Anne Frank's Family: The Extraordinary Story of Where She Came From, Based on More Than 6,000 Newly Discovered Letters, Documents, and Phot

The story is one that is envisioned by many: a relative, an old woman who has lived in the same home for a lifetime, passes away, her death prompting the inevitable task of sorting through her effects by her surviving family. But in the attic in this particular house, a treasure trove of historic importance is found. Rarely does this become an actuality, but when Helene Elias died, no one could put a price on what she left behind.

Helene Elias was born Helene Frank, sister to Otto Frank, and therefore aunt to Anne Frank. Ensconced upstairs in the house she inherited from her mother, and eventually passed on to her son, Buddy Elias, Anne’s cousin and childhood playmate, was the documented legacy of the Frank family: a vast collection of photos, letters, drawings, poems, and postcards preserved throughout decades—a cache of over 6,000 documents in all.

Chronicled by Buddy’s wife, Gertrude, and renowned German author Mirjam Pressler, these findings weave an indelible, engaging, and endearing portrait of the family that shaped Anne Frank. They wrote to one another voluminously; recounted summer holidays, and wrote about love and hardships. They reassured one another during the terrible years and waited anxiously for news after the war had ended. Through these letters, they rejoiced in new life, and honored the memories of those they lost. 

Anne’s family believed themselves to ordinary members of Germany’s bourgeoisie. That they were wrong is part of history, and we celebrate them here with this extraordinary account.

Insert Authors’ photo: © Jürgen Bauer

Mirjam Pressler is one of Germany’s most beloved authors. She was the German translator of Anne Frank’s diary.

This fascinating history of Anne Frank and the family that shaped her is based on a treasure trove of thousands of letters, poems, drawings, postcards, and photos recently discovered by her last surviving close relative, Buddy Elias, and his wife, Gerti.

As children, Anne and her cousin Buddy were very close; he affectionately dubbed her “the Rascal” and they visited and corresponded frequently. Years later, Buddy inherited their grandmother’s papers, stored unseen in an attic for decades. These invaluable new materials bring a lost world to life and tell a moving saga of a far-flung but close-knit family divided by unimaginable tragedy. We see Anne’s father surviving the Holocaust and searching for his daughters, finally receiving a wrenching account of their last months. We see the relatives in Switzerland waiting anxiously for news during the war and share their experiences of reunion and grief afterwards—and their astonishment as Anne’s diary becomes a worldwide phenomenon. Anne Frank’s Family is the story of a remarkable Jewish family that will move readers everywhere.