Edith Frank-Holländer

The loving mother

Edith Frank-Holländer (née Holländer) is Otto Frank's wife and the mother of Anne and Margot. She was born in Aachen in 1900 and grew up in a very wealthy family. Her parents were not quite as wealthy as her husband's, but they were financially comfortable enough to frequent distinguished social circles: “Mother’s family wasn’t as wealthy, but still fairly well-off, and we’ve listened openmouthed to stories of private balls, dinners and engagement parties with 250 guests.” (85%).

Edith married Otto Frank at the age of 25. Anne is sure that her mother loved her father dearly, while Otto never returned his wife`s love in the same way: 

It can't be easy for a loving wife to know she'll never be first in her husband's affections, and Mother did know that. (…) She loves him more that anyone, and it's hard to see this kind of love not being returned. (55%)

According to Anne, her father trusts Edith Frank-Holländer only to a limited extent because he knows that she is “far too emotional, far too critical, and often far too biased.” (55%). However, Anne judges her parents' marriage in a highly suggestive manner, and we do not know how much we should believe her opinions.

In the summer of 1933, as Otto Frank left for the Netherlands to build up his family's livelihood and to find refuge from the Nazis there, Edith and her two daughters moved in with her mother in Aachen for several months. The family reunited six months later in Amsterdam.

Edith raises Anne and Margot with the same liberal approach as her husband: “[My parents] never worry about report cards, good or bad. As long as I’m healt...