Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her father, Otto Frank, was a respected businessman and a solid member of the city's Jewish community--he could trace his family in the city's archives all the way back to the seventeenth century. Anne and her older sister Margot grew up in a small, close-knit enclave of parents, relatives, and nurses.
By 1933, however, Otto Frank feared the spread of Nazi persecution, which was already making itself felt. (Germany's president appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany in January 1933; he was ruling the country by decree by April.) He moved directly to Holland, where he started a food products business. Holland had a long history of...
