Mavro Frankfurter


Mavro "Moše" Frankfurter was a well known Croatian and Vinkovci rabbi who was killed during the Holocaust at the Jasenovac concentration camp.
Moshe Frankfurter was born in Holešov, Czech Republic on 15 May 1875 to David and Katerina Frankfurter. He was married to Rebekka-Rivka Frankfurter, with whom he had three children: daughter Ruth and two sons, David and Alfons. Frankfurter family lived in Daruvar where Frankfurter was a rabbi. On the eve of World War I he moved with his family to Vinkovci where he was appointed as rabbi, and later in 1914 as Chief rabbi. Frankfurter was fluent in German, Polish, Hebrew and Croatian. In Frankfurter household German and Hebrew was spoken. During the construction of Nova ulica in Vinkovci, Frankfurter built a family mansion. From 1914 to 1941, in addition to the regular activities at the Jewish community of Vinkovci and Vinkovci Synagogue, Frankfurter worked as a Judaism teacher at the Vinkovci Gymnasium. In 1936 his son David assassinated Swiss branch leader of the German NSDAP Wilhelm Gustloff in Davos, Switzerland. Frankfurter hair turned grey overnight when he heard of the assassination. He visited his son in prison and asked him "... who actually needed this?". During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Vinkovci in 1941, Frankfurter was made to stand on a table while the German soldiers spat in his face, pulled out the hair from his long beard, and struck him with their rifle butts. Frankfurter and his wife were killed in 1942 by Ustaše at the Jasenovac concentration camp.