Return Otto Frank: back in Amsterdam
On 3 June 1945, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam to his friends Jan and Miep Gies. From there he went in search of his daughters. On 18 July, he received the news that his daughters had perished in Bergen-Belsen. Soon after, Miep Gies gave him his daughter Anne's diary.
On 3 June 1945, Otto Frank was brought from Arnhem to Amsterdam by car via Utrecht and Rotterdam. At half past nine in the evening, Otto arrived at the house of Jan and Miep Gies at 25 Hunzestraat, where he learned that both Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman had survived the war.[1] After Otto's arrival, Miep went straight to Kleiman, whereupon Kleiman and his wife came to Hunzestraat.[2] Lotte Kaletta also came to Hunzestraat. Otto noted in his booklet: "What a joy to see us again and how much suffering! A huge relief that everyone was there."[1] Kugler is in inverted commas in the notebook. He lived in Hilversum so possibly he was not there in person.[1]
The next day, on 4 June 1945, Otto wrote "office" in his diary, so he probably visited the office on Prinsengracht.[3] It is possible that this was also when he visited the Secret Annexe again for the first time.
In Amsterdam, Otto continued his search for Anne and Margot, but for a long time he received no news. On 8 June, for example, he wrote to his mother: "I am writing here from my office and it is all like a grim dream, I cannot yet grasp reality...Where [the children] are, I do not know, but I think of them constantly."[4]
On 9 June, Otto reported back to the Amsterdam police Aliens Department.[5]
On 18 July 1945, Otto suffered his second major blow. Looking through a Red Cross list, he saw the names of his two daughters with a cross behind them, which meant they had perished. Not long after, Miep Gies gave him his daughter's diary, which she had kept for Anne for months.[6]
Footnotes
- a, b, c Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA) reg. code OFA_002: Agenda Otto Frank 1945, 3 juni.
- ^ AFS, Getuigenarchief, Kleiman: Mededeling J. v.d. Broek-Kleiman, 17 april 2009.
- ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_002: Agenda Otto Frank 1945, 4 juni.
- ^ Origineel citaat: ‘Ich schreibe hier im Büro, es ist alles wie ein schwerer Traum. Ich kann mich in der Wirklichkeit noch nicht zurecht finden […] Wo sie sind, weiss ich nicht und die Gedanke an sie verlässt mich nicht.’ Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds, Bazel, Alice Frank-Stern, AlF_corr_10_0029, Otto Frank aan Alice Frank-Stern 8 juni 1945.
- ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van de Politie, toegangsnummer 5225, inv. nr. 3929: Vreemdelingenkaart Otto H. Frank.
- ^ Bas von Benda Beckmann, Na het Achterhuis. Anne Frank en de andere onderduikers in de kampen, Amsterdam: Querido, 2020, p. 310.