Otto Frank

Otto Frank - Father of Anne Frank, Birthday and Facts

Violet FieldHome › GermanOtto FrankMay 12, 1889528 views

0 based on 0 rates
Otto Frank Biography Stories 

Otto Frank's Personal Details

Otto Frank was a German businessman, famous as the father of Anne Frank

InformationDetail
BirthdayMay 12, 1889
Died onAugust 19, 1980
NationalityGerman, Dutch, Swiss
FamousHolocaust Survivors, Business People, Father of Anne Frank
SpousesEdith Frank (m. 1925–1945), Elfriede Geiringer (m. 1953–1980)
Known asOtto Heinrich
ChildrensAnne Frank
Universities
  • Heidelberg College
Birth PlaceFrankfurt am Main, German Empire
Born CountryGermany
ReligionJewish
GenderMale
FatherMichael Frank
MotherAlice Stern Frank
Sun SignTaurus
Born inFrankfurt am Main, German Empire
Famous asFather of Anne Frank
Died at Age91

Otto Frank's photo

Who is Otto Frank?

Otto Heinrich ‘Pim’ Frank, popularly known as Otto Frank, was a Jewish-German businessman who had to go through the devastating violence at the hands of German Nazis. He lost all of his family to the mass massacre of the Nazi concentration camps—his wife and two daughters - Margot and Anne. Frank was an exceptionally good businessman who started off working in a bank in Germany and then flew off to America for a few years for work. He took part in World War I and then opened his own business in Holland, where he took his family along. As soon as the tyranny of German army started, Frank hid his family in a secret annex over his office in Holland. But a few years later they were caught and sent to concentration camps. He was the only one who survived. Later he found out that all this while when his family was hidden in that office, his youngest daughter Anne was maintaining a journal, penning down the pain and experiences that she and her family was going through. He decided to publish the journal, after turning it into a single manuscript, so that everyone in the world can reflect upon the sadness of the whole incident, through his daughter’s words.

// Famous Holocaust Survivors

Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian writer and a famous Nazi hunter. This biography gives detailed information about his childhood, life, works, and timeline.

Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler was a Polish nurse who along with her network is credited to have saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. .

Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel is a Jewish Writer who has authored more than fifty books including, the best-known “Night”. To know more about the childhood, life and timeline of Elie Wiesel, read the brief biography and profile of Elie Wiesel.

Childhood & Early Life

Otto Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to Michael Frank and Alice Betty Frank. He was born in a Jewish family and had three other siblings—Robert, Herbert and Helene Frank.

After finishing his high school studies in Germany, Frank pursued art history at the University of Heidelberg.

Career

Frank did a job at a local bank for a year and side by side he started pursuing economics at a university. It was around this time that he got an opportunity to work in Manhattan, New York.

An internship at Macy’s Department store in New York was arranged for him. He became very excited about this opportunity and left for New York but sudden death of his father required him to come back after two weeks.

After attending the funeral, Frank again headed back to New York to make a decent living there. He spent two years working there; he worked at the Macy’s and then secured a position at a bank.

In 1911, Frank returned back to his homeland and started working in a company that manufactured window frames and later during World War I, he took up a job with a manufacturer of horseshoes for the German army.

Soon, Frank was taken into the German Military in 1914 and was stationed at the Western front where he earned the rank of lieutenant. After the war ended, he returned back to his normal civilian life.

Frank took over the management of the family bank which his younger brother was looking after until now but was not able to handle it properly. In 1936, he founded his own company ‘Opekta Company’ and became its director.

Soon he shifted with his family to Holland to avoid the dangers of growing resistance of Hitler’s army towards the Jews. In 1940, Holland was invaded by Germany and Jews were prohibited to run their own businesses.

Frank had to appoint his Dutch colleagues as the owners of the firm and in 1942, his elder daughter got an official letter that expected her to join a work camp. This shook the family and they went into hiding.

The whole family hid into a secret annex above Frank’s former office along with other Jews and lived there for two years. This was the time when his youngest daughter Anne started to write a journal on her experiences.

