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Return Otto Frank: the Monowai and Marseille

On May 21, 1945, Otto Frank left Odessa bound for Marseille on the New Zealand ship Monowai. He arrived on 27 May 1945.

Event

May 21, 1945 - May 27, 1945

43.300946 N 5.362272 E

Marseille

Frankrijk

Otto Frank left Odessa for Marseille on 21 May 1945 on the New Zealand ship the Monowai.[1] During the sailing, Debora Delden (1923-1945), an acquaintance from Amsterdam of Miep and Jan Gies, whose name Otto had noted in his notebook on 11 March, died.[2] On 26 May 1945, Otto wrote letters to his mother and Robert from the ship.[3]

Passing Istanbul, Crete, Sardinia and Corsica, the French coast finally came into sight.[4] Rosa de Winter wrote: "Very calmly our ship, the "Monoway", enters Marseille on 27 May. There is a great reception, on the quay there is a music band, playing the Dutch National Anthem and the Marseillaise.'[5]

Otto sent a telegram to the Elias-Frank family in Basel on arrival in Marseille on 27 May in which he wrote: ' ARRIVEE BONNE SANTE MARSEILLE PARTONS PARIS BAISERS - OTTO FRANK '[6] The wording 'partons Paris' led the family to assume that the family had been reunited. So the letter of 28 March, in which Otto Frank wrote about Edith's death, had not reached the family in Basel by then.[6]

Upon arrival, everyone was registered, medically examined and there were sandwiches and wine.[7] Otto then took the train towards the Netherlands where he arrived in Roermond on 31 May 1945.

Footnotes

  1. ^ See: New Zealand History: Monowai – the ship that rescued Anne Frank's father; Wikipedia: HMNZS Monowai (F59).
  2. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Getuigenarchief, Stoppelman: Brief Max Stoppelman aan Hans Westra, 25 augustus 1999; AFS, Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_040: Notitieboekje 1945, 25 april t/m 20 mei.
  3. ^ Familiearchief Anne Frank-Fonds, Bazel, Alice Frank, AFF_AlF_corr_10: Otto Frank aan Alice Frank-Stern en Robert Frank, 26 mei 1945.
  4. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_040: Notitieboekje 1945, 21 t/m 26 mei.
  5. ^ Rosa de Winter-Levy, Aan de gaskamer ontsnapt! Het satanswerk van de S.S.: relaas van het lijden in de bevrijding uit het concentratiekamp "Birkenau" bij Auschwitz, Doetinchem: Misset, 1945, p.43. Also see: NOS 1944-1945 - Het Bevrijdingsjaar: Marseilaise en Wilhelmus bij aankomst kampoverlevenden in Frankrijk.
  6. a, b AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_071: Otto Frank aan familie Elias-Frank, 27 mei 1945.
  7. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_040: Notitieboekje 1945, 27 mei.