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Anne Frank

Timeline

Layer

Margot and Anne Frank before their family fled to the Netherlands. Bad Aachen, Germany, October 1933.

— Anne Frank Stichting

1933

Anne Frank at four years of age before traveling with her uncles to Amsterdam. —Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

‘I lived in Frankfurt until I was four. Because we’re Jewish, my father emigrated to Holland in 1933. He became the Managing Director of the Dutch Opekta Company, which manufactures products used in making jam. My mother Edith Frank-Holländer, went to Holland in September, while Margot and I were sent to Aachen to stay with our grandmother. Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, where I was plonked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.’ - Anne Frank 20 June 1942

February 16, 1934

Four young girls from Germany, including Anne and Margot Frank, have a tea party with their dolls at the home of Gabrielle Kahn in Amsterdam.

Pictured from left to right are Anne Frank, Ellen Weinberger, Margot Frank and Gabrielle Kahn. -USHMM, courtesy of Penny Boyer

1934

Germany launched its western offensive on May 10, 1940. German paratroopers landed in the Netherlands on the first day of the German attack on that country. They seized key bridges and fortifications, compromising Dutch defensive positions. This footage shows the German air force (Luftwaffe) dropping paratroopers near Rotterdam. Within days, the Netherlands was defeated. The country surrendered to Germany on May 14. The Dutch government and Queen Wilhelmina fled to exile in Great Britain.

May 10, 1940

bit.ly/invasion1940

BARBARA LEDERMANN RODBELL

In 1933 Barbara's family moved to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. They became friends of Anne Frank and her family. The Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Barbara's boyfriend, Manfred, had underground contacts and she got false papers. Her mother, sister, and father were deported to the Westerbork camp and then to Auschwitz. Barbara survived using her false papers and worked for the resistance. She helped take Jews to hiding places and also hid Jews in an apartment rented under her false name.

Fall 1940

bit.ly/annesfriend

Anne and Margot are no longer allowed to go to school with non-Jewish children. They have to go to the Jewish High School in Amsterdam. Anne Frank, age twelve, at her school desk. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1941.

— Anne Frank Fonds/Anne Frank House

January 9, 1941

The first page of the diary, which Anne Frank receives for her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942. — Anne Frank Stichting

“I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.”-Anne Frank

June 12, 1942

Margot Frank received a call up for work duty on July 15, 1942 and the Franks decide to go into hiding ten days before they planned to.— Anne Frank Stichting

“When she and I were sitting in our bedroom, Margot told me that the call-up was not for Father, but for her. At this second shock, I began to cry. Margot is sixteen--apparently they want to send girls her age away on their own. But thank goodness she won’t be going; Mother had said so herself, which must be what Father had meant when he talked to me about our going into hiding. Hiding...where would we hide? In the city? In the country? In a house? In a shack? When, where, how…?” --Anne Frank, July 8, 1942

July 5, 1942

The family goes into hiding.

Margot and Meip Geis bicycle to the hiding place first, and then Anne and her parents walk in the pouring rain, dressed in multiple layers and carrying bags with the family’s possessions.

“So there we were, Father, Mother, and I, walking in the pouring rain, each of us with a schoolbag and a shopping bag filled to the brim with the most varied assortment of items…” --Anne Frank, July 9, 1942

July 6, 1942

Final postcard sent by the Frank family to their relatives in Basel. The postmark is dated the same day the Franks left for their hiding place. In the card, they wish Lunni (Otto's sister Leni) a happy birthday, even though her birthday isn't until 8 September. The relatives in Basel understand from the card that they can no longer be in touch, but that the family is safe, and together.— Anne Frank House

Anne describes the hiding place in her diary. The house at Prinsengracht 263, where Anne Frank and her family were hidden. Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After 1935. — Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz

“Here’s a description of the building...A wooden staircase leads from the downstairs hallway to the third floor. At the top of the stairs is a landing, with doors on either side. The door on the left takes you up to the spice storage area, attic and loft in the front part of the house. A typically Dutch, very steep, ankle-twisting flight of stairs also runs from the front part of the house to another door opening onto the street. The door to the right of the landing leads to the Secret Annex at the back of the house. No one would ever suspect there were so many rooms behind that plain gray door. There’s just one small step in front of the door, and then you’re inside. Straight ahead of you is a steep flight of stairs. To the left is a narrow hallway opening onto a room that serves as the Frank family’s living room and bedroom. Next door is a smaller room, the bedroom and study of the two young ladies of the family. To the right of the stairs is a windowless washroom with a sink. The door in the corner leads to the toilet and another one to Margot’s and my room...Now I’ve introduced you to the whole of our lovely Annex!”--Anne Frank, July 9, 1942

