Anne Frank's Family

Window Frames and Horseshoes

After a short time, Otto Frank once again leaves for the United States. This visit lasts two years. He first works for Macy’s Department Store and then in a bank. In the fall of 1911, Otto returns to Germany. He lands a job working for a company in Düsseldorf that manufactures window frames, then he changes over to a company that produces horseshoes for the German Army.

War

World War One begins in 1914. Otto Frank is drafted into the German Army that next year, just like his brothers. His mother and sister work as volunteers at a military hospital in Frankfurt. Otto is sent to the western front and during the war is promoted to the rank of lieutenant. The war comes to an end in 1918, having claimed a million lives. Otto Frank and his brothers, as well as his mother and sister, survive the war.

In Love, Engaged, Married

After World War One, Otto Frank reluctantly takes over the family bank from his mother and brother Herbert. Herbert has not shown a real talent for banking and the family business does not interest his older brother Robert. Otto Frank meets Edith Holländer in 1924. They announce their engagement on April 5, 1925. A Jewish wedding is planned, a month later in the Aachen synagogue, at the request of the Holländer family.