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lilliankeys's review against another edition
3.0
This book was insightful; however, the author kept repeating information and quotes, which made the book hard to complete.
sanjana1510's review against another edition
4.0
An extremely detailed and meticulous work, although it did seemed to focus more on the pnlication nitty-gritties of Anne Frank's diary rather than Otto Frank's life.
xxstefaniereadsxx's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.0
Otto Heinrich Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1889 to a liberal Jewish family. He had the opportunity to study economics, and then traveled to the United States to spend time with friends while working at Macys. He returned to Germany before the onset of World War I, ultimately serving in the Imperial German Army. In fact, he was present at the infamous Battle of the Somme. After the war, he began his career at a bank. He married Edith in 1925. Their daughter, Margot, was born the following year, in 1926. Anne, their second daughter, was born in 1929. (Unfortunately, Edith died in Auschwitz from starvation/disease. Margot and Anne were removed to Bergen-Belsen, where they died from typhus.)
I had no idea that Otto Frank remarried after the death of his family. His second wife was a Holocaust survivor as well, and her daughter is a well known speaker about this topic, Eva Schloss. Of course, The Diary of Anne Frank was required reading in high school for me and helped to foster my interest and eventual degree path in World War II history. Otto Frank also kept his own diary, and this book is filled with personal reflections from that, which I very much enjoyed. This author did a tremendous about of research on this topic, and it really gave you a sense of the man behind Anne Frank and her diary. He had a very interesting life up to the point of the Holocaust, which I think has been overlooked and diminished in the wake of Anne's diary and the Holocaust itself. The Holocaust stripped away identities of millions of people, and this is just another point proven in that regard. I learned a great deal from this book, and I am glad that I ran across it. I would suggest reading this as a companion to the Anne Frank book if you want a more detailed family history for her.
I had no idea that Otto Frank remarried after the death of his family. His second wife was a Holocaust survivor as well, and her daughter is a well known speaker about this topic, Eva Schloss. Of course, The Diary of Anne Frank was required reading in high school for me and helped to foster my interest and eventual degree path in World War II history. Otto Frank also kept his own diary, and this book is filled with personal reflections from that, which I very much enjoyed. This author did a tremendous about of research on this topic, and it really gave you a sense of the man behind Anne Frank and her diary. He had a very interesting life up to the point of the Holocaust, which I think has been overlooked and diminished in the wake of Anne's diary and the Holocaust itself. The Holocaust stripped away identities of millions of people, and this is just another point proven in that regard. I learned a great deal from this book, and I am glad that I ran across it. I would suggest reading this as a companion to the Anne Frank book if you want a more detailed family history for her.
shahrun's review against another edition
4.0
Who is Otto Frank?
Like millions of people across the globe, the name is familiar to me. He is the father of Anne Frank and the only surviving member of her (immediate) family from the nazi concentration camps of WWII. Whilst Anne Frank is known all over the world for her diary - written whilst she was a teenager and mostly during her hiding from the Nazis - all I knew of her father was what I read in that diary. By chance I recently came across a memoir "After Auschwitz" by Eva Schloss, whose mother married Otto after the war. That gave me a tantalising glimpse of a most fascinating man. I needed to find out more. Thankfully I found this book, which is an extremely comprehensive biography (so comprehensive that at times it's not so interesting to read - too much minute detail, the narration broken up with nonstop direct references and dare I say it, too much Anne).
Having read a fair few books on wars, particularly WWII over the years, I still learnt so many new and fascinating things about that time from this book. For instance I had no idea China was involved in the war. I have always wondered what happened to the detainees when the concentration camps were liberated (some pretty shocking answers to be found here) and how they had to go about picking up the pieces of their lives (sadly it was with little to no help from anyone!). Then, if all that wasn't bad enough, due to the confusion at the end of the war and the Nazis trying to destroy the evidence of their crimes, some people did not find out the fate of their relatives until over 40 years after the end of the war!
The author was able to find out so many little fascinating details about Otto Frank's life - like him hiding their possessions amongst several friends in Amsterdam before going into hiding - from birth until his death. It's amazing what sources were still available to her when researching this book (many years after the end of this life).
The authors reasons for pointing her finger at Tonny Ahlers, being the one who turned the Frank's & associates over to the Nazis was very interesting reading. Sadly - in my opinion - I doubt the truth will every come out for certain.
I was very cross and saddened to read about the other people trying to take ownership of Anne's words, taking complete advantage of an innocent man trying to do good. Shame on them!
