Opekta Amsterdam

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Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 31 ″  N , 4 ° 53 ′ 3 ″  E The Nederlandsche Opekta Maatschappij NV , from 1983 Opekta Beheer BV , was a branch of the Opekta Gesellschaft mbH Cologne founded in1933 by Robert Feix . It served as a wholesaler and retailer for Opekta products from Cologne and for pectin from the Pomosin works in Frankfurt am Main . Otto Frank , the father of Anne Frank , whowroteher world-famous diary in the back of the Opekta branch, wasappointed the first managing director. The company was sold in 1982 and in 1995 Opekta Beheer BV was dissolved due to a lack of profits.

Anne Frank wrote in her new diary on June 20, 1942: “Since we are Jews, my father went to the Netherlands in 1933. He became director of the Dutch Opekta company for jam production. "

Locations in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Prinsengracht 263 and 265 (March 2009)
On the left, formerly Opekta , on the right, Keg's Koffiehandel , known from the diary and now part of the museum
  • 1933–1937 Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal 120–126
  • 1937-1940 Singel 400
  • 1940–1955 Prinsengracht 263
  • 1955–1962 Van Slingelandtstraat 8–10
  • 1962–1995 Van Slingelandtstraat 2

executive Director

  • 1933–1941 Otto Heinrich Frank (German)
  • 1941–1959 Johannes Kleiman (Dutch)
  • 1955–1962 Adriana Willemina Kwakernaak (Dutch)
  • 1959–1962 Ernst Wilhelm Hennig (German)
  • 1962–1975 Johannes Gijsbertus van der Veldt (Dutch)
  • 1962–1965 Grete Fackeldey (German)
  • 1965–1971 Johann (Hans) Elsen (German)
  • 1971–1995 Volkmar Rudolph (German)
  • 1975–1983 Herbert Pieter Cornelis Reinhold (Dutch)
  • 1978–1995 Cornelis Hendrikus Bernadus Weijers (Dutch)
  • 1986–1995 Rolf Josef Claßen (German)

history

1933-1937

Erich Elias, a friend of Robert Feix , made his brother-in-law Otto Frank an offer to set up a Dutch diplomatic mission in Amsterdam for Opekta.

Otto Frank, then living in Frankfurt am Main, was entrusted with organizing the expansion of the business in the Netherlands. Since he intended to have his family follow suit after Adolf Hitler's election and the rise of National Socialism , he accepted the contract and went to Amsterdam alone to find a place to live for his family and to clarify the requirements for the company. The Elias and Frank families stayed in contact as long as political circumstances permitted.

This business opportunity, together with the fact that Otto Frank already knew Amsterdam from the unsuccessful establishment of the bank and had friends there, probably led to the decision to emigrate to Amsterdam. In any case, Otto Frank traveled to the Netherlands in the summer of 1933 and received his Opekta license in September.

“My father appointed Mr. Otto Frank as the first managing director of the newly founded Opekta Amsterdam, who took himself and his family to safety from the Nazis in the form when he went into hiding in the rear building of the Opekta. Anne Frank, his second daughter, wrote her diary in the rear building of the Opekta. ” (Ulrich Feix, March 2009)

On September 15, 1933, the “Nederlandsche Opekta Maatschappij NV in oprichting” (Dutch Opekta Aktiengesellschaft in formation), based in Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal 120–126, was entered in the commercial register of the “Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken” (Chamber of Commerce and Industry) of Amsterdam Amsterdam, registered. Under the heading “Type of business carried out” the following was stated: “Manufacturing and trading (private households) in fruit products, especially pectin”. He committed himself to buy all of the pectin needs from Pomosin Werke and Opekta Cologne and owes 2.5% of his turnover for using the “Opekta” brand. In the final entry, which took place in July 1934, only pectin was listed under the heading “Type of business carried out”.

There were only a few employees, most of whom I should mention Victor Kugler . In the early years only one young lady worked as an office assistant and one apprentice in the company. After a relatively short time, the clerk fell ill. A woman was hired as a temporary substitute who was to remain in Opekta's service until after the war: Hermine Santrouschitz, better known as Miep Gies . Initially, Otto Frank entrusted her with all the office work and other activities, occasionally accompanying the demonstration lady and giving the housewives telephone and written instructions on how to use pectin from the office. She was also responsible for public relations and advertising. So she developed into an all-rounder.

At the beginning of 1935, the Amsterdam lawyer ( fully qualified lawyer) Antonius Reinoud Wilhelmus Maria Dunselman was appointed to the supervisory board.

Due to a lack of space, the business address was changed to Singel 400 in 1937 . Bep (Elisabeth) Voskuijl was hired as an office assistant in the company in 1937. Miep and Bep liked each other immediately and became friends quickly, whereupon Bep's father was also employed as a warehouse manager a little later.

1938-1945

In 1938 Miep Gies was seen in an Opekta advertising film, which was intended to convey to consumers how easy and quick it was to use the Opekta product in cooking. In that year they were strengthened by two additional employees, Hermann van Pels as herbalist and Johannes Kleiman as accountant. Pectacon was founded in 1938 under the direction of Victor Kugler. Since the pectin business was seasonal (fruit is only available in summer), trading with Pectacon should be economically more stable. Pectacon is not only the company name, but also a spice mixture for sausage production that was sold by the company of the same name.

