Support German Jewish Geneology
Donation protected
Seeking funding support for my German Jewish genealogical research and museum speech giving.
Hi :
I am Robert.
For over 10 years now , despite health challenges and financial restraints, I have been pursuing vigorous research into the Fraenkel family of Upper Silesia, Germany.
My own family came from this area around Neustadt, Upper Silesia , fleeing the Hitler regime when they came for good in 1938 to the USA. As a young child I had , for reasons unknown to me , maybe revolving around some "karmic destiny," an intense interest to see the homeland of my maternal side. At the young age of 15 i managed to save enough money and find a distant relative to receive me in our ancestral area there. How i found the courage and spunk at the age of 15 to manage that escapes me now at a much more mature age. How my parents even let me go alone to Europe at 15 remains a puzzle.
Some small history lesson: At the conference of Potsdam Summer 1945 it was decided to annex Polish territory in the east to the USSR and take one third of Germany to become part of Poland in the west, i.e. , to become a new Polish state with new borders. Though these parts of Germany had been pure German or Prussian for over 700 years this fact was ignored. Obviously, as we all know, the victors in a war make the new world order rules and facts. Roosevelt was no doubt too ill by then to realize what he was doing and gave in to Stalin. Over 12 million Germans were forcefully expelled from these territories east of the Oder Neisse line , by now mostly women, small children and elderly since the men were at war . My ancestral territory in Upper Silesia was included in this transfer. So our area went from Germany to Poland. Though much of these territories' inhabitants experienced forced expulsion to Western Germany , those in my area , like a miracle, were allowed to remain in their landed estates and homeland. Though ethnic Germans there for centuries, those in my area were frequently offered in the 1945 to 1950 time range to stay in Silesia if they would voluntarily accept Polish citizenship. Since many had large inherited farms and nice houses due to their years of pre war hard work , many stayed on in my village area. The newly constituted country of Poland in new borders knew they would need the productive farmers of our area and in effect allowed them to stay.
Thusly when i came at the age of 15 to our ancestral village in the 1970 s , there were many Germans still in this now Polish town to welcome me. Indeed I became friends with some German speaking friends in the town who were in my age group with whom I maintained a strong (snail) mail correspondence. This would later draw me back over decades many times to our ancestral town despite the depravities of Polish Communism. Under Polish Communism in our area it was forbidden to speak German, to say this had ever been Germany or even speak about the real German history of the area, much less a German Jewish history ! For speaking German on the street a fine or even jail time could be and was given.
In my first visit in the early 1970s i explored our romantic cute village area by foot, feeling transformed in time as little Zuelz seemed "stuck in time" to about 1930 with few cars, horse drawn carriages in and out of town and a very sleepy "effect." Once in the forest above the town I stumbled on a huge abandoned Jewish cemetery hidden in the dark deep forest. The tombstones went back to medieval days. It was quite a find. Later i was to read that this was one of the most impressive German Jewish remaining cemeteries in German speaking lands. I found out that little Zuelz had a "Judengasse" ( Jewish alley ) whose buildings were then intact, close to where my family had lived. The synagogue had not been burned down in the 1938 Nazi pogrom , " the Reichskrystalnacht," but had been taken apart stone for stone thereafter, but still remnants endured. That little Zuelz had been PRIMARILY German Jewish in the 1770s to 1800s I later found out. Zuelz through its ruler had been one of only 2 towns in Silesia to grant Jews refuge when they were expelled through royal decree from the rest of Silesia in that time frame. All of this took literally years to find out especially since in the 1970 s this truth was severely suppressed.
Going forward to 1989 - 1990 Poland threw off Communism and western ideals took on form in the new Poland. Finally, slowly new historic truths could be told about the real history of our region. That it had been German for at least 700 years until August 1945 , since the Treaty of Potsdam, now more could be revealed. People came forward to say they were really only Polonized Germans. A big movement to re examine the true history of the region began.
During my teenage years I had gone shopping often to Neustadt 10 kilometers down the road, the local county seat. At that time i saw impressive palaces and buildings. People still spoke of the "Fraenkel" textile factory still running under Polish Communism which had been nationalized and seized from its German Jewish owners without compensation ( really first by the Nazis and then in effect by Poland once it became Poland in 1945). But given the harsh atmosphere under Polish Communism no one was willing to really discuss the actual history prior to democratization in 1990. I used to stand in front of these four elegant palaces and wonder : Who built these, what is the history behind them and where are the owners now? What became of them? That they were Jews was barely mentioned.