Otto really did lead a really interesting life, through some very extraordinary circumstances. What struck me was he never lost his love of life and people. His work after the was to educate the world where we went wrong and teach love, compassion and tolerance I think. Because the man who lost everything found it in his heart to still love. And chose to give the most precious thing he ever had to the world - his daughter Anne - even though doing so he pretty much became lost to the world. Anne is much loved and celebrated, now finally Otto gets a voice.
Like millions of people across the globe, the name is familiar to me. He is the father of Anne Frank and the only surviving member of her (immediate) family from the nazi concentration camps of WWII. Whilst Anne Frank is known all over the world for her diary - written whilst she was a teenager and mostly during her hiding from the Nazis - all I knew of her father was what I read in that diary. By chance I recently came across a memoir "After Auschwitz" by Eva Schloss, whose mother married Otto after the war. That gave me a tantalising glimpse of a most fascinating man. I needed to find out more. Thankfully I found this book, which is an extremely comprehensive biography (so comprehensive that at times it's not so interesting to read - too much minute detail, the narration broken up with nonstop direct references and dare I say it, too much Anne).
Having read a fair few books on wars, particularly WWII over the years, I still learnt so many new and fascinating things about that time from this book. For instance I had no idea China was involved in the war. I have always wondered what happened to the detainees when the concentration camps were liberated (some pretty shocking answers to be found here) and how they had to go about picking up the pieces of their lives (sadly it was with little to no help from anyone!). Then, if all that wasn't bad enough, due to the confusion at the end of the war and the Nazis trying to destroy the evidence of their crimes, some people did not find out the fate of their relatives until over 40 years after the end of the war!
The author was able to find out so many little fascinating details about Otto Frank's life - like him hiding their possessions amongst several friends in Amsterdam before going into hiding - from birth until his death. It's amazing what sources were still available to her when researching this book (many years after the end of this life).
The authors reasons for pointing her finger at Tonny Ahlers, being the one who turned the Frank's & associates over to the Nazis was very interesting reading. Sadly - in my opinion - I doubt the truth will every come out for certain.
I was very cross and saddened to read about the other people trying to take ownership of Anne's words, taking complete advantage of an innocent man trying to do good. Shame on them!
Otto really did lead a really interesting life, through some very extraordinary circumstances. What struck me was he never lost his love of life and people. His work after the was to educate the world where we went wrong and teach love, compassion and tolerance I think. Because the man who lost everything found it in his heart to still love. And chose to give the most precious thing he ever had to the world - his daughter Anne - even though doing so he pretty much became lost to the world. Anne is much loved and celebrated, now finally Otto gets a voice.
jessicabrazeal's review against another edition
5.0
From the moment I began reading, I was completely engrossed. I hadn't ever read much about Otto, Anne's father, seeing as most of the literature about their family is focused solely upon Anne. However, this book proved to be an absolutely fascinating read, providing much needed background and insight into family dynamics from an adult perspective that helped to understand significance of events that I had read about previously in other books. The book begins with Otto's childhood in Germany and follows him through his life at a rather quick pace, slowing to really dig in after the family moves to Amsterdam in the 1930's when Hitler was rising to power in their native Germany.
The story follows Otto through his entire life, including very closely detailed accounts of his time in Auschwitz and his journey back to Holland after the war was over. Through all of it, a man named Tonny Ahlers plays a very key role, as it seems he blackmailed Otto Frank from very early on in the war until seemingly the day he died. Ahlers was a well-known anti-Semitic and friend of the German occupiers in Holland, well know in Amsterdam for betraying Jews he knew to be in hiding. Throughout the book, it would seem that Tonny Ahlers was the man who betrayed the Frank family, knowing early on about their hiding place and only letting them stay in order to continue to blackmail Otto. However, the final chapter in the book drops a starting bombshell, revealing that the person that called the SS that day in August of 1944 to betray the Frank family was actually a woman. That woman was Tonny Ahler's wife.
If you are at all interested in WW2, the Holocaust, or history in general, read this book. It's fantastic.
The story follows Otto through his entire life, including very closely detailed accounts of his time in Auschwitz and his journey back to Holland after the war was over. Through all of it, a man named Tonny Ahlers plays a very key role, as it seems he blackmailed Otto Frank from very early on in the war until seemingly the day he died. Ahlers was a well-known anti-Semitic and friend of the German occupiers in Holland, well know in Amsterdam for betraying Jews he knew to be in hiding. Throughout the book, it would seem that Tonny Ahlers was the man who betrayed the Frank family, knowing early on about their hiding place and only letting them stay in order to continue to blackmail Otto. However, the final chapter in the book drops a starting bombshell, revealing that the person that called the SS that day in August of 1944 to betray the Frank family was actually a woman. That woman was Tonny Ahler's wife.
