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Posts from the ‘Germany’ category

Frankfurt am Main: Frank Family Center at the JMF

Above: “It’s a miracle I’m still alive”, Otto Frank. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Familie Frank Zentrum, Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt

Frank Family Centre, Jewish Museum Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main is a city I’ve visited countless times since 2001, but I hadn’t known until recently that Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were born in Frankfurt am Main, or that their parents, Otto and Edith, had lived in Frankfurt for almost ten years before moving their family to Amsterdam in early-1934. I’ve put together a list of places and traces the Frank family spent and left in Frankfurt am Main.

Here I cast light on the Frank Family Center (FFC), both memorial and historical record of the European-Jewish Frank family which was added to the permanent collection of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (JMF) in 2020. Having begun in 2012, the Frank Family Center brings together an extensive collection of material belonging to the Frank-Elias families. The archive includes photographs, official documents, hand-written letters, art, books, household items, and furniture. The items provide a glimpse into the lives of the Frank- and Elias-families across Europe; there’s happy times, catastrophe and loss, and the strength gained in survival. The FFC has been designed for the public to view a part of the archive on permanent display in an open museum setting, as well as for research parties to pursue various avenues of academic inquiry.

Upon entry into the space, the first panel includes the following introductory text which I’ve modified to improve clarity.

The Jewish Museum Frankfurt holds a large number of objects belonging to Anne Frank’s family who had lived in Frankfurt for several generations.

Between 1929 and 1933, the entire family departed Frankfurt am Main and established new lives in Basel, Paris, Amsterdam, and London. In 1942 Amsterdam, Otto and Edith Frank, along with their daughters, Margot and Anne, went into hiding to escape imminent deportation. In August 1944, the secret location was revealed to the authorities, and the family was detained, and deported to Auschwitz. Of the four in the family, only Otto Frank survived, who subsequently devoted the rest of his life to acquainting and educating the world with the diary of his murdered daughter, Anne.

In 1933, Anne’s paternal grandmother Alice Frank sold their home in Frankfurt am Main, and moved to Basel to join her daughter, Leni Elias, and her family. Alice was able to take some of the family belongings with her from Frankfurt to Switzerland, including personal photos and documents. Her moving boxes also contained furniture, porcelain, silverware, and paintings. The family’s heritage as documents of their previous lives in Frankfurt was carefully preserved in Basel.

This room of the Frank Family Center provides an introduction to this family heritage and to the history of the Frank and Elias families.

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Frankfurt & the Franks: Anne, Edith, Margot, Otto

Above: The Frank family in happier times; seen left-to-right are Margot, Otto, Anne, and Edith, respectively. Display at the Frank Family Centre at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

I hadn’t realized how long an impression would last, decades after having read in high-school the diary of a young girl stuck in hiding for years. Much later down the line and standing in front of a house in a quiet neighbourhood in a German city, I could almost hear the laughter of children in the backyard and the gentle rebuke of a mother to one of her daughters, years before one of the girls ever considered writing her thoughts down into a book.

The story of Anne Frank and her family are well known. Her father and businessman Otto Frank moved his family from Frankfurt am Main to Amsterdam in 1934 to escape increasing Nazi discrimination against Jews. Otto survived capture, deportation, and time in the camps; but his wife and two daughters did not. After liberation in 1945, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam and wrote letters to relatives in Basel. He learned how the diary written by his daughter Anne had been carefully hidden; reading her daughter’s thoughts would change the remaining course of his life. In the early-1950s, he moved to Basel, Switzerland, to be closer to his sister’s family. He and his extended family spent time and energy for the rest of their lives dedicated to translation efforts and the distribution of Anne’s diary as a document of family memory, world history, and essential education; and to the collection of memories and belongings of lost family members. Otto died in 1980, and is buried in Birsfelden cemetery, just east of Basel proper.

Much of the story has been written about the Frank family’s time in Amsterdam, but I hadn’t been aware of the family roots in Frankfurt am Main, despite my countless times passing through and multiple stays in the city since 2001 when I moved to Heidelberg. I wanted to learn about their time in Frankfurt am Main, before the family left for Aachen and Amsterdam in 1933–1934. What follows below is my examination of some of the places and traces left behind by the Frank family in Frankfurt am Main.

ANNELIES Marie Frank, daughter: b/✵ 12 June 1929, Frankfurt am Main – d/✟ March 1945, Bergen-Belsen.
EDITH Frank (née Holländer), mother: b/✵ 16 January 1900, Aachen – d/✟ 6 January 1945, Auschwitz.
MARGOT Betti Frank, daughter: b/✵ 16 February 1926, Frankfurt am Main – d/✟ March 1945, Bergen-Belsen.
OTTO Heinrich Frank, father: b/✵ 12 May 1889, Frankfurt am Main – d/✟ 19 August 1980, Birsfelden.

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Allgäu winter: Fellhorn in the German-Austrian Alps

Above: A group of skiers gather before their run near the Fellhorn summit.

As a product of the Canadian southwest, I’ve maintained a fascination with mountains. I don’t necessarily need to climb the mountains, but I’ve always been curious about the names of mountains, the reasons for their names, and the people who named them. I’m not always going to get answers, but if there’s a lift to take me to a view, I’m always game.

