Klaus Frank papers

Klaus Frank (1921-2005) was born on March 30, 1921 in Dortmund, Germany. In 1934, his father Richard was arrested by the Nazis because he served as an election overseer for the Social Democratic party in Dortmund. He was eventually released. On November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht, Klaus Frank, age seventeen, was arrested. He was held as a hostage pending the arrest of his father who had travelled to the Netherlands for the day. The next day, Klaus and his father were sent by train to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Klaus, along with his father and a cousin were assigned to the tailor shop where they sewed identification patches on uniforms. After five weeks, Klaus, his father, and cousin were released after Klaus’ paternal aunt Martha, who lived in Copenhagen, obtained their release, possibly through a bribe. The family lived in Denmark for three months before immigrating to the Dominican Republic with Klaus’ mother and another aunt. While in Santo Domingo, Klaus Frank worked as a political cartoonist for the newspaper, La Nacion, from 1939-1947. He also owned his own commercial art studio. In 1946, he met and married Eva (1926-2007). In 1947, the Klaus and Eva Frank immigrated to the United States. They had four children. In Kansas City he established a commercial design studio, K. Frank Display Company. Klaus Frank died on November 27, 2005 in Missouri.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Klaus Frank donated the Klaus Frank papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991 and 2000.