Turtledove
Otto Frank
Historical Figure
Nationality: Germany (born in Prussia), then Netherlands, finally Switzerland, was stateless under the Nazi Party
Year of Birth: 1889
Year of Death: 1980
Cause of Death: Lung cancer
Religion: Judaism
Occupation: Banker, Businessman
Spouse: Edith Hollander (d. 1945), Elfriede Geiringer
Children: Anne and Margot Frank (daughters, d. 1945)
Military Branch: Imperial German Army (World War I)
Fictional Appearances:
"The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging"
POD: July, 1944
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
Date of Death: Unrevealed

Otto Heinrich "Pim" Frank (12 May 1889 – 19 August 1980) was a German-born Jewish businessman and the father of Anne and Margot Frank. With the rise of the Nazi Party, Frank arranged for his family to go to the Netherlands in 1933. They were unable to leave Europe before Germany invaded in 1940. He and his family, along with four other Jews went into hiding in 1942, living in a hidden annex of the business Frank had formerly owned until the group was betrayed in 1944. The whole group was taken into custody and sent to concentration camps. Otto Frank was the only one to survive the Holocaust. After his liberation, his secretary and rescuer Miep Gies gave Otto the diary Anne had kept during their seclusion. He arranged for the publication of the diary in 1947, and oversaw its transition to the stage and screen.

Otto Frank in "The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging"[]

Otto Frank, his family, and four fellow Jews were able to hide for the duration of World War II, emerging from their hiding place, the Secret Annexe, only after the Netherlands were liberated in 1945. The eight people quickly dispersed, and the Franks saw each other little after that. Otto and his wife moved to Switzerland.

In 2013, an elderly Anne Berkowitz (nee Frank), now living in the Hebrew Home for the Aging in San Fernando, shared some of her experiences with the eighth-grade history class from nearby Junipero Middle School, but didn't have much to say about her father beyond his role in moving the family to Amsterdam.