In 1944, Frank family’s safe haven was invaded by the Gestapo and the whole family was arrested and sent to the Westerbork transit concentration camp and later to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

It was at Auschwitz that Frank was separated forever from his wife and his two daughters as he was shifted to men’s barracks and then to sick barracks. He was later released by Soviet troops in 1945.

Frank went to Netherlands and tried his best to trace his family and friends but after months of struggling with the search, he finally realized that he was the sole survivor in his family.

In 1945, Anne’s journal was handed to Frank by Miep Gies who salvaged the manuscript from the raided secret hiding. Frank did not do anything with it for some time but slowly started to translate it for his relatives.

Slowly he found out that Anne’s writing reflected the pain of all the Jews who went through the act of hatred and violence at the hands of Nazis. He considered getting it published.

He typed Anne’s dairy into a manuscript and edited the parts that he considered were too private a detail of his family to divulge. He then sent it to the Dutch historian Jan Romein, who evaluated it for ‘Het Parool’.

In 1946, Amsterdam’s Contract Publishing took interest in Anne’s dairy and accepted it for publication. In the following year, Anne’s diary’s first edition came out under the title of, ‘Het Achterhuis’ which means ‘The Secret Annex’.

In 1952, ‘Het Achterhuis’ was translated into English successfully, which is responsible for its eventual theatrical portrayal and a film version. Besides this, Frank was involved in restoration of the building where his family hid during the war.

Major Works

Frank’s life’s most important work has been editing his daughter Anne’s dairy into a manuscript for its subsequent publication in 1946. He considered it imperative that the world should feel the pain of the Jews through his daughter’s words.

Personal Life & Legacy

Frank married his first wife Edith Hollander in 1925. The couple was together until Hollander’s death in the horrific concentration camps. They had two children together - Margot and Anne.

He remarried in 1953 to Fritzi Markovits and the couple shifted to Switzerland for good. They lived there until their death. Frank died in 1980 in Basel, Switzerland, due to lung cancer.

Trivia

Frank family went into hiding in one of the upper rooms of his office ‘Opekta Company’ on the Prinsengracht. They moved in there with another family of three—Hermann van Pels. His colleagues helped them to live in hiding for two years; these were—Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, Victor Kugler and Bep Voskuijl.

It was an anonymous informant that betrayed the family and they were all arrested.

The place of their hiding was considered for demolition but Frank and his friend Johannes Kleiman founded the Anne Frank Foundation in 1957 and restored the building and opened a museum there, under the name of ‘Anne Frank House’.

// Famous Business People

Kristina Sunshine Jung

Kristina Sunshine Jung

Kristina Sunshine Jung is an American entrepreneur and actor, better known as the daughter of drug-smuggler George Jung and his ex-wife, Mirtha Jung.

Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Ted Turner is a media tycoon who founded the cable news network CNN. This biography of Ted Turner provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.

Guccio Gucci

Guccio Gucci

Guccio Gucci was a famous fashion designer from Florence, Italy, and the founder of the world-renowned fashion brand ‘Gucci.’ Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family, personal life, career, etc.

