Today we invited friends to join us on an outing to downtown Frankfurt. On the last Saturday of the month 13 museums do not charge entrance fees. We were going today to take advantage of that offer. And because today is Holocaust Memorial Day, we decided to begin with the 2 Jewish Museums.
The first Jewish Museum is located near the river in the mansion home of the Rothschild family adjoining a new structure. We spent a couple of hours here, learning the history of Jews in Frankfurt, beginning with modern times, and going back to 3 families who lived here in the early 1900s.
A collage of modern-day “Jewish Things in Everyday Life.”
Here is some beautiful artwork by Jewish artist, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800-1882).
“By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept.”
This information was at the beginning of a room about a modern-day photographer. This is current history:
The modern building is annexed to the Rothschild Mansion.
This art installment was interesting. It’s made from pieces of furniture, everyday items, and their relationship to each other. The artist views objects, like this furniture, as a part of family histories, which I found very interesting.
In this part of the museum, we learned about 3 famous Jewish Families who lived in Frankfurt. The first was the Rothschild family, famous for banking and trade throughout all of Europe. They left from here before WWII.
This was really interesting–a sample book of fabric swatches. They also dealt in textiles. This looks like something a quilter might do!
I was amazed to learn about the formidable mother of this Rothschild family. She bore 19 children, took care of the household, and looked after her husband’s business when he was away. Their family was lived in the Judengasse (Jewish Ghetto). More about that later today. Gutle Rothschild lived to be 96 years old.
The second family featured was the Frank family. (The 3rd was not familiar to me). The Franks lived in Frankfurt for many generations. Anne Frank was born in a home just down the street from where we live. Between 1929 and 1933 the entire family left Frankfurt fearing for their safety. Anne’s family landed in Amsterdam.
Below are some of the household items that belonged to Anne Frank and her family. These were real people living real lives. I could feel glimpses of them in each item we saw.
This was Anne’s little chair:
The Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into more than 70 languages. In it she said, “I want to go on living after I am dead.” I believe she has. Words never die.
I especially enjoyed listening to several interviews with her father, Otto about his life’s mission to share Anne’s words with the world.
A visit to this museum is time well spent. Especially today as we try to “never forget.”
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 