“We’ve always been like the same
person. But when I got to read his
book, that’s when I realized we
basically have the same exact
characteristics as each other.”
HAYDEN BANK
Bank is still committed to learning more about his family
history, largely thanks to his grandson.

Hayden, 13, inspired by an older cousin’s family tree on
a different side of his family, took on the responsibility of
creating a Frank family tree in September 2020 as a project
during COVID.

“I wanted it done; I didn’t want anyone else doing it,” Hayden
said. “And I felt like this was my opportunity to do it.”
With the help of Bank’s cousins, Hayden uploaded his family
tree to Ancestry.com. Hayden and Bank then received an email
from Roland Paul, a historian who had been in contact with
Bank’s mother, whom he met during her trips back to her home-
town of Odenbach, Germany after the Holocaust. From there,
the family tree grew even larger.

The family tree now spans eight generations, with over 120
entrees. Hayden hopes to share the updated family tree with
Bank’s cousins and extended family at a family reunion next
spring. Hayden’s great grandmother and Bank’s mother died when
Hayden was 9 years old, but Hayden remembers visiting his
great grandmother’s apartment and finding a photograph of the
Frank family from 1914. Before his family tree research, Hayden
could only identify a few of the relatives in the photo. Now he can
identify almost all of them.

At the pending family reunion, Hayden will meet some of
Bank’s cousins for the first time. Bank will be meeting some of
them for the first time too.

Hayden calls his grandfather every day and has read ‘Tree of
Sorrow’ and the books that preceded it. As time goes on, Hayden
thinks he gets more and more similar to his grandfather.

“We’ve always been like the same person,” Hayden said. “But
when I got to read his book, that’s when I realized we basically
have the same exact characteristics as each other.”
Bank insists that when he gave Hayden Ludwig Frank’s watch
and the Tree of Sorrow, he had no agenda for what he believed
Hayden should do with it.

And Hayden has a fierce loyalty to Bank: “I always tell him
to this day, ‘I’m going to make sure I take care of you one day.’”
Because of Hayden’s commitment to his family, Bank has no
concerns about the fate of his grandfather’s watch.

“He’s already fulfilled his responsibility to the watch,” Bank
said. “Maybe one day he’ll want to pass it on, and then he’ll pass
on the story of the watch and the memory of the Holocaust.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
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