With an easy bus from Oberstdorf in the southwest corner of Germany, I’m headed 10 km south to Faistenoy for the gondola up to the summit of Fellhorn (2038 metres) among the Allgäu Alps. There’s a lot of snow up top with a depth of about 1.5 metres; skiing and snowboarding conditions look good in the Skigebiet Fellhorn-Kanzelwand (Fellhorn-Kanzelwand Ski Area). But what do I know? I don’t ski or snowboard, but the winter-afternoon light is decent on the smooth snowy landscape. I’m drawn to the information displays to learn more about Fellhorn and the mountains I’m seeing in the near 360-degree panorama. In the distance the flat-topped Hoher Ifen mountain looks like a multiple-layer cream-filled cake. I arrive quickly at a couple of conclusions: one, it’s fun to stand on a border between two countries at altitude, even if an international frontier is set somewhat arbitrarily; and two, I promise to return in the summertime to do a loop: return to Fellhorn, hike along the relatively flat ridge-line west, take the Kanzelwandbahn gondola down into Austria’s Kleinwalsertal valley, have a sip and nosh in one of the alpine towns, and return to Germany’s Oberstdorf on a local bus.

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25 for 25: fotoeins fotos in 2025

Above/featured: “Göttin” (goddess), by AlfAlfA, also known as Nicolás Sánchez, for One Wall 2017. Photo, 17 Jun 2025 (P15).

In continuation of high spirits and enthusiastic support of leading choices, I’m very grateful to significant time spent:

in the Bay Area, to visit mum’s family in Sacramento and long-time friends in the South Bay;
in Vienna for the 4th consecutive summer; and
in Berlin for the 1st time in 4 years, as set up for a repeat in the new year.

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Berlin: S-Bahn S15 on its way

Above: Berlin S-Bahn S15 icon, from Wikimedia, by users F84 (original) and Minoa (rework).

15 June 2026

S15 made its debut today after the planned 25 March opening date was pushed back. The S-Bahn Berlin app shows the service is up and running with 10-minute frequencies (weekday). The “eastern” section Gesundbrunnen — Wedding — Hauptbahnhof is open for service, and although the “western” section of Westhafen — Hauptbahnhof is completed, there is no timeline set for the latter to open for service.

This marks the implementation of the first phase of the long-anticipated overall S21 project, which is to provide an additional north-south trunk which connects Berlin’s Ringbahn (circle line) directly with the city’s central station. Full implementation of the second and third phases is set for the 2030s to 2040s.

Schienenliniennetz, Streckenkarte, Berlin, BVG, S-Bahn Berlin, VBB, DB, Deutsche Bahn

Section of the Berlin AB-zone urban-transport route map, effective 15 June 2026. Two vertical arrows in light-pink point to the end-stations at Gesundbrunnen and Hauptbahnhof; between the arrows in light-pink is the S15 route which also stops in each direction at Wedding.

S-Bahn Berlin app: S15 service Berlin Hauptbahnhof ↔ Gesundbrunnen began 15 Jun 2026 just before high-noon.

22 December 2025

For me, living memories of countless times in Berlin since 2002 include public transport with her U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains and routes. Like many, I never want that S-Bahn three-tone door-closing signal to go away, but that only comes with the older Baureihe 481-482 vehicles used for the trains, which will go away with the requirement to comply with European Union regulations.

On my first visit in 2002, I immediately asked: why isn’t there a U-Bahn connection or an S-Bahn connection with the shiny Berlin central train station? The U5 finally answered the first question in 2020, whereas the S-Bahn connection is coming up in 2026. The S-Bahn line provisionally labelled S15 is part of the larger long-term S21 project to connect the north and south parts of the S-Bahn Ring with the central station, and helping to alleviate traffic along the existing north-south S1-S2 route. In late-2025, news came out with a scheduled opening: on 28 March 2026, the S15 will open for public service between Gesundbrunnen and Hauptbahnhof via Wedding. The updated map doesn’t mark any S15 service between Westhafen and Hauptbahnhof, which might await the future redevelopment and reopening of the Siemensbahn further to the northeast.

I’m looking forward to seeing for myself in the summer of 2026 how the S15 works out. Announcement items in German: RBB24 — Entwicklungsstadt

Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Above: Berlin Hauptbahnhof, 1. Untergeschoss (Berlin central station, basement level 1), with signage for tracks 1 to 8 below on the 2nd basement level. Labelled at right is entry to a passageway for the operating U5 U-Bahn line and not-yet-for-primetime S15 S-Bahn line. Photo, 15 Jun 2025 (X70).

Berlin Hauptbahnhof, 1. Untergeschoss (Berlin central station, basement level 1): sign for additional bus and tram connections up on street-level, as well as the U5 U-Bahn line and upcoming track 22 for the S15 S-Bahn line. At the time of this photo, there was no open access to track 22, which I’m guessing is behind that wall there in the background. Photo, 15 Jun 2025 (X70).

Westhafen, Ringbahn, S15, S21, S-Bahn Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Berlin Westhafen station, facing east from Putlitzbrücke bridge. At upper left is the Moabit power station, and at lower-right is the S-Bahn station Westhafen. Visible at the very right is the Fernsehturm (TV Tower). Tunnels A and B, respectively, are double-tracks for the new S-Bahn S15 line from Hauptbahnhof, and double-tracks for long-distance rail bypassing the station. Also visible is a Deutsche Bahn InterCity Express train bypassing Westhafen station on approach to Hauptbahnhof. Photo, 24 May 2025 (X70).

I made three images above on 24 May 2025 and 15 Jun 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (X70); the other two images are from Wikipedia and the BVG. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-x3s. Last edit: 17 Jun 2026.