Description
Physical description
Iron finger ring (23mm diameter) engraved with the inscription 'Gold gab ich fur Eisen 1914 OSK'.
Label
Engraved iron finger ring given as replacement for gold jewellery offered as gift to the war funds of the Austro-Hungarian empire during the First World War. The original owner of this ring, a young married Jewish woman, lived in Innsbruck during the First World War with her husband and four children. In an attempt to fund the costs of the war effort, the Austrian Government appealed to its citizens to give up gold rings and other jewellery. In exchange for a gold wedding ring, the donor was given one made of iron and inscribed 'Gold gab ich fur Eisen 1914'.
Following the Anschluss in 1938, the couple left Austria and eventually joined their two daughters, one a doctor who had been living in Germany with her husband and child, and the other, a dressmaker in Vienna, both of whom had fled persecution from the Nazis. The eldest son had died in a climbing accident in 1920. For a time, the family lived in London. Their life in England, like that of so many refugees from Nazi persecution, was in marked contrast to the life they had been used to in pre-war Austria. In the words of her granddaughter the family had been well to do and 'lived in a beautiful apartment in a beautiful part of Innsbruck, in the centre of the town: when there were parties, when much chamber music was played, my grandmother being a very able pianist. Apparently at times when a performer failed to appear at the main music venue of Innsbruck, she would perform in public.' Commenting on the gift of her grandmother's wedding ring to the Austrian State, the granddaughter recalled 'I have no idea what amount of gold jewellery my grandmother would have given to the Austrian State which collected it for the costs of the First World War. Certainly she wore the iron ring all her life I believe, together with her wedding ring and a small gold ring with a diamond.' Both daughters subsequently enjoyed distinguished careers in their respective professions in Britain. The original owner of the ring died in 1952 and the ring was then donated to the Imperial War Museum by the lady's granddaughter.
History note
Donor's grandmother, living in Innsbruck during the First World War, exchanged her wedding ring for the above object.
The donor's grandparents, Adele and Carl Frankl, were approximately 36 and 39 years old respectively when the war began in 1914. Between 1900 and 1914, they had four children, two boys and two girls, the donor's mother being one, born in 1909. The oldest son, Sigmund, joined the tiny Austrian air force in 1914 and survived the war only to be killed in a climbing accident in 1920.
His sister Kaethe began her academic career as the first female medical student at the University of Innsbruck, and went on to study psychology and then psychoanalysis. She studied with Sigmund Freud in Vienna, and then worked at the Charite Hospital in Berlin, where she married a doctor Misch, and had a daughter with him. They emigrated to England shortly after the Nazis took power; Kaethe was removed from her state post. She had to retake all her exams when she arrived in England, which she did, also divorcing and remarrying radiologist George Friedlander. Later she would work with Anna Freud, setting up the Anna Freud nursery in Hampstead together.
The donor's mother, born 1909, studied dressmaking and had a workroom in Innsbruck. Upon arrival in the UK, she continued in this trade, to great success. She instructed in the fashion school at the Royal College of Art for 11 years.
Mother and daughter came to England with help from Aunt Kate directly after the Anschluss, April 17, 1938. The grandparents followed later.
For a time, mother, daughter and grandparents lived together in a house in Edgware. She says "It was an uneasy existence as my grandparents were often disagreeable with one another and frequently had quite violent quarrels."
Upon the death of the grandfather, mother and daughter moved into a flat, and the grandmother into the first of a series of rooms.
Donor says, "I found her a very strange person as I really only knew her when her life had been so diminished, firstly by my grandfather's failures with money, which then continued for at least fifteen years as well as by the viccissitudes of the German political situation from 1939 until she died in a home in 1952. I never knew her when the family was well-to-do, when they lived in a beautiful apartment in a beautiful part of Innsbruck, in the centre of the town: when there were parties, when much chamber-music was played, my grandmother being a very able pianist. Apparently at times when a performer failed to appear at the main music venue of Innsbruck, she would perform in public. I saw none of that. I knew her only when she was old and unhappy, unable to speak English, and would look after me (with the greatest severity) when other people were too busy to do so.
My one great memory of being with her at the smartest cafe in Innsbruck whilst she drank coffee (probably with whipped cream and certainly with a delicious pastry) was that I had to eat raw carrots from a paper bag she had brought with her. She was also a great believer in the idea that children should be seen and not heard, preferably probably not even being seen any too much."
"I have no idea what amount of gold jewellery my grandmother would have given to the Austrian State which collected it for the costs of the First World War. Certainly she wore the iron ring all her life I believe, together with her wedding ring and a small gold ring with a diamond."
Engraved
Gold gab ich fur Eisen 1914 OSK