Biographies

Otto Frank

About Otto

Otto Frank was born on 12 May 1889 in Frankfurt, Germany. His father Michael was a banker and he had two brothers and a sister.

Before the Secret Annex

Otto studied economics, but gave it up to work in a bank. He was then given the opportunity, via a school friend, to do an internship at Macy's Department Store in New York City. In 1914, Otto and his brothers were conscripted to the German Army to fight in World War 1.

Otto married Edith Hollander in 1925. In 1933, when Hitler came to power, the family decided Germany was too dangerous and moved to Holland, where Otto set up his own company called Opekta.

During the Secret Annex

When Germany invaded Holland on 10 May 1940, various restrictions were put on Jews. Otto was not allowed to run his own business so he made his Dutch colleagues Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman the official owners of his business, but continued to secretly run it himself.

When his daughter Margot received call-up papers to report to a labour camp, Otto hid his family in a specially prepared annex above his office.

After the Secret Annex

After the annex was raided, the occupants were transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Along with his family, Otto avoided the selection for the gas chamber. He managed to survive until the camp was liberated in January 1945.

Five months later, Otto heard of his daughters' deaths in Bergen-Belsen camp, where they had been transferred. Miep Gies returned Anne's Diary to him, after finding it in the empty annex. During the 1950's, Otto remarried and moved to Switzerland, where he lived until his death in 1980.