Otto Frank exhibition in Anne Frank House

 On June 3, 1945, exactly 80 years ago, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam after ten months. He had survived the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp and spent three months traveling with others who had also endured the horrific camp conditions and made the long journey home.

This journey is portrayed in the temporary exhibition From Auschwitz to Amsterdam. Otto Frank’s Long Journey Home. The exhibition at the Anne Frank House opens today.

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops entered Auschwitz. Otto Frank was one of the approximately 7,000 prisoners left behind, most of whom were terminally ill. Once Otto had regained some strength, he began his journey back to the Netherlands. It became a months-long journey with many detours, as fighting continued across large parts of Europe. During his return journey, Otto learned that his wife Edith had died in Auschwitz. He received no news about the fate of his daughters, Margot and Anne. His Jewish fellow travelers were also searching for information about their loved ones.

Otto Frank’s traveling group consisted of about 800 people, all from the Netherlands. They were not only Jewish survivors but also former forced laborers and liberated prisoners of war. The journey lasted three months and took them through Katowice, Chernivtsi, Odesa, and Marseille. Soviet soldiers assisted the travelers, as did the inhabitants of the towns they passed through. The warm welcome the travelers received upon arriving in France stood in stark contrast to the cold reception they encountered in the Netherlands.

On June 3, 1945, Otto Frank arrived in Amsterdam. He first went to his employee Miep and her husband Jan Gies, who had helped him, his wife, their daughters, and the four other people in hiding in the Annex for over two years. Otto moved in with Miep and Jan and lived with them for an extended period. The next day, Otto went to his company and former hiding place at Prinsengracht 263. In a diary entry dated June 3, he noted “½ 10 aankomst bij Miep” (½ 10 arrival at Miep), and on June 4, “kantoor” (office).

Otto Frank made brief notes during his journey; others kept diaries or included accounts of the journey in books they published after the war. The exhibition features various diaries from that time, along with photos and video footage. An interactive map of Europe illustrates the journey. Particularly noteworthy are photographs taken by Arnhem photographer P.J. de Booys, showing survivors waiting to continue their journey home. Otto Frank could have been among them.