The Beginning of a Journey
In March 1933, the Frank family packed up their life on Ganghoferstrasse 24 in Frankfurt am Main. They moved in with Otto’s mother, a quiet but significant step that marked the end of an era. The family was struggling financially, and the expense of their apartment was no longer within their means. As Otto wrote in a letter, “Business is poor. You can’t see straight when nothing seems to be going right.” Yet, even in this hardship, he found solace in the simple joy of his children, noting, “Only the children seem to be enjoying themselves.”
But it wasn’t just a financial crisis that was pushing them out. The world around them was changing with terrifying speed. In April 1933, the Hitler government began to implement a variety of anti-Semitic measures. Jewish teachers and civil servants were dismissed from their jobs. At school, Jewish children faced a new, cruel reality, being bullied and called names. It was a clear sign that a peaceful life was no longer possible in Germany.
The family’s departure was not a single, dramatic event, but a series of difficult goodbyes. At the beginning of August 1933, Otto boarded a train to Amsterdam to find a new home and a new life for his family. Meanwhile, Edith, Margot, and Anne traveled to Edith’s mother in Aachen, Germany, an uncertain and temporary stay before they would join Otto in a country that offered a fragile promise of safety. It was the start of a journey that would lead to a new home, a new language, and a new life, all in the desperate hope of escaping a darkness that was just beginning to spread.
