AARON FRANK AND FAMILY By Basil Frank My interest in Aaron Frank and the quest for the family history was catalyzed first in 1965. In looking through the family albums, I was drawn to him out because of the aura emanating from this photo of an East European intellectual. At the time I was into reading many of the intellectual giants such as Brecht, Dostoevsky and Marx. I was curious as to who he could be. My late father told me he was a cousin of my zaida (my grand father). That was the beginning. Other bits and pieces of information came by way of family members. Miriam Novikoff told me that he had been the former MK Dov Shilansky’s teacher. He remarked to her that he had learned everything from Aaron Frank. Simah Ekstein of Tel Aviv told her son Gaby in 1999 when she was very ill about the family and had him draw the family tree. Next to Aaron’s name was written “genius”. In 1999, when my father died I decided to do family research. When time allowed between my art projects, I began questioning second and third cousins who were living in Israel. I had to puzzle together all the pieces utilizing with much patience the snippets of family information provided me in a sea of emotion and disjointed stories. This led me to family testimonies at Yad Vashem which then went from what had been a part-time project to full time Holocaust research on the family. I read Lithuanian Jewish Communities by Nancy and Stuart Schoenberg. I jumped with joy when under Schidlova (Siluva) there was a reference to the educationist and writer Aaron Frank. Finally I had discovered another artist in the family who had also been a poet and a friend of Chaim Nachman Bialik. My grandfather(zaida), Rav Isaac Jacob Frank (b.Shidlower1878-1965) formerly a talmid (pupil)of the Yeshiva Telsz ,Lithuania and his wife, Bella (Rabinowitz) and their 3 sons left Lithuania in 1921 to South Africa via London. He had received a letter from his wife’s uncle, a Mr. Krieger from Cape Town with money for the journey. In 1961, my zaida decided to visit his surviving family in Israel who had immigrated to Palestine in 1931, 1933, 1939 and 1945/46 respectively. These are Israel Kimchi formerly Miller, Chassia Frank’s son who was born 1912 in Shidlowa and died 1970 in Natanya; the daughters of Elije Frank , Fania (Novikoff) born in 1905 and died in Tel Aviv and Batya Frank (Ziv ) 1900-1994. Both daughters were born in Shavli (Siliaui). Elije Frank’s son Tolleck born in 1913 and died in Vilna in 1998. He was an accountant and a communist and therefore made a living. He came to Palestine in 1933. The son of Batya, Yitzhack Zif born in 1919 and currently living in Ra’anana came to Palestine after the war. The daughters of Martje Frank (Okoor) were Genia (Grossman) and Sima (Eckstein). Explanatory note; Martje Frank (Okoor),Aaron Frank and Elije Frank were the children of Nathan Frank, Nathan’s brother was Berchik Frank his children were Isaac Frank, Chassia Frank (Miller/Kimchi) and a Chana Frank Miller) After staying 3 months in Israel , my Zaida returned to Cape Town . While I know that during his visit to Israel he had learned the horrendous stories the family had suffered during the Holocaust, he skillfully avoided relating them further. There was too much pain involved for him to be able to relate to his son and grandchildren. He didn’t mention the family losses in the Holocaust including that of his sister.The only story he did relate however was how he had given advice to a friend (whom he visited again in Ramat Gan) to study in a Yeshiva in Lithuania and how his friend’s wife had subsequently suffered bitterly in leading to near starvation. It has dawned upon me that this was his way to distract us from the harsh reality of the Holocaust .He repeated this story as the highlight of his trip. It has dawned on me that this was a ploy to distract us from the harsh reality of the Holocaust. Like many South African Lithuanian Jews he took his family history to the grave, and refrained from from sharing that his beloved . Chassia Miller who was bombed in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 in Kovno. This information has since been was confirmed by Tova Kimchi (Miller) of Natanya, the late mother of my cousin Chassidah Kimchi-Cohen and granddaughter of Chassia Miller as well as the by the research of Saul Isseroff and Rose