The Franks were an old German Jewish family. Otto Frank's father, a businessman, came from Landau in the Palatinate (a section of Germany). His mother's family can be traced in the archives of Frankfurt back to the seventeenth century.
Otto Frank was born and grew up in Frankfurt-on-Main and, after graduating from high school, went into business, like his father. He fought in the German army during World War I in an artillery company. He impressed his superiors and was promoted in the field to the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, he settled down in Frankfurt as an independent businessman, specializing in banking and the promotion of brand-name goods. He was a member of the comparatively prosperous middle class when he married Edith Hollander of Aachen. He was thirty-six years old, and she was twenty-five. In 1933, when Anne was four years old and Margot was seven, the family moved to Holland, following the rise of the Nazis to power and the introduction of harsh laws against all Jews in Germany. When Mr. Frank brought his family to Holland, he became managing director of an established firm and did well for seven years. When the Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940, however, they introduced the same anti-Jewish laws which had caused the Franks to leave Germany. Times became very difficult for the Franks, and Anne's father soon began to form a plan whereby they could "disappear" — that is, enter a hiding place that had been prepared in advance.
