Margot was born on 16 February 1926 in Frankfurt am Main. Her proud parents were Otto and Edith Frank. On 12 June 1929 younger sister Anne was born. Due to the increasing antisemitism in Germany, the family moved to Amsterdam in 1933. Margot quickly settled into life in the Netherlands: she learned the language, made many friends, did very well at school, and after school she played tennis and rowed. In May 1940 everything changed. The German army occupied the Netherlands, and because of the anti-Jewish measures Margot’s world became increasingly smaller. On 5 July 1942 the Nazis issued the first summons for so-called labour camps. Margot was among the first group to be called up. On 6 July 1942 the Frank family went into hiding in the Annex.
Margot’s diary
From Anne’s diary we know that Margot also kept a diary. “Last night Margot and I were lying together in my bed, it was unbelievably small but quite funny; she asked if she might sometimes read my diary, I said yes, some parts, and then I asked about hers and I was allowed to read that too,” Anne wrote on 14 October 1942. Unlike Anne’s diary, Margot’s diary has not been preserved.
Alone in the Annex
According to helper Miep Gies, Margot was quiet and withdrawn in the Annex. How lonely she felt became clear when Anne and fellow hiding companion Peter van Pels fell in love. When Anne suspected that her sister might also have feelings for Peter, Margot denied it. In a note to Anne she wrote: “I only find it a little sad for myself that I haven’t yet found anyone, and probably won’t for quite some time, with whom I can talk about my thoughts and feelings.”
The bond between the sisters
Anne often wrote about her sister Margot, who was three years older. “Margot doesn’t need teaching; since she's naturally good, kind and clever,” Anne wrote on 27 September 1942. The sisters, different as they were, had a close bond. That bond only became stronger during the final six months after their arrest and deportation. They remained together until the end. Margot died, one or a few days before Anne, in February 1945 of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. She was then 18 or just 19 years old.
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