Walter Frankenstein

Frankenstein was born in Flatow, Posen–West Prussia. Following his father's death in 1929, he was raised by his uncle, Selmer Frankenstein, a doctor. He attended school until the age of 12; however, due to his Jewish faith, he was forced to stop. He mentioned attending the 1936 Summer Olympics with his uncle in Berlin, witnessing Jesse Owens win several medals.{{Cite web |title=Walter Frankenstein: Not with Us |url=https://www.jmberlin.de/en/eyewitness-talk-walter-frankenstein |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Jewish Museum Berlin |language=en}} He witnessed the Kristallnacht from an orphanage.{{Cite news |newspaper=The Washington Times |title=Holocaust survivor recalls 'Night of Broken Glass' horrors |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/8/holocaust-survivor-recalls-night-of-broken-glass-h/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |language=en-US}}

After hearing how relatives were being deported, Frankenstein removed his Star of David and began hiding from the Gestapo. He married Leonie Rosner on 20 February 1942, and had a son, Peter-Uri.{{Cite web |title=Gedenkstätte Stille Helden: Biographie Leonie Frankenstein |url=https://www.gedenkstaette-stille-helden.de/en/silent-heroes/biographies/biographie/detail-408 |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=www.gedenkstaette-stille-helden.de}} Following Leonie's mother's deportation, she stayed with Walter in the ruins of Berlin, having to move repeatedly to avoid detection until the city was liberated in May 1945. Following the end of the war, his wife emigrated to Palestine; however, Walter was forced to stay in Bavaria, being given the task of training young boys in physical education.{{Cite web |title=Walter Frankenstein |url=https://www.jmberlin.de/en/topic-walter-frankenstein |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Jewish Museum Berlin |language=en}}

In 1946, after helping to rebuild the S/S San Dimitro in France and despite Britain limiting migration to Palestine, they left Marseille on 19 October 1946.{{Cite web |title=Google Books |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Israel_s_Moment/vHRUEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=S/S+San+Dimitro+1946&pg=PA203&printsec=frontcover |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=www.google.com}} The ship was eventually spotted and boarded by the crew of a British destroyer and the ship was brought into Haifa; however, the Jewish crew were ordered to Cyprus.{{Cite book |last=Edelheit |first=Hershel |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_Of_Zionism/s8PADwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Latrun+cyprus&pg=PA245&printsec=frontcover |title=History Of Zionism: A Handbook And Dictionary |date=19 September 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-70103-0 |language=en}}

The reunited Frankenstein family then had to live in a small apartment in Hadera. Walter got a job as a tiler and, shortly thereafter, started his own company. At night, he was often called to the Haganah to participate in the protection of Jewish settlements.{{Cite web |title=Memories from the Life of Walter Frankenstein |url=https://www.jmberlin.de/en/memories-from-the-life-of-walter-frankenstein |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Jewish Museum Berlin |language=en}} When the state of Israel was formed, Frankenstein was drafted and participated in the War of Independence.{{Cite web |title=Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Berlin, dies at 100 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/walter-frankenstein-survived-holocaust-hiding-berlin-dies-100-121046782 |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=ABC News |language=en}}  After the armistice in 1949, Frankenstein worked on irrigation ditches on kibbutzim and piping at the Dead Sea. However, the work took a toll on his body and, in 1956, the family decided to move to Northern Europe.{{Cite book |last=Meyer |first=Beate |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jews_in_Nazi_Berlin/JhYb73CHmt8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Walter+Frankenstein+israel&pg=PA291&printsec=frontcover |title=Jews in Nazi Berlin: From Kristallnacht to Liberation |last2=Simon |first2=Hermann |last3=Schütz |first3=Chana |date=15 December 2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-52159-6 |language=en}}

Walter Frankenstein had kept in touch with his childhood friend, Rolf Rothschild, a civil engineer and Swedish citizen. The Frankenstein family therefore traveled to Stockholm, where they were helped with housing in Bandhagen.{{Cite web |title=Walter Frankenstein :: Eternal Echoes |url=https://www.eternalechoes.org/gb/testimonies/walter-frankenstein |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=www.eternalechoes.org}} In 1964, Frankenstein began studying, graduated from high school and, in 1970, became a civil engineer. He found work as a building designer and then worked as a material tester at nuclear power plants in Sweden and Finland.{{Cite web |author=Kirsten Grieshaber |date=22 April 2025 |title=Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Berlin, dies at 100 |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/walter-frankenstein-who-survived-the-holocaust-by-hiding-in-berlin-dies-at-100/article_16645272-068c-56a8-bc25-555c0d8b299b.html |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Toronto Star |language=en}}

Frankenstein died in Stockholm on 21 April 2025, at the age of 100.{{Cite news |date=21 April 2025 |title=Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Berlin, dies at 100 |newspaper=Greenwich Time |url=https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/world/article/walter-frankenstein-who-survived-the-holocaust-20288151.php}}

Frankenstein was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.{{Cite web |title=Walter Frankenstein |url=https://www.jmberlin.de/en/topic-walter-frankenstein#:~:text=In%20his%20retirement,%20from%201984,Merit%20on%2030%20June%202014. |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Jewish Museum Berlin |language=en}} He helped create a number of memorials throughout Germany, including a memorial plaque at Edith Berlow's residence in Schöneberg, Berlin.{{Cite web |date=11 February 2019 |title=Edith Berlows hemliga nät. De riskerade livet för att skydda familjen Frankenstein |url=https://waltherstories.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/qwe/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=Frankensteins. Enda familjen som undkom Gestapos judejakt i Berlin |language=sv-SE}} Berlow helped the family hide during their time in Berlin.{{Cite web |date=30 July 2021 |title=Gedenktafel für Edith Berlow - Berlin.de |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730071258/https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ueber-den-bezirk/geschichte/gedenktafeln/artikel.682990.php |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=web.archive.org}}

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Category:1924 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:German Holocaust survivors

Category:German expatriates in Israel

Category:German expatriates in Sweden

Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Category:German men centenarians

Category:Swedish men centenarians

Category:Jewish centenarians