Founding

In 1928, Austrian chemist Robert Feix^[1] developed a natural binder that was applicable for household use. He gave it the trade name Opekta, which stands for Obstpektin aus dem Apfel, or fruit pectin from the apple. Making jam yourself could be shortened from many hours to 10 minutes with this pectin.^[2] Feix set up Opekta GmbH in Cologne and was linked to the food group Pomosin, which took up production. The Pomosin representative in the Netherlands wanted to divest itself of Opekta imports. This gave Otto Frank the opportunity to set up his own branch here.^[3] On 4 July 1933, he organised the first of many demonstrations in Heerlen, where Opekta had a local depot.^[4] The same month, Victor Kugler joined Opekta. Otto had the Nederlandsche Opekta Maatschappij NV registered with the Chamber of Commerce on 15 September 1933.^[5]

To start the company, Otto Frank borrowed 15,000 guilders from his brother-in-law Erich Elias on 5 August 1933. His shares served as collateral for this. He also paid two and a half per cent of his turnover as a licence and undertook to buy all Pomosin's pectin. Erich Elias was managing director of Rovag, a Swiss-based Pomosin subsidiary that was to enable Opekta branches in several European countries.^[6] When Elias was forced to leave in 1939 as a result of increasing National Socialist influence on Pomosin's leadership, the debt passed to his successor Max Tosin.^[7]

The Dutch company was housed in the modern Candida office building at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 120-126 in Amsterdam city centre.^[8] Here Ottto Frank worked together with Victor Kugler to build up the business. On 16 October 1933, Miep Gies (then Santrouschitz) and Henk van Beusekom joined Opekta.^[9] After the summer season of 1934, Opekta moved to the nearby address Singel 400. Here there was slightly more space, but it remained necessary to rent external storage.^[7]

The Dutch Opekta also controlled the British Applam Fruit Company in Somerset. Applam was also part of the Pomosin group and went into liquidation in 1935. Otto Frank later undertook a restart attempt, but this failed.

To promote its products, Opekta regularly attended trade fairs. The company placed advertisements in newspapers, published its own recipe booklets and published its own newspaper at least twice: Opekta Nieuws.^[10] In the summer of 1936, a promotion was organised in collaboration with newspaper De Telegraaf, where participants could win a free Opekta preserving package.^[11] From January 1938, film screenings were also organised across the country, showing a more than 10-minute commercial film. In it, the use of liquid Opekta is demonstrated by Miep Gies and it also features employee Isa Monas.^[12]

During the war

In late 1940, Otto Frank moved into the vacant Prinsengracht 263 building with his other company Pectacon.^[7] Opekta moved with it, with Pectacon bearing the costs. With the entire building available, space problems were a thing of the past. The ground floor housed Pectacon's machinery, including two heavy spice mills. The rooms on the first floor were used as offices. The second floor functioned as storage for both companies. The third floor of the back house initially housed a laboratory where tests for Opekta's jam-making took place.^[13]

Shortly before this move, the German Wirtschaftsprüfstelle got involved in the 'arisation' of Dutch business. Because of its Jewish director Otto Frank, this included Opekta. In the shareholders' meeting of 12 December 1941, Otto Frank stepped down as managing director in favour of Johannes Kleiman. His other company Pectacon, he had earlier transferred to Victor Kugler and Jan Gies and had been replaced by Gies & Co, thus seeking to present both companies as non-Jewish property. Legal adviser Ton Dunselman, associated with Opekta since 1935, took Frank's shares into custody until the Wirtschafstprüfstelle and creditor Tosin approved their sale.^[7] That issue got shelved and after his return from Auschwitz, Otto Frank got them back. The shareholders welcomed him back at their meeting on 25 June 1945. They awarded him compensation of 4800 guilders. After all, he had resigned in 1941 in the interests of the firm and had thus made 'great monetary sacrifices'.^[14]

Opekta came under the management of parent company Pomosin during the occupation. Sugar shortages and acts of war - thirty thousand Opekta bottles were lost in a bombing raid on Cologne - adversely affected results. Interference from Frankfurt brought further tension and unrest. On several occasions, representatives of the Pomosin management came to Prinsengracht 263 for business meetings. Otto Frank, while in hiding, took part in their preparations. Anne Frank describes in her diary how on one occasion, lying with his ear to the floor, he quietly listened in on the meeting in the private office below their hiding place in the annex.^[15]

After the 4 August 1944 raid, the Opekta and Gies & Co. firms were left without management. Because, besides the eight people in hiding, their helpers Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were also arrested. The three other helpers Miep and Jan Gies and Bep Voskuijl continued running the business together with the warehouse staff. Johannes Kleiman was released from Camp Amersfoort on 18 September 1944 and then returned to the office. It was not until after the liberation that Otto Frank and Victor Kugler also returned.

Post-war

In the post-war years, Opekta was still not always doing well. In the mid-1950s, the company left its badly run-down building on Prinsengracht and settled in new premises on Van Slingelandstraat in the Staatsliedenbuurt neighbourhood in Amsterdam's West district. Opekta remained active and tried to find larger customers at well-known chocolate factories. On the initiative of Johannes Kleiman, the new pectin product Supec entered the market. During the 1950s, Opekta faced competition from a pectin manufacturer in Denmark and lost a large share of the market partly as a result. Otto Frank and Johannes Kleiman spent years negotiating with the sister company in Cologne to take over their shares. The time had come in 1959, but in January that year Johannes Kleiman died unexpectedly at his desk. Led from Cologne, Opekta continued to work in Amsterdam until the 1980s. The entire Opekta conglomerate merged into the Dr Oetker concern.^[3]

Addresses: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 120-126, Amsterdam (1933-'34);^[8] Singel 400 (1934-'40);^[16] Prinsengracht 263 (1940-'55);^[7] Van Slingelandtstraat 8–10 (1955-'62);^[17] Van Slingelandtstraat 2 (1962-'87).^[18]