July 9, 1942

To visit the 3D Virtual tour of Anne’s Hiding

Place, use a computer or mobile device

which uses Adobe Flash and go to:

bit.ly/anneshouse

The van Pels (van Daans) family goes into hiding in the Secret Annex. Herman worked with Otto Frank and his family was friends with the Frank family.-Anne Frank House

“The van Daans arrived on July 13. We thought they were coming on the fourteenth, but from the thirteenth to the sixteenth the Germans were sending out call-up notices right and left and causing a lot of unrest, so they decided it would be safer to leave a day too early than a day too late.” --Anne Frank, August 14, 1942

July 13, 1942

Fritz Pfeffer goes into hiding in the attic. He asks Meip Gies for help finding a hiding place, and, after consulting with Otto Frank and the other people in hiding, they decide that there is enough room.--Anne Frank House

“Mr. Dussel has arrived. Everything went smoothly. Miep told him to be a certain place in front of the post office at 11 AM, when a man would meet him, and he was at the appointed place at the appointed time. Mr. Kleinman went up to him, announced that the man he was expecting to meet was unable to come and asked him to drop by the office to see Miep. Mr. Kleinman took a streetcar back to the office while Mr. Dussel followed on foot.”-Anne Frank, Nov. 17, 1945

November 16, 1942

Anne Frank and her family are discovered and arrested. They are taken for interrogation to a German run prison. -Anne Frank House

August 4, 1944

The eight occupants of the Secret Annex were taken from Amsterdam to Westerbork.

About halfway down this transport list, Anne Frank’s name is listed, as she was transported from Amsterdam to Westerbork.

— US Holocaust Memorial Museum; International Tracing Service

August 8, 1944

Anne and the other members of the Annex

were the last to be transported from

Westerbork to Auschwitz.

The deportation of Jews from Westerbork.

-United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,

courtesy of Leopold Page Photographic

Collection

September 3, 1944

When Anne and those hiding in the Annex arrived at Auschwitz, the men and women were separated.

A transport of Hungarian Jews lines up for selection at Auschwitz. Poland, May 1944.—Yad Vashem Photo Archives

September 6, 1944

Anne, Margot, and Mrs. Van Pels are deported to Bergen Belsen.

A section of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

-United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives

and Records Administration, College Park

October 1944

Herman Van Pels was gassed to death at Auschwitz sometime in October or November 1944 shortly before the gas chambers were destroyed. -Anne Frank House

October/November 1944

Fritz Pfeffer (Albert Dussel) dies in Neuengamme concentration camp. He had been transferred from either Buchenwald or Sachsenhausen to Neuengamme. -Anne Frank House

December 20, 1944

Edith Frank dies in Auschwitz. Edith Holländer is born in Aachen on January 16,

1900. She has two older brothers, named Julius (1894) and Walter (1897), and an

older sister called Bettina (1898). The Holländer family celebrates the Jewish

holidays and and keeps a kosher household. The Holländers are leading members of

Aachen’s Jewish community. Father Holländer trades in scrap metal and owns

several industrial processing plants.

-Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

January 6, 1945

Otto Frank is liberated in Auschwitz. Otto Frank is born on May 12, 1889 in Frankfurt am Main. He has an older brother Robert (1886), a younger brother Herbert (1891) and a sister Helene (1893). His father Michael heads the family bank, which specializes in currency trading. The Franks are liberal Jews.

-Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

January 27, 1945

Margot Frank dies of typhus in Bergen Belsen concentration camp. Her exact date of death is not known. -Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

February/March, 1945(1)

Anne Frank dies of typhus in Bergen Belsen concentration camp, soon after her sister. Her exact date of death is not known, but eyewitness accounts of other prisoners confirm that she died after her sister. -Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

February/March 1945 (2)

Auguste van Pels is transferred to Theresienstadt from Buchenwald. The date of her death is unknown. She was transferred to another concentration camp after Theresienstadt, though it is unknown which one. -Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

April 9, 1945

Peter van Pels dies at Mauthausen, three days before it was liberated. He was forced onto the death march from Auschwitz in January of 1945 to Mauthausen. -Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

May 5, 1945

The Bergen-Belsen former concentration camp is burned to the ground by British soldiers to prevent the spread of typhus.Germany, May 21, 1945.--US Holocaust Memorial Museum

May 21, 1945

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Otto Frank dies.

Close up portrait of Otto and Fritzi Frank in Switzerland where they settled after the war. He married Elfriede Markovits Geiringer, who also survived Auschwitz and lost her husband and son at Mauthausen. — US Holocaust Memorial Museum; International Tracing Service

August 19, 1980

This notice is from the Red Cross to Anne’s cousin Buddy, requested in 1990. It states her name, date of birth, parents, nationality, religion, the places she was transferred to and her fate ("verstorben"), along with an estimate of when she died.

— US Holocaust Memorial Museum; International Tracing Service

August 23, 1990