WWII in the Eyes of Anne Frank - Part IV Otto's Return and Anne's Diary

Hi everyone and welcome back to my channel. In the last video, we talked about Anne's life and death in the concentration camp. In this video, we are going to continue with the story because Otto Frank, her father returned with her diary after the war. Now that he was free, Otto Frank only wanted to know two things. Were Edith, Margot and Anne still alive? And where are they? He had not seen them since they had arrived on the platform at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Otto slowly regained his strength. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, there was nothing he wanted more than to return to the Netherlands. But that was not possible because there was still a lot of fighting going on in many countries. In March 1945, Otto Frank traveled with a group of around 800 survivors to Odessa in the former Soviet Union and the present-day Ukraine. Along the way, he met Rose de Winter, who had also been in Auschwitz. She told him that Edith had died in the camp and that Margot and Anne were taken away. She did not know where they went. In Odessa on the Black Sea, the group had to wait a month for a ship that would be sailing in the direction of the Netherlands. There they learned that Nazi Germany had capitulated. The Netherlands was a free country again. On May 21, they traveled by the ship the Monowai to Marseille in France. From there, Otto continued on to Amsterdam overland. The journey took a long time as there wasn't much transport available and in the Netherlands itself, the bridges were destroyed. He finally returned to Amsterdam on June 3. Otto immediately went to Jan and Miep Gies. They were so happy to see him and mourned Edith's death with him. They told him that Johans Clayman and Victor Kogler had survived the war. They all hoped that Margot and Anne would return. On June 12, Otto could not help thinking about Anne all day, as that would have been her 16th birthday. Was she still alive? And Margot? Otto would regularly go to Amsterdam Central Station to ask people returning from the camps if they had seen Anne and Margot. He also checked the Red Cross lists. Their survivors would mark the names of those who had died with little crosses. One day, he saw crosses behind Anne and Margot's names. Otto went looking for the people who had made those crosses. They were Janni and Liege Brilles Lichberg. They had been imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen and told him that Margot and Anne had died of typhus. Otto Frank was devastated. Not only his wife, but his children were dead. When Miep heard that Margot and Anne were not coming back, she went to her desk. In a drawer, she had kept the papers from Anne's diary for all that time. Miep and Beth had found them on the floors of the secret annex after everyone had been arrested. Miep had hoped to be able to return them to Anne after the war. Now she gave the entire package to Anne's father. Otto could not read the diaries right away. His grief was too much. But when he did start reading them a month later, he found it very difficult to stop. He discovered a completely different side to his daughter Anne. Her serious side. She had described their time in the secret annex so precisely, so well, and with great humor. He had forgotten so much of that. He typed out some of the texts for family and friends. What should he do with these? Anne herself had thought she would like to publish a book with the title The Secret Annex. Otto decided to make this wish come true and he compiled a book from Anne's texts. But it was difficult to find a publisher. Many people in the Netherlands did not want to be reminded of the war. They wanted to look to the future and forget the horrors of war as quickly as possible. Through a friend of Otto's, the manuscript ended up in the hands of Jan and Annie Romijn, two well-known historians. Jan Romijn read it in one sitting and was very impressed. He wrote an article praising it that was printed on the front page of the newspaper Het Parool. When I finished reading it, it was night and I was amazed that the light was still burning, that bread and tea were still available, that I did not hear the roar of aircraft overhead or the marching of soldiers' boots on the street. I was so caught up and brought back to the unreal world that is now almost a year behind us. Shortly after this, the contact publishing company got in touch with Otto Frank. They wanted to publish Anne's diary. In 1947, two years after the war, Het Actuvis, The Secret Annex, was published with a foreword by Annie Romijn. The first issue was around 3,000 copies. After a few years, there were translations into German, French and English. The foreword of the American publication was written by Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the American president. She wrote, This is an astonishing book written by a young girl and young people are not afraid to tell the truth. It is one of the wisest and most moving commentaries of war and the effect of war on humans that I have ever read. When there was a play in the United States and later on a film made about The Secret Annex, the diary became famous all over the world. Ultimately, Otto Frank did not want to live in Amsterdam anymore because for him there were so many memories attached to The Secret Annex. I cannot bear to see it anymore, he said in an interview. In 1952, he moved to Switzerland, where his mother and sister Lennie and Lennie's family still lived. A year later, he married Fritzie Gerringer, who along with her daughter Eva had also survived Auschwitz. Otto Frank spent the rest of his life promoting Anne's diary. More and more people wanted to see the place where Anne wrote her diary for themselves. Funds were collected to conserve the hiding place and open it to the public. The Anne Frank House opened its doors on May 3rd, 1960. The hiding place became a museum. Naturally, Otto Frank was present at the opening. Moved to tears, he said, I cannot speak any longer, but the thought of what happened here is too much for me. He then thanked everyone briefly but very sincerely for their support. Otto and Fritzie received thousands of letters from all over the world from readers who were very moved by Anne's diary. They corresponded with some of these for many years and became friends. Otto felt that Anne had given him the task of devoting himself to reconciliation and human rights. He was to fight discrimination and prejudice. Otto's belief was that everyone should do this. Shortly before he died in 1980, he wrote, I hope that Anne's book will stay with you in your later life so that you will work for cooperation and peace as far as this is possible in your immediate environment.