Fotoeins Fotografie

Above: “It’s a miracle I’m still alive”, Otto Frank. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Familie Frank Zentrum, Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt

Frank Family Centre, Jewish Museum Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main is a city I’ve visited countless times since 2001, but I hadn’t known until recently that Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were born in Frankfurt am Main, or that their parents, Otto and Edith, had lived in Frankfurt for almost ten years before moving their family to Amsterdam in early-1934. I’ve put together a list of places and traces the Frank family spent and left in Frankfurt am Main.

Here I cast light on the Frank Family Center (FFC), both memorial and historical record of the European-Jewish Frank family which was added to the permanent collection of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (JMF) in 2020. Having begun in 2012, the Frank Family Center brings together an extensive collection of material belonging to the Frank-Elias families. The archive includes photographs, official documents, hand-written letters, art, books, household items, and furniture. The items provide a glimpse into the lives of the Frank- and Elias-families across Europe; there’s happy times, catastrophe and loss, and the strength gained in survival. The FFC has been designed for the public to view a part of the archive on permanent display in an open museum setting, as well as for research parties to pursue various avenues of academic inquiry.

Upon entry into the space, the first panel includes the following introductory text which I’ve modified to improve clarity.

The Jewish Museum Frankfurt holds a large number of objects belonging to Anne Frank’s family who had lived in Frankfurt for several generations.

Between 1929 and 1933, the entire family departed Frankfurt am Main and established new lives in Basel, Paris, Amsterdam, and London. In 1942 Amsterdam, Otto and Edith Frank, along with their daughters, Margot and Anne, went into hiding to escape imminent deportation. In August 1944, the secret location was revealed to the authorities, and the family was detained, and deported to Auschwitz. Of the four in the family, only Otto Frank survived, who subsequently devoted the rest of his life to acquainting and educating the world with the diary of his murdered daughter, Anne.

In 1933, Anne’s paternal grandmother Alice Frank sold their home in Frankfurt am Main, and moved to Basel to join her daughter, Leni Elias, and her family. Alice was able to take some of the family belongings with her from Frankfurt to Switzerland, including personal photos and documents. Her moving boxes also contained furniture, porcelain, silverware, and paintings. The family’s heritage as documents of their previous lives in Frankfurt was carefully preserved in Basel.

This room of the Frank Family Center provides an introduction to this family heritage and to the history of the Frank and Elias families.

A Look Inside the Frank Family Center

Introduction in both German and English. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Frank Family Centre. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Otto Frank. Photo, 10 May 2025 (P15).

After liberation at Auschwitz, Otto had returned to Amsterdam; he learned en route about the death of his wife. He subsequently ran an advertisement in the Dutch magazine “Het Vrije Volk” to inquire about the whereabouts of his two daughters. A copy of the advertisement published on 1 August 1945 is shown; the highlighted section is shown in the next image below. Photo, 10 May 2025 (P15).

Advertisement run by Otto Frank in Dutch magazine “Het Vrije Volk” and published on 1 August 1945. Otto wrote that Margot (19) and Anne (16) had been transported to Bergen-Belsen in January 1945. He would later learn his daughters had died in March. Photo, 10 May 2025 (P15).

The four Frank siblings in Basel, 1948. Photo (of a photo), 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Margot with baby Anne, 1929. Photo (of a photo), 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Margot with baby Anne and family nanny Katharina, 1929. Photo (of a photo), 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Little wooden chair belonging to the Elias family in Basel. Whenever Otto’s family visited Basel, the Elias family recognized how Anne liked sitting in the little chair with red upholstery. As “Anne’s chair”, the Frank and Elias families kept the chair as a cherished memory. The chair is on loan to the FFC from Anne Frank Fonds in Basel. Photo, 10 May 2025 (X70).

Left: 11 year old Anne Frank on visit with friends in Laren, Netherlands in the summer of 1940. Right: 11 year old Margot Frank ice-skating with her friend Hetty in the winter of 1937–1938 in Amsterdam. Photo (of photos), 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Frank family tree. The box highlights the Frank siblings, Otto Frank’s family, and Leni Elias’ family; this is further highlighted in the next image. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Frank family tree. Born in Frankfurt am Main, the four Frank siblings were Robert, Otto, Herbert, and Helene (Leni). Leni married Erich Elias and moved to Basel, Switzerland in the early-1930s. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

2013 photograph by Barbara Klemm: Bernhard “Buddy” Elias and his wife, Gertrude “Gerti”, in their Basel home; behind them is a 1905 painting “Opernplatz in Frankfurt” by Jakob Nussbaum. Buddy was Leni’s son, Otto’s nephew, and Anne & Margot’s cousin. Otto’s family frequently visited Basel and became close with Leni’s family. Photo (of a photo), 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

1905 painting “Opernplatz in Frankfurt” by Jakob Nussbaum; on loan from the Elias family to the FFC. Frankfurt’s Opernplatz (square in front of the city’s Alte Oper) is very significant to the family, because Michael Frank (Otto’s father) managed his bank located near Opernplatz. Michael Frank purchased the painting, which his wife Alice (Otto’s mother) brought the painting in the move from Frankfurt to Basel. Although the Alte Oper isn’t visible in the painting, it seems the painting perspective starts at the southeast corner of the square and faces northwest, which puts the Alte Oper outside of the frame to the right. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

42 international translations of “The Diary of Anne Frank”, 1954–2016; on loan from Anne Frank Fonds in Basel. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Jewish Museum Frankfurt, from Bertha-Pappenheim-Platz. At centre-right is the former Rothschild Library, and home to the Frank Family Center as part of the museum. Photo, 17 Jun 2023 (X70).

Directions

Public transport with RMV: tram 11, 12, or 14 to stop “Willy-Brandt-Platz”, or U-Bahn U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, or U8 line to station “Willy-Brandt-Platz”. From Willy-Brandt-Platz, walk south about 400 metres (1300 feet) to the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.

( View this location at OpenStreetMap )

I received neither pre-visit support nor post-visit compensation for this post. made all photos above in 2023 and 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (X70) and an iPhone15 (P15). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-xjs. Last edit: 26 Jan 2026.