10/3/2011 @ 12:00

3/15/2012 @ 12:00

Anne Frank House
Prinsengracht 267
Amsterdam, 1016 GV

Edith Frank-Holländer was Anne Frank's mother. For the first time, she's put in the spotlight with an exhibition entirely dedicated to her.
Little-known personality Most people know little more about Edith Frank than what her youngest daughter Anne wrote about her in her diary. The exhibition adds to this knowledge and aims to better acquaint museum visitors with Edith using personal testimonies contained on film and in photos, letters and artefacts.

Happy, homesick Photos taken between 1915 and 1922 show a young and happy Edith. Later, after Margot and Anne were born, Edith also seems joyful and full of confidence. But the family's emigration to the Netherlands in 1933 brought these carefree days to an end. Edith found it hard to adjust to her new life; her letters reveal that she missed her family and friends, and was deeply worried about the situation in Nazi Germany.

Mother and daughter Anne often wrote about her mother in unflattering terms. She adored her father, but found her mother distant and cold. But later, towards the end of the period in hiding, Anne developed more understanding for her mother. In the exhibition, eyewitnesses talk about the bond between mother and daughter, including the horrific period in Auschwitz, where Edith constantly watched over her daughters.

Death In November 1944, Margot and Anne were deported to Bergen-Belsen. Edith remained in Auschwitz, where she died from exhaustion and illness on 6 January 1945 at the age of 45.