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Arnold
Frank of
Hamburg
Thank
you for the article on Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank of Hamburg in the last issues of Chai.
It opened up a gallery of memories for me. A full biography exists written by
Robert Allen published by James Clark & Co. Ltd.,
London
, on the
occasion of his hundredth birthday. The title is simply: "Arnold Frank of
Hamburg". He lived to be 106. (6/3/1859-20/3/1965)
I'd
like to record my thanks for the memories I have of him and his work. That goes
back to my childhood. We had at home a beautiful hand embroidered text under
glass which read: "The Almighty, the ever present Lord is the silent
listener to every conversation." (in German). It
had been embroidered and given as a wedding gift by Mrs Frank through whom my
Mother had come to faith in Jesus. Secondly, there was a pair of brass
candlesticks at home, a gift to my father from Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank through whose
preaching and teaching my father had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
As a believer he had to leave friends and family behind in
Vienna
and
settled in
Germany
. We
children had the privilege of growing up in a Hebrew Christian home.
Beginning
of 1925 my father Moritz Weissenstein, was called
into Jewish Mission work under the auspices of the West-German Society for
Israel
(Westdeutscher
Verein für
Israel
) with
headquarters in
Cologne
. In the
spring of the same year Jewish Christians from all over
Germany
were
invited to come to
Cologne
with the
aim of forming the German Hebrew Christian Alliance. See picture of the
assembly. Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank
and his wife are sitting in the centre of the second row. It comes as no
surprise that he was unanimously voted to be the President of that
Alliance
.
There
where a number of Jewish Missions in
Germany
at that
time, each one with their own monthly magazine, but the best magazine topping
them all was Zion's Freund,
written and published by Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank. There was always a short story
and picture of a Jewish person who had come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a
proof of the power of the gospel. Then you were ta
ken
to the
Bible with comments that would take you to the roots of your Christian faith,
the Old Testament, viewed with eyes of faith of a Hebrew Christian. This kind of
exegesis was rare at that time - as at any time - and Ministers who had been
taught differently at theological colleges welcomed the Zion's
Freund with its sound biblical teaching. The number of monthly copies
went up to 4,000. It became known all over
Germany
. The
magazine was a thorn in the side of the Nazis, so they simply closed it and
forbade its publication (1936). After the Kristallnacht
Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank and his co-worker Dr. Ernst Moser were
arrested and for nine days put into prison, not into a KZ [concentration camp]
as others were who
died
in it or on the way to it.
And
lastly I like to thank Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank for the love of Jewish people he
had helped to engender in my boss in
Cologne
who,
before starting a business in
Cologne
, had had
his commercial training in
Hamburg
and had
sat under the preaching and teaching of Pastor Frank at the
Jerusalem
Church
. When
the Nazis came on the scene (1933) and raised their banner of anti-Semitism my
boss fought against them. He protected me all through the years (from 1.4.1933 -
15.8.1939) and took seven other Jewish young people into his firm. In this and
in other ways he showed a true love for
Israel
.
As
a kind of postscript I like to say that the writer of the article (translated
and printed in Chai) John During,
was a citizen of
Cologne
where he
came to faith in Jesus as his Messiah. Because of his faith his father disowned
him, so he came to stay with us until; with the help of Pastor Dr. Arnold Frank
he could travel to
England
(
Liverpool
) and
from there after a while to Capetown to start a new
life in
South
Africa
.
Rev.14:l3b:
"Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labour for their works
will follow them."
(photo:
2nd row, 7th & 8th from left Mrs
& Dr Frank. 9th from left Dr Ernest Moser. 5th row, 3rd from left Moritz Weissenstein.)
Margaret
Willis, BMJA member and
Richmond
Messianic Fellowship
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