[9] to Irma. Hermann, a cousin by marriage of Otto Frank, financially supported Otto in starting a new life in the Netherlands.^[10]

Like all Jewish property, the factory was confiscated by the German occupation forces during World War II. The factory was closed down but later used to produce gas masks.^[11]Siegmund and Hermann, as well as their brothers Karl and Ernst, were interned in the camp of Cinqfontaines (Pafemillen or Fünfbrunnen).^[12] In 1941, the Cinqfontaines monastery was used to temporarily house the Luxembourg Jews. From there they were gradually deported in smaller groups to the ghettos and later directly to the camps.^[13] 

Hermann (Armand) Geierhöfer died in Cinqfontaines on 17 August 1942. Like his three brothers, he was to be deported to Theresienstadt in July 1942, but was deemed unfit for transport.^[12] His wife Irma Geiershöfer-Reinhard was deported to Theresienstadt on 16 April 1943, and murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp five months later in September 1943.^[14] Their two children, Fredy Albert Geiershöfer (1907- unknown) and Charlotte Thyes-Geiershöfer (1911-2006) had left for the United States in 1940. In 1944-45 they returned and took over the factory again.^[2]

Siegmund Geiershöfer, along with his brothers Karl and Ernst, was deported from Cinqfontaines camp to Theresienstadt on 28 July 1942, and finally murdered in Auschwitz on 15 May 1944.^[15] His wife Lucie Geiershöfer-Reinhard and their son Kurt Albert Geiershöfer (1912- unknown) survived the war.^[4]

Source personal data.^[1]