It was interesting that the remaining local ethnic Germans as well as even the new Neustadt inhabitants, ethnic Poles, referred to the textile factory as the " Fraenkel factory." This was now many decades after the war. I was intrigued. My interest was severely sparked. Destiny was taking place in my life, I later realized. Where had the " Fraenkels" gone? What had become of them? Under what circumstances were they forced to or did leave?
Beginning about 2000 I found out that the entire Fraenkel family archives had been deposited to a major Jewish organization not too far from my home. First starting off on a hobby basis I began to read the huge archive which I later found out had been smuggled out of Germany in a piano to the UK in 1939. The story was fascinating. Since I had grown up in Silesia and knew many of the areas and buildings mentioned , the true suppressed story of the area entranced me.
How the extremely philanthropic Fraenkel family had been actually treated in the Nazi era of about 1930 to 1945 was gripping. The huge injustice of , in effect, "Aryanization," nationalization without compensation, was done to a wonderful family who had voluntarily given so much of their wealth to the majority Christian inhabitants of Neustadt. For me the story was spellbinding. Its hard to believe how ahead of their times the Fraenkels were by instituting social work place welfare already around 1900. In building a huge hospital for the town ( still used today !) , establishing pensions for their 4000 to 5000 workers when pensions were unheard of, subsidizing housing, showers and meals for their workers , funding Christian orphanages and much charity else , well, it was no wonder that 50 years later from the war' s end, the factory was still called the "Fraenkel factory." The Fraenkels were so respected and honored for their huge philanthropy and kindness that their name remained so beloved locally decades later.
Over a decade i have been reading and studying the Fraenkel archive. Beginning about 5 years ago my work began to be more noticed in Poland itself. Articles appeared in the local and national newspapers. I established a working relationship with the local county museum during which I have been delivering yearly museum speeches to national acclaim. ( See attached film clip from documentary about my work shown on Polish television.) However all of this work is volunteer, a s we say in German "ehrenamtlich." Still the cost of travel and being there and ancillary costs run on and must be somehow met.
I established contact with the remains of the Fraenkel family and did receive funding from the patriarch of same. To protect their anonymity i will just say they live in Western Europe now. I was hoping in the beginning to do some kind of book but twice a volunteer editor had to withdraw from the project. To find a pro bono editor for what would be needed proved impossible. For now my accumulated museum speeches could be done into a book but they are all in German, i.e. , had been delivered in German. The family patriarch now in advanced age informed me he no longer has access to his own funds as he is now in assisted living. He can no longer be counted on to assist.
Despite my own health ups and downs and financial lack I have continued on with this project. What motivates me? The huge injustices done to a famous and noble family I think touch a vein in my own life, to whom many less grievous injustices were also done. Righting the wrongs done to them , which I have partially done , gives me satisfaction for those wrongs done against me which can not be undone.
I also find their huge extended family and who became what very interesting, coming myself from a very small family who have mostly died out early.
Through my speeches and press this noble family lives on in their native area where they so much contributed to the existing architecture of this Silesian area, even to now. My goal , amongst others , was to establish a private German Jewish museum to commemorate . This family owned factory from 1840 till 1945 gave so much to German Jewish culture, and to the majority Christian employees/locale in the greater Neustadt area in philanthropy and general welfare. For example, I also gained permission from the Polish authorities to place a German -Polish language bronze plaque on the main huge hospital still in use commemorating the Fraenkels as having built it and donated it to the town . This is an unknown fact right now amongst the Polish population in place. This also came to naught due to lack of funding. The patriarch and his family , rightfully and justifiably so, dont want to "look back" too much on a multi million dollar empire they lost to Nazi crimes and after war nationalization. I dont blame them. As the patriarch himself told me many times : " We are not going back to Neustadt in any event."
The question remains of course as to why Poland did not give back the whole Fraenkel factory to the remaining family members when communism fell in 1990? I have asked myself that often. Obviously the right thing was not done. The subject of the German Jews on now Polish soil, their potential claims , the true history of the Polish gained former German lands and much else on these topics are still very fragile in Poland itself. I have had my yearly museum speeches censored by inference or in fact a few times whilst there. Once i was told, you may say x in your German speech text but the translator wont translate x into Polish for the domestic crowd! And this in today' s Poland. !
