Another fresh story about one of the 20th century’s most recognizable historical figures.
Anne Frank (1929-1945) remains perhaps the most moving figure to come out of the Holocaust, and publishers continue to turn out her famous diary and books describing her tragic life. In 1933, her German family fled to Holland after Hitler came to power. Her father, Otto Frank, ran a food product business that prospered even after the Nazi invasion in May 1940. When Jews were forbidden to own businesses, he transferred ownership to a non-Jewish executive. After the Nazis began deporting Jews, he converted part of his warehouse into a disguised annex and went into hiding in July 1942 with his family and another one. There they remained for more than two years while the business continued, fed and supported by loyal non-Jewish employees. In August 1944, not long before the liberation, they were betrayed, arrested, and sent to extermination camps. Only Otto survived. In this revealing addition to the history, Dutch writers van Wijk-Voskuijl and De Bruyn focus on the employees who knew of the secret annex.