Cohen Lehrer in their book The Holocaust in Lithuania . The latter source Rav Isaac Jacob Frank’s first cousin Martje Okoor and her family were massacred in Kol Noij Raseinai in Lithuania and that his first cousins Elije and Brother Aaron (Ohrel), the Shavli (Siauliaui) Hebrew Gymnasium pupils as well as Eliezer Yerushalmi, a teacher and writer (no relative) who was in that transportation to Dachau, survived. According to Professor Dov Levin’s Pinchas Lita Aaron Frank died there. Elije Frank’s wife Chaya (Volinsky) was murdered in a bunker outside her home in Shavli. What was not know to Professor Levin was that Aaron’s Yiddish name was Ohrel and was found in the Frank family pages of testimonies at Yad Vashem named after his grandfather Ohrel Frank. . With the help of Isseroff’s and Lehrer Cohen’s book and the search through the German Red Cross Nazi Arolsen microfilm death notices located at Yad Vashem , the following entry was found : B. 1891/2 Schiluna (Sidlova) Lith.Jew name Ohrel Frank 27/7/44 to c/c prison Stuffhof from Kauen; transferred to 28.8.44 Dachau. On 25/9/44 transferred to Auschwitz. Aarons brother Elije Frank Eliahu { Elije) Frank b Schidlova 1870- d.20/11 /1944 Dachau Engineer&businessman; factory manufacturing moulds for chocolatemaking,Shavil;1915 family forced to flee to Usbekistan-Tashkent& Samerkand.2 visits South Africa prior to 1920. Testimony Yad Vashem, Yitschak Zeev grandson 18/5/59-Haifa& Batya Zeev daughter! Red Cross Arolsen microfilm death notice at Yad Vashem archives states BP Schidlowa1889date{bluffed b.date as to qualify for hard-labour camp ,Dachau) transferred from Stutthof 22/08/44 to Muldorf/Area Died inWaldager 4,13/11/44 and 20/11/44.Cause of death in German ‘Herzschwache’Dachau { recorded Stutthof Yad Vashem Archive list no .JM 11117(296 I am deeply indebted to Professor Yechiel Zilberman who had been a pupil of Aaron Frank formerly of Moscow University and had immigrated in 1994; he fled Shavli ,Lithuania in 1941. Yechiel guided me precisely as to where to research Aaron’s work in the Jewish National and University Libraries where the Lithuanian newspapers Hasofer, Hed Lita, Alemanu, Netivot, Der Yiddish Stermer and Bemisholei Hachninuch are located. I found a book commemorating Aaron Frank on the occasion of his 50th birthday written by his former pupils. Eta Goz, Archivist of the Igud Yotsei Lita, who was another pupil in the Shavli Hebrew Gymnasium and a Dachau survivor supplied me with photographs of Aaron Frank and his pupils. Additional resources for tracing *Ohrel Frank included the lists of Rabbis in Eastern Europe and the Litvak Sig of the JewishGen on the Internet. My paternal great grandfather Berchik (Reb Dov Ber), his brother Nathan (Nosel) who was born in 1852, were nominated to the Rabbis’ Electors list. From among 300 rabbis in the Shidlova community Nathan was one of several nominated to this list to be chosen Rabbi of the community. Their father’s name was Ohrel Frank. The other avenue for research of Aaron Frank is the former Lenin Library of St. Petersburg which includes the Jewish Library and is called the St. Petersburg Library (St. Petersburg Institute). To date we have found 20 poems and articles. Some of his work may have been stolen by the Soviets. This story as related by Dov Shilansky ex MK gives witness to this fact. Under Soviet rule, Aaron Frank was arrested by Soviet troops while hiding his writings in the school bunker where they learned Hebrew secretly at night. His writings were confiscated by the Soviet troops. Aaron was released due to the influence (proteksiah) of one of his former students who was a member of the Communist party. Most books connected to Jewish education and in particular the study of Hebrew from the Baltic countries was transferred to the ex-Lenin Libraries located in Moscow and St.Petersburg .. Later many libraries were destroyed by the Nazis. Following are some facts that are undocumented. The first names of Martje and Elije Frank (sister and brother of Aaron) are of Dutch origin. Martje’s married name was Okoor and as my second language is Afrikaans the indications are that the Frank’s hail from Holland prior to their expulsion from Spain. Prof.Dov Levin states that the Frank family hails from Navarro, Spain the original name being Franco. A Charles Frank of Washington DC,USA wrote to me that his sister Bertie told him how she remembered sending packages to relatives addressed to Franco in Kovno and was told by his family they came from Villa de Franco a town within the province of Navarro.