The main themes of the 72+ Frankls Documentary are “Never Again,” no acts of genocide against any human being in the world, generational trauma, and resiliency. This theme will be told through the personal stories of our family’s tragedies during WW2 and the stories of survival and thriving in the present day.
More than 72 Frankls were murdered and killed during WW2.
My cousin, Thomas “Tommy’ Frankl, is the last living survivor of the Holocaust in our family. Because Tommy is turning 90 in October, I feel the urgent need to film and interview him in Vienna as soon as possible.
The first step is to document Tommy’s stories and scan the archive of family pictures. Next, we will interview the Frankls in Germany, England, Australia, and Israel.
There are many stories to recount.
Many of our family died in the Holocaust, but some survived, like Adolf “Dolphie” Frankl (Tommy’s father and my Great Uncle) and Viktor Frankl (Cousin), the author of Man’s Search for Meaning.
Dolphie Frankl survived Auschwitz, miraculously found his family, and went on to create a profound collection of Paintings and Artwork.
Tommy and his sister, Erica, survived the Holocaust because two Catholic nuns hid them in their basement for many years at great personal risk. Tommy and Erica were reunited with their parents. Tommy became a successful businessman, professor, and curator of his father’s art collection.
Viktor Frankl survived Auschwitz and went on to have a profound impact on the world. He found Logos Therapy and arguably set the foundation for modern-day Positive Psychology.
The personal stories will be interwoven with interviews from historians and research, which will unearth all the stories and archive the information for future generations.
