The house in St. Johann: A place of refuge, memory and family – preserving a moving history
The Elias-Frank House
The house in St. Johann, Basel has been inhabited by the Elias-Frank family for four generations, and served primarily as a refuge for the family during and after the war. Presently, the house is in danger of being sold. To prevent this and to protect the living legacy of their home, the family is fundraising to retain the house and to open it as a public space for cultural remembrance and shared experience.
Source: Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam.
Erich Elias, the father of Buddy Elias (cousin of AnneFrank) and brother-in-law of Otto Frank, made it possible for his family tomove into the house in 1938 and purchased itshortly after the Second World War.
The Elias-Frank family has lived there ever since.
In the 1980s, Gerti and Buddy Elias became the third generation to find a home in this house and later bequeathed it to their two sons, Patrick and Oliver Elias. Since Buddy's death in 2015, his wife Gerti has lived there alone. The couple's greatest wish was always to preserve the house as a contact point for the family and to cast light on the memory of the family's turbulent history and the Shoah.
Now, due to an inheritance decision, the house is at risk of being sold into the hands of strangers. This would mean that a piece of world history and a culture of remembrance would be forever lost.
To prevent this, Gerti, Oliver and Patrick's two children from his first marriage, Hannah-Milena and Leyb-Anouk Elias, have decided to campaign to preserve the house for the family and for posterity. Together with an initiative group, they are trying to organise funding for the purchase of the house. This will allow the house to become a place of remembrance and learning.
In Buddy Elias, Basel had a famous citizen and an important symbolic figure against intolerance, hatred and all forms of discrimination. The house in St. Johann stands for these values and it would be very much in the spirit of Buddy and his wife Gerti if this were to continue in the future.
From left to right: Alice Frank, Buddy Elias, Stephan Elias, Leni Elias, Erich Elias.
Origin: Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam.
The Elias-Frank Family
Until the first half of the twentieth century, the Elias-Frank family found a home in the region around Frankfurt am Main, Germany. When Hitler came to power, the Elias-Frank family, like many other Jewish families, was forced to leave the place they had called home. From then on, the house in Basel became an important refuge for the family during and after the Second World War. Other Jewish displaced persons waiting to leave Switzerland were also supported by the Elias-Frank family from there.
Origin: Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam.
The Frank family's ancestors have lived in the Jewish community in Frankfurt am Main's Judengasse since the 17th century. But it was only when Alice, née Stern, married Michael Frank in 1886 that the name Frank appeared in the family history. The couple has four children: Robert(*1886), Otto (*1889), Herbert (*1891) and Helene (Leni *1893).
In 1921, Leni marries Erich Elias (*1890), who works as a partner in the bank of her father Michael Frank. During the years of the economic crisis, the bank also ran into difficulties and Erich Elias decided to move to Basel in 1929 to set up a branch of the Pomosin/Opekta-Werke (gelling agent company). In 1931/1932, Leni follows with their two sons Stephan and Bernhard (Buddy). Leni's mother Alice finally follows in 1933. From 1938, the whole family lives in the house in St. Johann, which had been built in 1903 as a corner terraced house in the Art Nouveau style.
Although, even in Switzerland, it becomes increasingly difficult for Erich Elias to live and work as a Jew. The company insists on an all-Aryan representation on the board and so he is forced to work in a laboratory at a Pomosin branch in Zurich instead.
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Otto Frank visits hissister and mother several times in Baseltogether with Edith and their two daughters, Margot and Anne Frank. However, after the outbreak of the Second World War, this is no longer possible. At the instigation of Erich Elias, Otto Frank also takes over an Opekta branch in the Netherlands and moves to Amsterdam with his family.
The last message from Amsterdam arrives in Basel in July 1942, with a hidden reference of the Franks going into hiding. It took three years, until 1945, before Otto sends another sign of life. Gradually, the whole family learns of the terrible murder of his wife Edith and their two children Margot and Anne in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
It was not until early on in 1946 that the family members could see each other again in the house in Basel. Here, in consultation with all family members, the idea of publishing Anne Frank's diaries was born. In 1952 Otto decides to move into the attic of the family house. It was also in this year that Leni and Erich Elias, after many bureaucratic hurdles and having lived in Switzerland for 23 years, are finally granted Swiss citizenship.
In 1986, Gerti Elias, takes over the antiques shop at Spalenvorstadt, a neighbourhood in Basel, after Leni moves to the Jewish retirement home in Riehen at the age of 92. From then on, the house was passed on to the next generation, Buddy, Gerti and their two sons Patrick and Oliver; Gerti Elias still lives there today.
Over the years, the house in Basel has always been a place for the family to come home to and to engage in exchange. This is still the case today for the youngest generation, including Leyb-Anouk and Hannah-Milena Elias.