Huguette Frank papers

The collection primarily contains documents, correspondence, and photographs that document the wartime experiences of Huguette Salomon Frank of Paris, France in Marseille, France; Drancy transit camp; Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp; Ravensbrück concentration camp; and one of the Bunzlau subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Included are some photographs and documents relating to the pre-war lives of the Salomon family, and Huguette’s post-war life with her husband Werner Frank. Huguette Frank (née Salomon, 1925-2016) was born on 30 October 1925 in Paris, France to Annette (née Aron) and Jacques (d. 1940) Salomon. She had two older brothers, André and Jean Claude. After the German invasion of France in 1940, Annette and her mother Jeanette Aron went to Nice. André had joined the French army by 1940 and would eventually be captured and survive as a prisoner-of-war. Jean Claude fled Paris and joined the Resistance, and also survived the war. Huguette went to Marseille, France to stay with her maternal aunt Berte. In May 1944, Huguette, Berte, and Berte’s sons Edward and Pierre were arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Drancy transit camp. They were then sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp later that month, where Huguette was a slave laborer. She was then transported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in March 1945, and then one of the Bunzlau subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in April 1945 where she was liberated by the Russian army. Her cousin Edward survived, but Berte and Pierre perished in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Huguette’s mother Annette and her mother Jeanette were both deported to Drancy and then Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where they also perished. After the war, Huguette immigrated to the United States in 1947 and settled in New York. She met Werner Frank while living there and they married in 1948. They later settled in Boston, Massachusetts and had two sons, Gerard and Richard.