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Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Title: Ludwig E. Frank papers
Date (inclusive): 1912-2003
Collection Number: 96054
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
6 manuscript boxes, 3 oversize boxes
(4.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Writings, interview transcript, correspondence, reports, identification documents, printed matter, photographs, and videocassette
relating to the persecution of Jews in Japan during World War II. Includes papers of other Frank family members.
Creator:
Frank, Ludwig E., 1917-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1996.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Ludwig E. Frank papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
German resident of Japan during World War II.
Ludwig (Lou) E. Frank was a German resident of Japan during World War II. The Frank family moved to Japan when Frank's father
Louis Hugo Frank, born in Leipzig, Germany in 1886 received a teaching position in Japan. The Franks lived comfortably in
Japan with their two sons, Hugo C. Frank and Ludwig (Lou) E. Frank until the early 1940s, when racial and ethnic persecution
from Nazi Germany made its way into Japan. In April, 1943, after 17 years of teaching, Dr. Frank was discharged from his teaching
position at Yamanashi Technical College on the grounds of being a German Jew. In May, 1944, Hugo C. Frank, Hugo's wife, and
their daughter were interned in Gora, Hakone, while the rest of the Frank family was interned in Karuizawa. Despite the eventual
release of his family, Hugo was arrested by the Yakohama Military Police on charges of espionage in July, 1944. On June 30,
1945, Hugo died in prison of malnutrition. At the end of the war, the Frank family immigrated to the United States, where
Dr. Frank obtained a teaching position at Arkansas Technical University. Dr. Frank died in San Francisco, California in 1973.
In 1986 August, a memorial was dedicated to Dr. Frank at the Faculty of Engineering at Yamanashi University in Japan, with
Lou Frank speaking at the memorial's dedication. From 1987-1989, the Frank family and one Makoto Honobe participated in the
process of clarification of the false charges against Hugo C. Frank. The process ultimately ended with a letter of apology
to the Frank family, and in 1993, a centenary book of Dr. Louis Hugo Frank, detailing the Frank family's life in Japan, as
well as the investigation into the death of Hugo C. Frank, was distributed. Lou E. Frank died in San Francisco in 2007.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Ludwig E. Frank papers consist of writings, an interview transcript, correspondence, reports, identification documents,
printed matter, photographs, and a VHS videocassette relating to the persecution of Jews in Japan during World War II. The
Frank family lived in Japan from 1913 to approximately 1947. In early 1944, Hugo C. Frank, eldest son of Dr. Louis Hugo Frank
and brother of Ludwig (Lou) E. Frank, was accused of being an Allied spy and imprisoned. Hugo C. Frank died in prison in Yokohama
in 1945. Much of the collection chronicles an investigation of and subsequent report on Hugo's death by either an acquaintance
or investigator hired by Ludwig Frank named Makoto Honobe. A general history of the Frank family in Japan, followed by their
move to the United States in the post-World War II period is also included.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japan
Video tapes
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews
Germans -- Japan
Jews -- Japan