Death of Margot Frank
- Life in Secret Annex during German Occupation - Auschwitz - Bergen Belsen

24 August 2022

Category: Nazi Victims

Margot Frank was born on the 16th of February 1926 in Frankfurt, Germany to Otto Frank and Edith Frank. Margot also had a sister, Anne Frank, who was three years her junior. Their life changed dramatically when on the 30th of January 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, was appointed chancellor of Germany by the German President Paul von Hindenburg. In September 1933, Otto Frank founded a franchise for the Amsterdam branch of the Opekta company that traded in pectin, a gelling agent for making jam. The rest of the family moved to Amsterdam soon after.

The Second World War started on the 1st of September 1939. Margot Frank was 14 years old when Germany invaded the Netherlands on the 10th of May 1940. The Netherlands became an occupied territory, and it did not take long for the Nazis to begin introducing new anti-Semitic laws and regulations restricting the lives of Jews. The situation got worse in 1941 when Jewish men were arrested during raids and then deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp.

On the 5th of July 1942, Margot received a call-up to report for a so-called ‘labor camp’ in Nazi Germany. Knowing the faith of their friends and acquaintances who had been sent to such camps and never returned, the Franks did not hesitate for a moment. The next morning, they went into hiding in order to escape persecution.

The secret annex

In the secret annex the family would spend 761 long days. After 7 days, the Franks were joined by the Van Pels family made up of Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, and 16-year-old Peter van Pels. In November, they were joined by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and family friend. The people in hiding were completely dependent on six helpers.

The situation for hidden Dutch Jews became more dangerous after September 1942, when special units were formed, made up of Dutch collaborators, that began hunting for hiding Jews. An estimated 25,000 Jews went into hiding in the Netherlands. Two thirds of them survived and one third were betrayed and discovered. To this day, we do not know the reason for the police raid, but the hiding period for the 8 people in the Secret Annex came to an abrupt end on the 4th of August 1944. From a prison in Amsterdam, they were sent to the Westerbork transit camp. They ended up in the prison barracks, and the men and women were separated. Otto had to work during the day but in the evening, he could be with Edith, Margot, and Anne.

On the 3rd of September, 1944, they were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. While Otto ended up in a camp for men, his wife and daughters were sent to the labor camp for women. Margot Frank, chosen for slave labor, was forced to cut sods or carry stones. After the war, survivors described Margot, Anne and their mom Edith as an inseparable trio. Otto would never see them again.

From Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen

On the night of the 1st of November 1944, Margot and Anne were deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, their parents stayed behind at Auschwitz. Edith Frank died of weakness and disease on the 6th of January 1945, three weeks before the Red Army liberated the camp. At Bergen-Belsen, Margot, who was in a weakened state, died when she fell from her bunk onto a cold stone floor. She was killed by the shock. Anne died shortly after Margot.

For more information,
do not forget to check our video above.