Margot Frank
Margot Frank was the sister of Anne Frank.
Person
Margot was born on 16 February 1926 in the Vaterländische Frauenverein clinic in Frankfurt am Main.[1] She was 54 centimetres long and weighed 8 pounds.[2] She was the frst child of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer.
She attended the Ludwig Richterschule from April 1932 to March 1933. In that month she transferred to the Varrentrappschule. This transfer coincided with the family's move to Dantestrasse and was undoubtedly related to it. When her parents decided to leave Germany, Margot first went to stay with her grandmother in Aachen. There she attended the Jüdische Volksschule on Bergdriesch until 22 December.
In Amsterdam Margot went to the Jeker School and subsequently to the Municipal Lyceum for Girls. Pretty soon she was getting good grades in most subjects, which indicates that she had had no trouble mastering the Dutch language. In the summer of 1941, segregation of education was imposed and Margot and her friend Jetteke Frijda had to leave the Girls' Lyceum. They both went to the Jewish Lyceum.
Margot was a sporty person. Among other things, she rowed and played tennis. With some classmates from the Girls' Lyceum, she rowed with a club located under the Berlage Bridge. When Margot and the coach — who was also Jewish — were banned from sports, the other girls also stopped.
On 5 July 1942 Margot was summoned to report for a German labour camp. Her parents decided to accelerate their long-standing plans to go into hiding. On the morning of 6 July, Margot cycled to Prinsengracht 263, accompanied by Miep Gies. The rest of the family followed on foot.
Margot was quiet and withdrawn by nature. In the Secret Annex, she mainly read and did schoolwork. She took a Latin course through LOI, obtaining good marks. What is known about Margot's life in the Secret Annex comes mainly from Anne's diary. Only Otto Frank and Miep Gies have said anything more about it. Miep did not remember having exchanged a word with her during this period. After the arrest on 4 August 1944, Margot was sent via Westerbork to Auschwitz. For the first eight weeks she was with her mother and Anne. In late October or early November, the girls were put on a transport to Germany and ended up in Bergen Belsen. Margot contracted typhus and died in Februay 1945, probably shortly before her 19th birthday.[3]
Footnotes
- ^ Het heet nu het Krankenhaus Maingau vom Roten Kreuz. In 1890 opende het 'Vaterländische Frauenverein vom Roten Kreuz' hier het Maingau-Krankenhaus. Zie: Geschichte Franffurter Rot-Kreuz Klinken e.V..
- ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. code A_MFrank_III_045: Fotoalbum “Unser Kind”.
- ^ Literature: Menno Metselaar, 'A Margot Frank House? The forgotten sister of Anne', in Anne Frank Magazine 2000, p. 28-35; Anco Mali, Margot Frank en de anderen, Soesterberg: Aspekt, 2005; Sophie Zijlstra, Margot, Amsterdam: Querido, 2012; Aukje Vergeest, Anne Frank in the Secret Annexe: who was who?, Amsterdam: Anne Frank House, 2015.