80: Edith Frank

 

80 years ago today (January 6, 1945) Edith Frank died at the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland.

Edith Frank (née Holländer) was born on January 16, 1900 in Aachen, Germany. She was the youngest of 4 Children born to a German Jewish Family.

Her Father, Abraham Holländer (1860–1928) was a successful Businessman in Industrial Equipment who was active in the Aachen Jewish Community together with Edith's Mother, Rosa Holländer (1866–1942).

The Holländer Family lived in Amsterdam at the start of the 18th Century, emigrating from the Netherlands to Germany around 1800. Edith's Last Name, Holländer, is German for "Dutchman" (literally: "Hollander").

Edith attended the Evangelical Higher Girls' School and passed her School-Leaving Exams (Abitur) in 1916.

She then worked for her Family’s Business.

In her free time, she read copiously, played tennis, went swimming and had a large circle of Friends.

She met Otto Frank in 1924 and they married on his 36th Birthday -  May 12, 1925 - at Aachen's Synagogue.

They lived in Frankfurt am Main where their Daughters (Margot on February 16, 1926 and Anne on June 12, 1929) were born.

In 1933, due to Hitler and the Nazis taking power, the Franks moved from Germany to Amsterdam, the Netherlands (where Otto opened a Dutch Branch of the Pectin Business he had worked for in Germany.)

Edith struggled in the Netherlands – unable to speak Dutch – but made Friends with other German Jewish Refugees in Holland.

Edith became involved in Amsterdam's Liberal Jewish Community, and attended Synagogue with her oldest Daughter, Margot, on a regular basis.

Her older Brothers Walter and Julius immigrated to the United States after 1938, and her Mother, Rosa Holländer-Stern, left Aachen, Germany in 1939 to join the Frank family in Amsterdam, where she died in January 1942.

In May 1940 the Germans invaded the Netherlands.

Edith and the other Jews were forced to wear the Star of David on their Clothing, they couldn’t ride Public Transportation, they couldn’t go to Non-Jewish Schools, they couldn’t own Businesses (Otto signed over his Pectin Business to his Non-Jewish Friends.)

On July 2, 1942 (after Margot received a Deportation Letter to Germany)  Edith and her Family went into hiding at the Secret Annex in Amsterdam.

The 2 year period the Frank Family spent in hiding with four other People (their Friends Hermann van Pels, his wife Auguste van Pels and his Son Peter van Pels, and Miep Gies's Dentist Fritz Pfeffer) was chronicled in Anne Frank's posthumously published Diary.

They were betrayed and arrested by the Germans on August 4, 1944.

After detainment in the Gestapo Headquarters on the Euterpestraat and 3 days in Prison on the Weteringschans Edith and the rest were deported to the Westerbork Transit Camp in northern Holland.

In Westerbork they were treated as Criminals (for having hid) and were deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland on September 3, 1944  - on the last Train from Westerbork to Auschwitz.

At Auschwitz the Men were separated from the Women (Edith never saw Otto again) and after surviving the Selection Edith, Anne and Margot did Forced Labor.

In Auschwitz Edith did everything she could to protect her Daughters including giving up her own small Food Ration to them.

On October 30, 1944 Anne and Margot were deported from Auschwitz and sent to the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany (where they both died between February and March 1945.)

Edith was selected to be sent to the Gas Chambers, but escaped her Barrack and lived in another Barrack.

Edith became sick and went to the hospital where she died of weakness and disease on January 6, 1944  - 3 weeks before the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz and 10 days before her 45^th Birthday.