Who We Are--Spurensuche (tracing) in the Section

The "Spurensuche Nationalsozialismus" (Tracing National Socialism) project group of the Frankfurt on the Main section of the German Alpine Club (DAV) came together at the end of 2019. Since then, we are researching the fates of former members who were persecuted or murdered as Jews during the Nazi era. We assume that around 120 people may have been affected by this. For the first time, the section is turning its attention to this darkest chapter in its history.

Our project was triggered by the 150th anniversary of the section in 2019 and the preliminary work of Martin Frey. Frey researched the history of the Frankfurt section on the occasion of the anniversary and is about to complete a multi-volume chronicle of the Section. His work has become the starting point for our research.

With this website, we want to provide answers that are as concrete as possible: What happened to the people in whose marginalization and persecution the Alpine Club in Frankfurt was involved during the Nazi era? What happened to those who in the years before 1933 were perhaps active in the mountaineering group, the "Jungmannschaft" (youth team), the then new ski department, who celebrated at the annual Alpine Club festival, one of the highlights of the Frankfurt festival season? Who survived, who was murdered? Are there any living descendants? And who, as a section functionary in a responsible position, contributed to their exclusion?

We want to give the persecuted and long-forgotten a face again. We want to bring them back into the memory of the Frankfurt on the Main section and the public. And we want to find out more about how the injustice was made possible--by which people and which structures.

Our research is not always easy: above all, files are missing and there are hardly any contemporary witnesses left after such a long time. Many membership directories and almost all other documents of the section were destroyed during Allied air raids in the last phase of World War 2. The section leader at the time, Rudolf Seng, described the extent of Frankfurt's destruction in a letter to the association's management ( Brief an die Vereinsführung ) in 1944.

We also suspect that documents were destroyed towards and after the end of the war in order to cover up any traces of complicity. We therefore know very little about the activities of many former members of the Frankfurt Alpine Club who were later forced to emigrate or were murdered in concentration camps.

On the other hand, we have a lot of encouraging experiences: We find descendants of people who were persecuted at the time, we receive tips from readers following publications about our work, and we are always met with great interest and a willingness to help when we make inquiries to associations and archives.

Armin has not only been out and about in the mountains for years but, as he says, "auch früher schon stark für die teilweise unrühmliche Geschichte des Alpenvereins interessiert" (was also very interested in the sometimes inglorious history of the Alpine Club in the past). That's why he is now involved in researching and documenting this previously untouched part of the section's history.

Jens works as a contemporary historian with a research focus on the persecution of Jews under National Socialism in a Jewish organization in Frankfurt on the Main. His aim is to use the "Spurensuche" (search for traces) to "die Erinnerung an die ehemaligen jüdischen Sektionsmitglieder, die Opfer von Intoleranz, Rassenwahn und Verfolgung wurden, wachzuhalten" (keep alive the memory of the former Jewish Section members who were victims of intolerance, racial hatred and persecution).

Monique, who loves climbing, studied political science and history and thinks the project is very important, not least because it can make people aware of the terrible consequences that exclusion and open anti-Semitism can have. Monique currently lives with her family in Innsbruck and is our direct link to the Historical Archive of the Austrian Alpine Association (ÖAV).

Saskia works as an ancient historian at the university. It is not only her professional conviction that we have to deal with the past in order to learn for the present and the future. With this project, she hopes to reappraise a part of the section's history that might otherwise have been forgotten.

Ursula is a journalist by profession and is also responsible for the section's public relations work on a voluntary basis. The decades of silence about the persecution of Jewish members, she thinks, was like a second betrayal of them--after adapting to the Nazi course of exclusion. She is delighted that more than 70 years later, the Frankfurt on the Main section is now closing the gaps in its memory.

Wolfgang has been enthusiastically involved in the section for many years and has held many positions, including that of 2nd Chairman. Today, among other things, he looks after the section's archives, supports the section chronicler Martin Frey in his research and keeps us moving forward with finds from old folders and photo collections.

Our Spurensuche (search for traces) is not over. This website is a living memory project and will continue to grow. Keep checking back and discover what new things we have found. And send us your feedback, questions, tips, and suggestions.