Frank Adler

Of Blessed Memory 1923-2018

Frank Adler was born Franz Julius Schwarzadler, in 1923 in Frankfurt, Germany. As the only child in an affluent family Frank enjoyed many cultural activities and a rich Jewish and secular education. Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933, Frank witnessed the early persecution of the Jews and remembers being beaten on the school playground for being Jewish. When Jewish children were barred from public schools in 1934, he attended a Jewish school founded by the Rothschilds and joined a Zionist youth group. Frank’s mother recognized the danger to the Jewish community and began working to secure affidavits for the family to emigrate from Germany. With the help of a family friend they were able to secure paperwork for Frank to immigrate temporarily to England to attend school shortly after Kristallnacht. In 1940 his quota number to immigrate to the United States came up and Frank traveled alone to New York and then to Chicago where he joined his cousin’s family until his parents could join him. The family settled into life in America and Frank later served in the United States Army as a chaplain. Frank married his wife Lois in 1950 and the couple made Kansas City their home in 1953.