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Otto Frank |
Adelphi University to Showcase
YIVO's Otto Frank File Exhibition
Garden City, NY
January 24 2008
"The Otto Frank File from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Archives: Chronicling the Efforts of Anne Frank's Father to Find Sanctuary in America" will be on display in Adelphi's Swirbul Library Gallery, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY, through Wednesday, February 27, 2008.
Anne Frank's diary and the story of the two years her family spent in hiding in an Amsterdam attic is familiar to many. Now, letters and nearly 80-pages of written documents by her father Otto, which were recently discovered in the YIVO Institute Archives, reveal formerly the unknown story about the family's attempt to escape Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. Otto wrote to relatives, friends and officials, trying to arrange safe passage for his wife, Edith, and daughters, Margot and Anne, either to the United States or Cuba.
The exhibition at Adelphi features newly discovered documents from the Otto Frank file, as well as other material from the YIVO archives pertaining to the Holocaust in the Netherlands. The bulk of the file, which consists of personal correspondence and official records, spans from April 30, 1941, almost a year after Germany invaded the Netherlands, to December 11, 1941, the day Germany declared war on the United States. A month later, the first Jews from Amsterdam were sent to Nazi work camps, and six months after that, the Franks went into hiding. The last documents, from June 1945, show how Julius Hollander, the brother of Otto’s wife, Edith, sought information about the family’s whereabouts. These letters end in early 1946, when Julius was able to contact Otto, the sole survivor, who had made his way back to Amsterdam after being liberated from Auschwitz in January 1945.
The Swirbul Library Gallery is open Monday through Sunday, 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. For more information, please visit http://events.adelphi.edu/culturalevents/art.php, or contact Richard Vaux, director of exhibitions, at 516.877.4462 or galleryexhibitions@adelphi.edu.
About Adelphi University: Adelphi University, chartered in 1896, was the first institution of higher education for the liberal arts and sciences on Long Island. Through its schools and programs—The College of Arts and Sciences, the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, the Honors College, the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education, University College, and the Schools of Business, Nursing, and Social Work—the co-educational university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as professional and educational programs for adults. Adelphi University currently enrolls more than 8,300 students from 40 states and 50 foreign countries. With its main campus in Garden City and centers in Manhattan, Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie, the University maintains a commitment to liberal studies in tandem with rigorous professional preparation and active citizenship.
Media Contact
For additional information, please contact:
Kali Chan
Media Relations Director
p - 516.877.4040
f - 516.877.3266
e - chan@adelphi.edu
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