Talks & Entertainment

Anne Frank’s Family: The Extraordinary Story of Where She Came From, by Mirjam Pressler— the German translator of Anne Frank’s diary—tells the fascinating history of Anne Frank and the family that shaped her, based on thousands of letters, poems, drawings, postcards, and photos recently discovered by her last surviving close relative, her first cousin Buddy Elias, and his wife, Gerti.

As children, Anne and 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 new materials tell a moving saga of a far-flung but close-knit family divided by unimaginable tragedy.

In the book, previously published as Treasures in the Attic, 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 grief afterwards—and their astonishment as Anne’s diary becomes a worldwide phenomenon.

Buddy serves as Chairman of the Board of the ANNE FRANK-Fonds in Switzerland. Book signing to follow.