Just this past summer i gave a leading geneological German Jewish speech in both Poland and the Czech Republic in local museums. I was "leaned upon" by the Polish side to censure the speech on various topics which were historically accurate but not PC ( politically correct) in modern Poland. I gave in and the censured version was given in Poland and the free uncensored version was given in the Czech Republic. The Czech museum's standing room only crowd found it most elucidating that the full truthful speech could not be given in Poland due to PC. So you see just how far the whole German Jewish topic, and Jewish pre war topic in general, has to go in today's Poland.
I was offered , before the museum was actually built, a advisory role in the Jewish Museum' s exhibits in Warsaw , by email inference , if i would say that the Fraenkels had been Polish all along and not German. Well, there was nothing Polish about the Neustadt of pre 1945 and indeed it was very far from the German Polish border then. My insistence on calling a "spade a spade" and saying that these were indeed German Jews often brings me into conflict with those who dont want that said.
My goal is to continue my research, in my lifetime achieve some publication with a paid for editor and continue my well received museum speeches in central Europe on the German Jewish geneological topic. For this I will need ongoing generous funding. I do work for free and have only modest donors at this point. Bank loans have been needed to bridge the funding not present. Because of my age and unstable health I must press on with or without funding at a given moment. Time is of the essence. Interestingly , at this point all of my donors feel my work " must go on" including people both in the USA and in Central Europe who donate " in kind." I am hoping that others who might read this will "step up to the plate" with generous support regarding German Jewish genealogical research.
A family in dire straights who had to flee Nazi Germany in 1939 but whose extreme charitable deeds going back 100 years live on in spirit and architecture must not be allowed to be forgotten. It is the least that we can do in the Neustadt area in Central European heritage to permanently commemorate the kindness and philanthropy of what was the largest fine linen textile firm in the world in its heyday.
Please support my " undoing of grievous wrongs." Please support my research to give the Fraenkels their well earned acknowledgement , not to mention aiding, amongst other goals, conservation of the family cemetery, crypt and assorted Fraenkel material and non material vestiges.
Your strong aid in continuing my German Jewish research and publicity in Central Europe is deeply appreciated. Thank you in advance for the needed "mitzvahs."
==========================================================
Mourning the Loss of the beloved Fraenkel Factory!
Hi :
I am Robert.
For over 10 years now , despite health challenges and financial restraints, I have been pursuing vigorous research into the Fraenkel family of Upper Silesia, Germany.
My own family came from this area around Neustadt, Upper Silesia , fleeing the Hitler regime when they came for good in 1938 to the USA. As a young child I had , for reasons unknown to me , maybe revolving around some "karmic destiny," an intense interest to see the homeland of my maternal side. At the young age of 15 i managed to save enough money and find a distant relative to receive me in our ancestral area there. How i found the courage and spunk at the age of 15 to manage that escapes me now at a much more mature age. How my parents even let me go alone to Europe at 15 remains a puzzle.
Some small history lesson: At the conference of Potsdam Summer 1945 it was decided to annex Polish territory in the east to the USSR and take one third of Germany to become part of Poland in the west, i.e. , to become a new Polish state with new borders. Though these parts of Germany had been pure German or Prussian for over 700 years this fact was ignored. Obviously, as we all know, the victors in a war make the new world order rules and facts. Roosevelt was no doubt too ill by then to realize what he was doing and gave in to Stalin. Over 12 million Germans were forcefully expelled from these territories east of the Oder Neisse line , by now mostly women, small children and elderly since the men were at war . My ancestral territory in Upper Silesia was included in this transfer. So our area went from Germany to Poland. Though much of these territories' inhabitants experienced forced expulsion to Western Germany , those in my area , like a miracle, were allowed to remain in their landed estates and homeland. Though ethnic Germans there for centuries, those in my area were frequently offered in the 1945 to 1950 time range to stay in Silesia if they would voluntarily accept Polish citizenship. Since many had large inherited farms and nice houses due to their years of pre war hard work , many stayed on in my village area. The newly constituted country of Poland in new borders knew they would need the productive farmers of our area and in effect allowed them to stay.
Thusly when i came at the age of 15 to our ancestral village in the 1970 s , there were many Germans still in this now Polish town to welcome me. Indeed I became friends with some German speaking friends in the town who were in my age group with whom I maintained a strong (snail) mail correspondence. This would later draw me back over decades many times to our ancestral town despite the depravities of Polish Communism. Under Polish Communism in our area it was forbidden to speak German, to say this had ever been Germany or even speak about the real German history of the area, much less a German Jewish history ! For speaking German on the street a fine or even jail time could be and was given.
