MovieChat Forums > Anne Frank Remembered (1995) Discussion > Something that sparked my curiosity

Something that sparked my curiosity

posted 12 years ago by SensCup
4 replies | jump to latest

Otto Frank knew Edith had died, but was still hopeful his daughters remained alive. He published ads in the paper asking for info on their whereabouts and someone replied.

Now what I can't help but think about is that, when he was on his way to the lady's house who eventually told him that his daughters "are no more", did he expect to see his daughters safe and sound and in her care?

I would hate to think that! Because if he did, the news he got was devastating. And that's an understatement.

It's sad really.

[–] briarswt 12 years ago

aww I never thought of that possibility. . . .

I hope he wasn't. . . he might have thought maybe they'd been transferred to another camp or had been separated from this woman. But you've got a very sad point, because he might have easily just expected to see them there too. . . .

I never heard of this for the Franks, but other families basically designated a place to return after the war. I imagine it was just automatic for the Franks - the Annexe/office. . . but yah.

I'm also wondering how they got word about Fritz, Auguste, and Peter.

[–] taylorje 10 years ago

According to a book titled "The Footsteps of Anne Frank" by Ernst Schnabel, someone who knew the Franks at Westerbork said the family had chosen an address in Switzerland. This, of course, would have been the home of Otto's relatives.

I don't know how Otto learned of the other deaths; Pfeffer and Auguste. Not until sometime after the war, obviously. Otto knew Peter had left Auschwitz on the forced march at the very end, when the Germans took all prisoners with them who could still walk.

[–] taylorje 10 years ago

According to several sources, Otto saw the girls' names on a Red Cross list with crosses next to them, which meant they were dead. He got the name and address of the then-young woman who had provided this information and went to see her. I'm sure he didn't expect to find Anne and Margot "safe in her care" because he knew they were dead. But I suppose he may have thought maybe there was a mistake, maybe it wasn't true.

[–] jaynekranc 9 years ago

I just finished Carol Ann Lee's biography, The Hidden Life of Otto Frank and one of the things that struck me is that when Hanneli Goslar first saw Otto after the war, she said, "Anne is alive! She's in Germany!" because she had seen her there. Otto already knew Anne was dead, but it goes to show how confused things got.

That book is one of the ones that says he had seen the girls names on a Red Cross list and on that list someone had indicated the girls had died. He asked for the name of the woman who had given the information and it went from there. So he had to have had a pretty good idea, but was still hoping against hope.