Otto Frank, the father of WWII diarist and Holocaust victim Anne Frank, passed away on August 19th, 1980, at the age of 91.
Otto was born on May 12th, 1989, to Adolf Kamile, a businessman, and Edith Holländer, a housewife, in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1909, Otto began an apprenticeship in a bank, and eventually rose to the ranks of management at the firm of Opekta, a spice, syrup, and jam company.
In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power in Germany, Otto and his family fled to Amsterdam, Holland, where he was able to acquire Dutch citizenry. From 1942 to 1944, they lived in a secret annex at Opekta and were ultimately betrayed to the Nazi regime. In March 1945, Otto was liberated from Auschwitz by Soviet forces and would become the only survivor of the Frank family.
To honor his daughter Anne's memory, Otto worked to get her diary published, which resulted in inspiring a generation of readers to adopt Anne's message of perseverance and hope in the face of undue adversity.
Otto was married to Ida Elfrida Geiringer and had two children, Margot and Anne. He will be sadly missed by his family, friends, and many others around the globe who were positively impacted by his life and legacy.