In my first visit in the early 1970s i explored our romantic cute village area by foot, feeling transformed in time as little Zuelz seemed "stuck in time" to about 1930 with few cars, horse drawn carriages in and out of town and a very sleepy "effect." Once in the forest above the town I stumbled on a huge abandoned Jewish cemetery hidden in the dark deep forest. The tombstones went back to medieval days. It was quite a find. Later i was to read that this was one of the most impressive German Jewish remaining cemeteries in German speaking lands. I found out that little Zuelz had a "Judengasse" ( Jewish alley ) whose buildings were then intact, close to where my family had lived. The synagogue had not been burned down in the 1938 Nazi pogrom , " the Reichskrystalnacht," but had been taken apart stone for stone thereafter, but still remnants endured. That little Zuelz had been PRIMARILY German Jewish in the 1770s to 1800s I later found out. Zuelz through its ruler had been one of only 2 towns in Silesia to grant Jews refuge when they were expelled through royal decree from the rest of Silesia in that time frame. All of this took literally years to find out especially since in the 1970 s this truth was severely suppressed.
Going forward to 1989 - 1990 Poland threw off Communism and western ideals took on form in the new Poland. Finally, slowly new historic truths could be told about the real history of our region. That it had been German for at least 700 years until August 1945 , since the Treaty of Potsdam, now more could be revealed. People came forward to say they were really only Polonized Germans. A big movement to re examine the true history of the region began.
During my teenage years I had gone shopping often to Neustadt 10 kilometers down the road, the local county seat. At that time i saw impressive palaces and buildings. People still spoke of the "Fraenkel" textile factory still running under Polish Communism which had been nationalized and seized from its German Jewish owners without compensation ( really first by the Nazis and then in effect by Poland once it became Poland in 1945). But given the harsh atmosphere under Polish Communism no one was willing to really discuss the actual history prior to democratization in 1990. I used to stand in front of these four elegant palaces and wonder : Who built these, what is the history behind them and where are the owners now? What became of them? That they were Jews was barely mentioned.
It was interesting that the remaining local ethnic Germans as well as even the new Neustadt inhabitants, ethnic Poles, referred to the textile factory as the " Fraenkel factory." This was now many decades after the war. I was intrigued. My interest was severely sparked. Destiny was taking place in my life, I later realized. Where had the " Fraenkels" gone? What had become of them? Under what circumstances were they forced to or did leave?
Beginning about 2000 I found out that the entire Fraenkel family archives had been deposited to a major Jewish organization not too far from my home. First starting off on a hobby basis I began to read the huge archive which I later found out had been smuggled out of Germany in a piano to the UK in 1939. The story was fascinating. Since I had grown up in Silesia and knew many of the areas and buildings mentioned , the true suppressed story of the area entranced me.
How the extremely philanthropic Fraenkel family had been actually treated in the Nazi era of about 1930 to 1945 was gripping. The huge injustice of , in effect, "Aryanization," nationalization without compensation, was done to a wonderful family who had voluntarily given so much of their wealth to the majority Christian inhabitants of Neustadt. For me the story was spellbinding. Its hard to believe how ahead of their times the Fraenkels were by instituting social work place welfare already around 1900. In building a huge hospital for the town ( still used today !) , establishing pensions for their 4000 to 5000 workers when pensions were unheard of, subsidizing housing, showers and meals for their workers , funding Christian orphanages and much charity else , well, it was no wonder that 50 years later from the war' s end, the factory was still called the "Fraenkel factory." The Fraenkels were so respected and honored for their huge philanthropy and kindness that their name remained so beloved locally decades later.
Over a decade i have been reading and studying the Fraenkel archive. Beginning about 5 years ago my work began to be more noticed in Poland itself. Articles appeared in the local and national newspapers. I established a working relationship with the local county museum during which I have been delivering yearly museum speeches to national acclaim. ( See attached film clip from documentary about my work shown on Polish television.) However all of this work is volunteer, a s we say in German "ehrenamtlich." Still the cost of travel and being there and ancillary costs run on and must be somehow met.