(Spanish Jewish Cities-Juderías de España) The children of Elije and Chaje Frank include Solomon who died in Tashkent of tuberculosis after having been imprisoned by the Russian authorities in Usbekistan for the crime of being a member of the Hechalutz Movement and for possession of Zionist propaganda. The Frank residence was raided by the police after they observed Joseph Trumpeldor , the highly decorated Russian Jewish soldier and Israeli hero and fighter of Tel Hai visited the Frank home. Yitschak Frank (I904-1940) a lawyer who according to his sister Batya committed suicide after refusing to pass on a directive as a Prosecutor of Siaulaui (Shavili) district from the judge to the Soviet commander to kill selected dissident Jews. Martje’s son Yakow Okoor (1920) was active as a partisan in Lithuania in the Kovno area and was killed in action as reported by the family. This is just the beginning of my family search. I do believe all the Franks in the world are related. I started with Aaron Frank as an artist with whom I could identify but I ended up identifying and wishing to know more and more of the family. Aaron Frank’s Descendants; 1 Aaron (Ohrel) Frank; 2 Nathan Frank; 1852; 3 Aaron (Ohrel) Frank; 1889 - 1944; *Pesche (paulina) Prachelzeug (Pracherkrug); 1908 - 1944; 3 Martje Frank; - 1941; *Zalman Okoor; 4 Tova (touba) Okoor; 1914 - 1941; 4 Jonanena (Jda) Okoor; 1918 - 1941; 4 Sara Okoor; 1916 - 1941; 4 Nathan Okoor; 1922 - 1941; 4 Yakow Okoor; 1920 - 1941; 4 Sima Okoor; 1917 - 2001; *Eksteen; 5 Gabi Eksteen; 5 Nathan Eksteen; 5 Zohar Eksteen; 4 Genia Okoor; 1912 - 1995; *Grossman; 3 Elije Frank; 1870 - 1944; *Chaje Volozinsky; - 1943; 4 Solomon Frank; - 1917; 4 Yitschak Frank; 1904 - 1940; 4 Tollek Frank; 1913 - 1998; *Miriam ?; 5 Ella Frank; 1952; *Yacov Mendelevich; 4 Fania Frank; 1905 - 1994; *Novikoff; 5 Miriam Novikoff; 1927; *Glazer; 5 Zahava Novikoff; *?; 5 Naomi Novikoff; 1928; *David Allon; 4 Batyah Frank; 1900 - 1994; *Zif; 5 Yitschak Ziv; 1927; *?; 5 Nomi Ziv; 1933; *Engelshen; 2 Dov (ber) (berchik) Frank; *Taube Kaplan; 3 Jacob (Isaac) Frank; 1878 - 1965; *Bela (beila) Rabinowitz; 4 Shaul (Saul) Frank; 1908 - 1917; 4 Taibele Frank; - 1917; 4 Chaim Shlomo (Solly) Frank; 1910 - 1999; *Sophy Stein; 1916 - 1986; 5 Rachel (Rochelle) Frank; 1943 - 2001; 5 Basil C Frank; 1945; *Naomi Shoshani; 1950; 5 Myrna Frank; 1951; *Allan Lichtenstein; 5 Susan Frank; 1956; *Ari Noy; àøé; 1952 - 2003; úùé"á - úùñ"â; 4 Israel (Issy) Frank; 1914 - 2002; *Rae Michalowski; 5 Stanley Frank; 1947; *Michelle Levi; 5 Annette Frank; 1953; *Gavin Fialkov; 1947; 5 Linda Frank; 1957; *Hershy Pakter; 4 Nathan Frank; 1920 - 1975; 3 Chassiah Frank; - 1941; *Shlomo Miler Kimchi; 3 Chana (Possibly) Frank; *Shlomo Miler Kimchi; 4 Israel Miler Kimchi; 1912 - 1969; *Tova Veinstein; 1913 - 2005; 5 Chassidah Miler Kimchi; 1944; *Mordechai (motti) Cohen; îøãëé - îåèé; 5 Chana Miler Kimchi; 1950; *Seef; 5 Shlomo Miler Kimchi; 1940; Homage to Mr. Aaron Frank on the occasion his fiftieth Anniversary 1889-1939 by his pupils and colleagues publ. HaGymnasia Haivri BerShavli **Ohrel Frank was the grandfather of Aaron (Ohrel - his Yiddish name) the educationist, poet and author. Biography. I was born Basil Colin (Elchanan) in Cape Town, South Africa in 1945. Undergraduate degree in sculpture at the Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town. Did post graduate work in sculpture and lectured and worked as an artist in London 1972-83. Exhibited in Edinburgh, London, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, New York and participated in group shows throughout Europe and in Israel. Won international awards in Osaka, Germany, Krakow, Italy, and Cologne. Lives and works in Jerusalem. Married with one daughter. Sharsharet Hadorot Vol19 No.4 kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/muizenberg/Rav_Frank.html kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/muizenberg/Frank_Family.html kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/muizenberg/MoM_Israel.html
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 20:54:18 +0000
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