us-005578-irn9872
type: RecordSet
archival history: The sketchbook was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Irwin Ross.
biographical history: Adolf Frankl (1903-1983) was born to Josef (1871-1944) and Esther (nee Nasch, 1876-1933) in Pozsony, Austria-Hungary (which became Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1919, and is now in Slovakia). Josef was a respected businessman with an interior design store. He had three brothers, Ignatz (1901-1945), Alexander Simson (1905-1993), and Leo (1907-1942), and a sister, Stefanie (later Reisner,1916-2009). They were wealthy, well-respected, and had a large extended family in town. Adolf attended the School of Applied Arts in Bratislava, and worked as a caricaturist and advertising artist on the side. After he graduated in 1921, Adolf began working in his father’s interior design business. In 1933, he married Renee Nachmias (1914-2007), and the couple had two children, Thomas (b.1934) and Erika (later Rothberg, 1936-2015). Although Adolf and Renee raised their children as liberal Jews, they ate Kosher and observed the holidays at the home of Renee’s parents with over 100 members of their extended family. In the fall of 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland, a border region of Czechoslovakia. By May of 1939, Germany, Hungary, and Poland partitioned Czechoslovakia, and Bratislava became part of the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia. Anti-Jewish violence and restrictions grew, and when World War II began in September 1939, Jewish shops were confiscated and Aryanized. The Frankl’s store was taken over by a man named Anton Csech, who was sympathetic towards Adolf and his family. Since Anton was not familiar with the interior design industry, he obtained special permission to keep Adolf on as an employee, which allowed him to continue supporting his family. Adolf’s brother, Alexander, immigrated to Palestine in 1939. Adolf and Renee moved their family to her parents’ home, and later had to move into a shared home in the Jewish sector of the city. Slovakia joined the Axis in November 1940. In June 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Frankl’s home was raided by the German a…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Small sketchbook with 150 pages and an orange cardboard cover that is heavily worn and creased. The binding is disintegrating, and held together with paper tape. The pages contain sketches on off-white paper of various scenes from a concentration camp in graphite and blue, black, and red ink. Most of the sketches include a caption and artist signature. There are15 additional sketches that do not include a caption. Pages 129-130 have been torn from the sketchbook, leaving a jagged remnant. page 1, lower left corner, handwritten, blue ink: Typhuslager Staré Kušna wird geräumt. 20•I•1945 [Typhus camp Starà Kušna is cleared out January 20, 1945] page 3, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: Juder Mistgrube vom Typhuslager Storé kušna I 1945 [Jewish manure pit from the Typhus camp Staré Kušna January 1945] page 5, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: BIRKENAU, STRAFBARAK.ii Nov 944 [Birkenau, punishment barrack 2 November 1944] page 7, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: BIRKENAU DAS PERSONAL / DESKREN-WURDEN / KANADA / (KREMATORIUM) genannt [Birkenau The staff / Deskren were called / Canada / (crematorium)] page 9, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: Bemalung der Mäntel wegen Fluchtgefahr. BIRKENAU Desember 1944 [Painting the coats due to the risk of escape. Birkenau December 1944] page 11, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: Richtung Auschwitz Nov 44 [Towards Auschwitz. November 1944] Page 13, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: KINDER KOMMANDO BIRKENAU 944 [Children’s commando Birkenau 1944] page 15, top edge, handwritten, blue ink: 18. I.45 Eilmarsch Evakuation vom Birkenau [January 18, 1945 Quick evacuation from Birkenau] page 17, top edge, handwritten, blue ink: KREMATORIUM 1944 Birkenau / [backwards] KREMATORIUM 1944 Birkenau [Crematorium 1944 Birkenau] page 19, top edge, handwritten, blue ink: KREMAT. 944. [Crematorium 1944] page 21, bottom edge, handwritten, blue ink: 1944 (?) BIRKENAU v.BARAK. 5 [1944 (?) Barrack 5 of Birkenau] page 23, top edge, handwritten, blue…
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
date: 1944 September 20-approximately 1950
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 517
has or had subject: 0
has or had subject: 112
has or had subject: 5
has or had subject: 2
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn9872
record resource extent: overall: Height: 5.750 inches (14.605 cm) | Width: 4.125 inches (10.477 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Sketchbook created by Adolf Frankl, depicting scenes from multiple concentration camps. It was likely created after the war, as a way for Adolf to process his experiences during the Holocaust. Adolf was living in his hometown of Bratislava with his wife, two children, and a large extended family, when the city became part of the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia in May 1939. When World War II began in September 1939, the family’s interior design store was confiscated and Aryanized. Adolf was able to continue working for the new owner, and received documentation protecting him and his family from persecution. On September 28, 1944, Adolf and his family were arrested for deportation. His wife convinced the guards to let her and the children go, but Adolf was transported to Sered concentration camp. After about a month, he was deported and arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center on November 4. By the time he arrived, gassing had stopped, but prisoners continued to be tortured, malnourished, and treated inhumanely. Adolf was caught and beaten multiple times for trading goods for cigarettes. In January 1945, Auschwitz was evacuated and Adolf was sent on a forced march to Gleiwitz. Adolf and a small group of prisoners escaped when their guards abandoned them one night. They made their way to the Auschwitz subcamp, Althammer, where Adolf hid in a typhus barrack until Soviet forces liberated the camp on January 27, 1945. He returned to Bratislava in April, and reunited with his wife and children, who had been in hiding. They moved back into their home until Slovakia’s 1948 communist revolution forced them to emigrate. In 1950, they moved to Vienna, Austria, where Adolf set up a small art studio and became a prolific painter.
title: Sketchbook of drawings created by a former concentration camp prisoner