I established contact with the remains of the Fraenkel family and did receive funding from the patriarch of same. To protect their anonymity i will just say they live in Western Europe now. I was hoping in the beginning to do some kind of book but twice a volunteer editor had to withdraw from the project. To find a pro bono editor for what would be needed proved impossible. For now my accumulated museum speeches could be done into a book but they are all in German, i.e. , had been delivered in German. The family patriarch now in advanced age informed me he no longer has access to his own funds as he is now in assisted living. He can no longer be counted on to assist.
Despite my own health ups and downs and financial lack I have continued on with this project. What motivates me? The huge injustices done to a famous and noble family I think touch a vein in my own life, to whom many less grievous injustices were also done. Righting the wrongs done to them , which I have partially done , gives me satisfaction for those wrongs done against me which can not be undone.
I also find their huge extended family and who became what very interesting, coming myself from a very small family who have mostly died out early.
Through my speeches and press this noble family lives on in their native area where they so much contributed to the existing architecture of this Silesian area, even to now. My goal , amongst others , was to establish a private German Jewish museum to commemorate . This family owned factory from 1840 till 1945 gave so much to German Jewish culture, and to the majority Christian employees/locale in the greater Neustadt area in philanthropy and general welfare. For example, I also gained permission from the Polish authorities to place a German -Polish language bronze plaque on the main huge hospital still in use commemorating the Fraenkels as having built it and donated it to the town . This is an unknown fact right now amongst the Polish population in place. This also came to naught due to lack of funding. The patriarch and his family , rightfully and justifiably so, dont want to "look back" too much on a multi million dollar empire they lost to Nazi crimes and after war nationalization. I dont blame them. As the patriarch himself told me many times : " We are not going back to Neustadt in any event."
The question remains of course as to why Poland did not give back the whole Fraenkel factory to the remaining family members when communism fell in 1990? I have asked myself that often. Obviously the right thing was not done. The subject of the German Jews on now Polish soil, their potential claims , the true history of the Polish gained former German lands and much else on these topics are still very fragile in Poland itself. I have had my yearly museum speeches censored by inference or in fact a few times whilst there. Once i was told, you may say x in your German speech text but the translator wont translate x into Polish for the domestic crowd! And this in today' s Poland. !
Just this past summer i gave a leading geneological German Jewish speech in both Poland and the Czech Republic in local museums. I was "leaned upon" by the Polish side to censure the speech on various topics which were historically accurate but not PC ( politically correct) in modern Poland. I gave in and the censured version was given in Poland and the free uncensored version was given in the Czech Republic. The Czech museum's standing room only crowd found it most elucidating that the full truthful speech could not be given in Poland due to PC. So you see just how far the whole German Jewish topic, and Jewish pre war topic in general, has to go in today's Poland.
I was offered , before the museum was actually built, a advisory role in the Jewish Museum' s exhibits in Warsaw , by email inference , if i would say that the Fraenkels had been Polish all along and not German. Well, there was nothing Polish about the Neustadt of pre 1945 and indeed it was very far from the German Polish border then. My insistence on calling a "spade a spade" and saying that these were indeed German Jews often brings me into conflict with those who dont want that said.
My goal is to continue my research, in my lifetime achieve some publication with a paid for editor and continue my well received museum speeches in central Europe on the German Jewish geneological topic. For this I will need ongoing generous funding. I do work for free and have only modest donors at this point. Bank loans have been needed to bridge the funding not present. Because of my age and unstable health I must press on with or without funding at a given moment. Time is of the essence. Interestingly , at this point all of my donors feel my work " must go on" including people both in the USA and in Central Europe who donate " in kind." I am hoping that others who might read this will "step up to the plate" with generous support regarding German Jewish genealogical research.
A family in dire straights who had to flee Nazi Germany in 1939 but whose extreme charitable deeds going back 100 years live on in spirit and architecture must not be allowed to be forgotten. It is the least that we can do in the Neustadt area in Central European heritage to permanently commemorate the kindness and philanthropy of what was the largest fine linen textile firm in the world in its heyday.
Please support my " undoing of grievous wrongs." Please support my research to give the Fraenkels their well earned acknowledgement , not to mention aiding, amongst other goals, conservation of the family cemetery, crypt and assorted Fraenkel material and non material vestiges.
Your strong aid in continuing my German Jewish research and publicity in Central Europe is deeply appreciated. Thank you in advance for the needed "mitzvahs."
==========================================================
Mourning the Loss of the beloved Fraenkel Factory!
Organizer
robert horning
Organizer
New York, NY