If you are at all interested in WW2, the Holocaust, or history in general, read this book. It's fantastic.
katherineep's review against another edition
4.0
I found this a fascinating look at Anne Frank's father and her family as a whole. It definitely filled in my understanding of Anne and gave me a different perspective on the editing of the diary. The end drug a little but all and all it was a good read though very sad in parts.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Narrative and truth are, at times, subjective especially in the case of narrative. Truth is also subjective. This idea of narrative and truth come into play in this book.
Lee's book is somewhat a biography of Otto Frank as well as a proposal for who betrayed or informed on the Franks. The edition I have was apparently updated slightly after the furor raised by the first. It should be noted that this is not a complete look at the afterlife of Anne's diary, for that read [b:Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife|6486492|Anne Frank The Book, The Life, The Afterlife|Francine Prose|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276104109s/6486492.jpg|6677852].
Lee does an excellent job of looking at Otto Frank, bopth before and after the attic hiding place. In particular, Lee's description of Frank's experiences in the camps and after liberation should be required reading in any class that is using the diary. Additionally, Lee is aware that the diary only presents one, extremely filtered view and Otto Frank himself didn't tell us (the reading public) much about Edith and Margot Frank. The two shadowy members of the Frank family get some acknowledgement here. Lee notes that it is extremely difficult to write about Edith as her family is dead, and as for Margot, her diary is missing and presumed destoryed. It is important, therefore, that she includes Otto Frank's reaction to reading some passages in Anne Frank's diary that include infromation about Margot.
The book itself does make the reader think about some things. Not only of the characters of Edith and Margot Frank, but of the mystery of the other attic residents and even the helpers. Such as the question of fairness in some of the protrayals in the play and movie. Isn't it rather unfair to the family of Pfeffer (Dussel)? Anne's diary, in part re-written by her and then edited by her father- in what way does this change the narrative? Would Margot's diary have been more honest? Why the anger when one helper was going to write a book? Why was it okay for Miep to write one?
Lee answer's some of these questions; Pfeffer's wife, for instance, thought about a lawsuit. She also offers, indirectly perhaps, a reason for Edith Frank's behavior in the attic (she wanted to emigrate to the U.S., long before Germany invaded the Netherlands).
As to the question of the infomrer. I can't say that Lee answers it, and she is very careful to only present her theory as a theory, an unproven theory. Interested readers can read online the detailed study about the informer question put out by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (a website with a link to the file - http://www.battledetective.com/misc.html)
Lee's book is somewhat a biography of Otto Frank as well as a proposal for who betrayed or informed on the Franks. The edition I have was apparently updated slightly after the furor raised by the first. It should be noted that this is not a complete look at the afterlife of Anne's diary, for that read [b:Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife|6486492|Anne Frank The Book, The Life, The Afterlife|Francine Prose|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276104109s/6486492.jpg|6677852].
Lee does an excellent job of looking at Otto Frank, bopth before and after the attic hiding place. In particular, Lee's description of Frank's experiences in the camps and after liberation should be required reading in any class that is using the diary. Additionally, Lee is aware that the diary only presents one, extremely filtered view and Otto Frank himself didn't tell us (the reading public) much about Edith and Margot Frank. The two shadowy members of the Frank family get some acknowledgement here. Lee notes that it is extremely difficult to write about Edith as her family is dead, and as for Margot, her diary is missing and presumed destoryed. It is important, therefore, that she includes Otto Frank's reaction to reading some passages in Anne Frank's diary that include infromation about Margot.
The book itself does make the reader think about some things. Not only of the characters of Edith and Margot Frank, but of the mystery of the other attic residents and even the helpers. Such as the question of fairness in some of the protrayals in the play and movie. Isn't it rather unfair to the family of Pfeffer (Dussel)? Anne's diary, in part re-written by her and then edited by her father- in what way does this change the narrative? Would Margot's diary have been more honest? Why the anger when one helper was going to write a book? Why was it okay for Miep to write one?
Lee answer's some of these questions; Pfeffer's wife, for instance, thought about a lawsuit. She also offers, indirectly perhaps, a reason for Edith Frank's behavior in the attic (she wanted to emigrate to the U.S., long before Germany invaded the Netherlands).
As to the question of the infomrer. I can't say that Lee answers it, and she is very careful to only present her theory as a theory, an unproven theory. Interested readers can read online the detailed study about the informer question put out by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (a website with a link to the file - http://www.battledetective.com/misc.html)
rae_girl's review against another edition
2.0
I must say, this was really hard for me to read. I found it dull and I just wanted it to end. I never did finish it. I'm not saying it isn't a good book, you might like it, but I did not.
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