Otto Frank biography timelines

  • // 12th May 1889
    Otto Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to Michael Frank and Alice Betty Frank. He was born in a Jewish family and had three other siblings—Robert, Herbert and Helene Frank.
  • // 1911
    In 1911, Frank returned back to his homeland and started working in a company that manufactured window frames and later during World War I, he took up a job with a manufacturer of horseshoes for the German army.
  • // 1914
    Soon, Frank was taken into the German Military in 1914 and was stationed at the Western front where he earned the rank of lieutenant. After the war ended, he returned back to his normal civilian life.
  • // 1925 To 1945
    Frank married his first wife Edith Hollander in 1925. The couple was together until Hollander’s death in the horrific concentration camps. They had two children together - Margot and Anne.
  • // 1936
    Frank took over the management of the family bank which his younger brother was looking after until now but was not able to handle it properly. In 1936, he founded his own company ‘Opekta Company’ and became its director.
  • // 1940
    Soon he shifted with his family to Holland to avoid the dangers of growing resistance of Hitler’s army towards the Jews. In 1940, Holland was invaded by Germany and Jews were prohibited to run their own businesses.
  • // 1942
    Frank had to appoint his Dutch colleagues as the owners of the firm and in 1942, his elder daughter got an official letter that expected her to join a work camp. This shook the family and they went into hiding.
  • // 1944
    In 1944, Frank family’s safe haven was invaded by the Gestapo and the whole family was arrested and sent to the Westerbork transit concentration camp and later to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • // 1945
    It was at Auschwitz that Frank was separated forever from his wife and his two daughters as he was shifted to men’s barracks and then to sick barracks. He was later released by Soviet troops in 1945.
  • // 1945
    In 1945, Anne’s journal was handed to Frank by Miep Gies who salvaged the manuscript from the raided secret hiding. Frank did not do anything with it for some time but slowly started to translate it for his relatives.
  • // 1946
    In 1946, Amsterdam’s Contract Publishing took interest in Anne’s dairy and accepted it for publication. In the following year, Anne’s diary’s first edition came out under the title of, ‘Het Achterhuis’ which means ‘The Secret Annex’.
  • // 1952
    In 1952, ‘Het Achterhuis’ was translated into English successfully, which is responsible for its eventual theatrical portrayal and a film version. Besides this, Frank was involved in restoration of the building where his family hid during the war.
  • // 1957
    The place of their hiding was considered for demolition but Frank and his friend Johannes Kleiman founded the Anne Frank Foundation in 1957 and restored the building and opened a museum there, under the name of ‘Anne Frank House’.
  • // 19th Aug 1980
    He remarried in 1953 to Fritzi Markovits and the couple shifted to Switzerland for good. They lived there until their death. Frank died in 1980 in Basel, Switzerland, due to lung cancer.

// Famous Swiss peoples

Barıs Arduc

Barıs Arduc

Barıs Arduc is a Swiss-born Albanian actor. Check out this biography to know about his birthday, childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him.

Jocelyn Wildenstein

Jocelyn Wildenstein

Jocelyn Wildenstein is an American socialite who is known for marrying into the notorious Wildenstein family.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist famous for founding the school of analytical psychology. This biography of Carl Jung provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a psychologist and philosopher known for his theory of cognitive development. This biography of Jean Piaget provides detailed information about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline.

Venus Palermo

Venus Palermo

Venus Palermo, also known as Venus Angelic, is a well-known Swiss YouTuber. Let’s take a look at her family, age, birthday, etc.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a noted Swiss-born philosopher, writer and composer. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and other facts about his life.

Otto Frank's FAQ

  • What is Otto Frank birthday?

    Otto Frank was born at 1889-05-12

  • When was Otto Frank died?

    Otto Frank was died at 1980-08-19

  • Where was Otto Frank died?

    Otto Frank was died in Birsfelden, Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland

  • Which age was Otto Frank died?

    Otto Frank was died at age 91

  • Where is Otto Frank's birth place?

    Otto Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, German Empire

  • What is Otto Frank nationalities?

    Otto Frank's nationalities is German, Dutch, Swiss

  • Who is Otto Frank spouses?

    Otto Frank's spouses is Edith Frank (m. 1925–1945), Elfriede Geiringer (m. 1953–1980)

  • Who is Otto Frank childrens?

    Otto Frank's childrens is Anne Frank

  • What was Otto Frank universities?

    Otto Frank studied at Heidelberg College

  • What is Otto Frank's religion?

    Otto Frank's religion is Jewish

  • Who is Otto Frank's father?

    Otto Frank's father is Michael Frank

  • Who is Otto Frank's mother?

    Otto Frank's mother is Alice Stern Frank

  • What is Otto Frank's sun sign?

    Otto Frank is Taurus

  • How famous is Otto Frank?

    Otto Frank is famouse as Father of Anne Frank