The collection contains the photos and papers of Franz and Annie Hahn, a Jewish couple from Germany who sought refuge in Durban, South Africa in the late 1930s.

Franz was born on 15 December 1869 in Liegnitz, Germany to Heinrich and Bertha Cohn. In 1895 Franz became a Judicial Assessor in Breslau, Germany. In 1900 he applied and received permission from the government to change his surname from ‘Cohn’ to Hahn, which was his mother's maiden name. In the same year, Franz married Annie Jacobsohn, who was born in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, on 19 December 1880 to George and Doris Jacobsohn. In 1915 Franz was appointed as a Counsellor of Justice by the King of Prussia, Wilhelm II.

By the late 1930s, the couple decided to leave Germany for South Africa. They settled in Durban where Franz died in 1941. The couple had two children, Lotte and Heinrich George.