Frank, Benno D. (Fraenkel)

Stage director, theater director

Born: 23.12.1905 in Mannheim

died: 25.03.1980 in Jerusalem

Fraenkel came to Wiesbaden with his family in 1921. The Orthodox Jewish family originally came from Odessa. Influenced by the Zionist Wanderbund Blau-Weiß, Fraenkel was an admirer of Martin Buber and initially wanted to become a rabbi. From 1925-27, he worked on the Rodges kibbutz teaching estate (near Fulda) and studied philosophy and theater history in Marburg, where he also completed his doctorate.

During his time at the Wiesbaden Theater in 1928/29, he trained as a director and staged his first play for the Jewish community in Wiesbaden ("Esther" by Rasin).

In 1929/1930 he worked as an actor and director at the Harburg-Wilhelmsburg municipal theater. In 1931 he became a director at the Schiller Opera in Hamburg. By the age of 27 (1932), he was already a senior director. In 1933, he emigrated to Palestine. He founded a chamber opera in Tel Aviv, and his production of Verdi's "Rigoletto" was the first opera to be performed in Palestine.

The Histadrut (trade union umbrella organization) in the USA commissioned Benno D. F., as he called himself from then on, to organize the Palestinian cultural pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. He worked in American theaters until 1943, when he enlisted for military service. He received several awards for his work as a successful propagandist to influence the enemy at the soldiers' radio station in Lorient after the Normandy landings.

Fraenkel returned to Germany as director of the theater and music departments in the Allied Control Council (Omgus). In this influential position, he made it his task to track down actors and directors who had gone underground and to found new theaters. Fraenkel returned to the USA in 1948. In the following 25 years, he staged over 300 operas and musicals as a university lecturer and director. In 1971, he decided to live in Israel. In 1960, Fraenkel was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class for his achievements as a "theater officer".