Anne Froehlich, a longtime Pacific Palisades resident who personally campaigned for every Democratic presidential candidate since Harry S. Truman in 1948, passed away on March 12. She was 81. ‘Anne was the embodiment of the Democratic Party and the social issues it stands for in our community for four decades,’ said Palisades Democratic Club president Joe Halper. ‘We will sorely miss her.’ Anneliese Rothschild, the oldest child of Erna and Will Rothschild, was born March 29, 1923 in Mannheim, Germany. Her father was the owner of a successful specialty store in Ludwigshafen, across the Rhine from Mannheim, where the family lived on the outskirts of town. Anne attended school in Mannheim until 1937, when the principal told her mother that Jews were no longer welcome. Anne was 14 years old. At this time, her father was also forced to sell his business and the family home. The family moved to nearby Heidelberg. Will continued to run the department store from behind the scenes and Anne continued her education at a Catholic girls school in Heidelberg. There she received private religious lessons from a rabbi, even learning Ivrit. She had already studied Hebrew in pre-Nazi Germany. Anne’s mother, sensing growing danger, arranged for her children to leave Germany. Anne, 16, was sent to Paris to live with her maternal aunt and uncle and attended high school there. Her younger sister and brother attended a Quaker boarding school in the Netherlands. Against Erna’s wishes, Anne’s father, a decorated World War I veteran, insisted on staying in Germany. He didn’t believe Hitler would remain in power and could not imagine the danger Erna intuited. With her children safe in France and the Netherlands, Erna herself fled to Switzerland when she feared war would break out during the Munich Crisis. Erna finally convinced Will to leave Germany for the Netherlands, where a cousin had given them the affidavit. Unfortunately, these plans were dashed. By the time new plans were made for the family to emigrate to Australia, Will was rounded up on Kristallnacht and taken to Dachau before the family could leave. With determination’a trait Anne learned well’Anne’s mother secured appropriate papers, packed what belongings the family could take and gathered her children, all the while bargaining for Will’s release from Dachau. Anne, her mother, sister and brother boarded a Dutch liner in Villefranche, France, anxiously awaiting Will’s arrival from Dachau. When he did not arrive, the ship left with the family hoping he would meet them at the next port in Genoa, Italy. When the ship docked at Genoa, he still was not there. As the ship was pulling away an almost unrecognizable and emaciated Will appeared and was brought aboard. During passage to Australia, Will’s health was restored. When the family reached their destination in Melbourne, the children were immediately enrolled in school. Anne, a bright student, graduated from high school in one year, even though she knew little English. Her parents worked a variety of jobs in Melbourne, counting every penny to support the family while the children studied. Once graduated, Anne worked as a comptometer operator and billing clerk in a cosmetics firm and went to night school where she became an accountant with an equivalent degree of an American CPA. Her family, now settled in their new country, established a skirt manufacturing business utilizing the skills of Anne’s sister who learned skirt-making and design as an apprentice. Anne kept books for the family business for several years. In the fall of 1946, with money she saved, Anne left for Mexico City to visit relatives who had emigrated there. Her childhood friend and teenage sweetheart, Hans (Harry) Froehlich, then living in Los Angeles, was also in Mexico to visit Anne’s cousin who was Harry’s friend from Mannheim days. Anneliese and Hans’Anne and Harry’had been penpals during their years away from Mannheim. After a whirlwind romance in Mexico City, Harry and Anne were married there on December 31, 1946. Since Harry was by then an American G.I., Anne liked to recall that she came to Los Angeles as ‘a war bride.’ She worked as a part-time accountant/bookkeeper, becoming an American citizen in 1948. Harry and Anne became parents to Marion in 1949. While Harry went into business with his father and brother building Charmfit of Hollywood, their intimate apparel factory, Anne became an atypical suburban housewife/political activist. Clyde was born in 1951 and was wheeled in his stroller by Anne the following year as she walked precincts for presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. Harry and Anne moved from their first home on Butler Avenue to their much loved Marinette Road home in 1958. In time, Anne’s sister moved to England, her parents retired to Switzerland, and her brother remained in Melbourne. As a result, Harry and Anne did much traveling, often with their family which came to include granddaughter Jesse, born in 1981, and grandson Will, born in 1983. Anne was known for her dedication to the Democratic Party and all causes progressive and liberal and her passion for helping people, especially the disenfranchised. She was known for her keen mind; for devouring the L.A. Times, Time magazine, the New Yorker, and everything else she could get her hands on; for political discussions with her children and grandchildren that regularly lasted into the early morning hours. But she was loved for simply being Anne’wife, mom, grandma, activist, friend. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Harry; her children, Marion and Clyde; and grandchildren Jesse and Will. Funeral services were held Monday at Hillside Cemetery in Los Angeles. Memorial donations can be made to the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, P.O. Box 343, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272; the Westside Fair Housing Council, 10537 Santa Monica Blvd., #320, Los Angeles, CA 90025; or The Benfactors of the Jewish Club of 1933, Inc., 7150 Tampa Ave., Reseda, CA 91335.
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