At the beginning of the Second World War , there were six people on the payroll at the Dutch company Opekta and five at the company Pectacon (trade in and manufacture of chemical and pharmaceutical products), including three to four representatives, the drugstores (for pectin) and butchers (for Spices). The office and warehouse staff did the work for both companies. In 1939 Opekta Amsterdam bought z. B. 75 barrels with 18,000 kg of pectin at the Pomosin works. A Rhine ship carried the pectin from Frankfurt am Main to Rotterdam. The shipping company sent it directly to Haarlem, where the Jager-Gerlings wine trade filled it into bottles.

On October 22nd, 1940 there was ordinance 189/40 in the Jewish legislation, with reference to “economic de-Judaism”. Owners of Jewish shops should register in order to be able to take them under management later. Kleiman, Frank and lawyer Dunselman tried a trick: Frank offered to resign and Kleiman became his representative. They wanted to sell shares in Pomosin. The only condition on the German side was that the so-called "auditor" agreed. Dunselman kept the papers until the end of the war in May 1945, as the inspection agency never came to a decision, neither positive nor negative. What actually happened to these applications has not yet been clarified. Otto Frank naturally got his shares back from Dunselman after the end of the war.

On December 1, 1940, the Opekta and Pectacon companies moved into new premises at 263 Prinsengracht for reasons of space.

After the arrival of the German occupiers in 1940, the company was re-entered in the commercial register under the names of Jan Gies and Johannes Kleiman in order to prevent Pectacon from being confiscated as a Jewish company. Pectacon's name was changed to "Gies & Co". Gies & Co. only protected Pectacon from Aryanization , but not Opekta. Pectacon was liquidated, Gies & Co. took over supplies, machines, etc.

Although Otto Frank had to resign in December 1941, he continued to work as a silent partner.

Opekta worked from 1941 to 1945, as far as possible, without any particular problems, of course apart from the general hardship during this time.

On July 6, 1942, the Frank family went into hiding with their daughter Anne Frank and hid in the secret annex of the local companies.

In 1943, Opekta Köln promised to deliver 100,000 bottles of "Opekta Liquid" to Opekta Amsterdam. A delivery of many thousands of bottles at the Cologne freight yard was destroyed by a bombardment. All packaging materials (boxes, etc.), Amsterdam property, were also destroyed. Amsterdam got just under 30,000 bottles. The Opekta Cologne had to compensate the Dutch Opekta later.

The time in hiding ended on August 4, 1944, when the eight people in hiding were betrayed and arrested.

Anne Frank and her sister Margot died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945 , shortly before the concentration camp was liberated.

Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, 1945 . Otto Frank was the only one who survived from among those in hiding. He traveled to the Netherlands via Russia, France and Belgium and returned to Amsterdam on June 3, 1945. The helpers took care of him. He moved in with Jan and Miep Gies and lived with them for several years. The Opekta company was still active and the helpers were still working there. Johannes Kleiman headed the Dutch Opekta until his death in 1959.

Legal measures by the government-in-exile in London after the war obliged the chambers of commerce to re-register companies that had been liquidated as a result of German regulations in the event of claims by the original owners. After the end of the war, Frank, Kleiman and Kugler were able to bring Pectacon back to life without any effort. Gies & Co remained, however. From then on there was Opekta, Gies & Co. and Pectacon on Prinsengracht 263.

1946-1979

Her restricted way of life, supported by Kleiman, Kugler, Gies and Voskuijl, which lasted two years, was recorded by Otto Frank's youngest daughter, Anne, in her world-famous diary, which was published in 1947 and is still widely recognized today.

In 1952 Otto Frank married for the second time. In 1953 he finally retired from the company and moved to Basel , Switzerland . Otto devoted himself increasingly to the diary of his daughter Anne. He and Kleiman still campaigned for the preservation of the house. However, the adjacent buildings were to be demolished shortly afterwards, which threatened the stability of the house, which was also in poor condition. Opekta could no longer raise the funds to maintain it and moved within Amsterdam to Van Slingelandtstraat 8-10 .

Investors bought the building on Prinsengracht 263 as early as 1954 and asked Opekta to vacate it. By this point, Anne Frank's diary had attracted readers wanting to visit the historic site, and a successful campaign prevented it from being abandoned. Under pressure from public opinion and thanks to a fundraising initiative headed by Amsterdam Mayor van Hall, the house was saved from ruin. The Opekta building became vacant in 1955 when the previous company moved out and reopened five years later as the Anne Frank House , a museum dedicated to the life and writings of Anne Frank.

1980-1995

Otto Frank died near Basel in 1980 at the age of 91.

In 1982 the sugar manufacturer Pfeifer & Langen from Cologne acquired Opekta with its branches.

At the beginning of the 1990s, however, operations were stopped and it was not until October 25, 1995 that Opekta Beheer BV was automatically dissolved due to Article 2: 19a lid 4 BW.

swell

literature

  • In the Secret Annex . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1956, pp. 39 ( Online - Oct. 10, 1956 ).
  • Scratching the myth . In: Der Spiegel . No. 12 , 2002, p. 218 ( Online - Mar. 18, 2002 ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Commercial register entries from the Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken voor Amsterdam
  2. ↑ The data up to 1959 were compared with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and confirmed.
  3. ^ Commercial register van de Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken voor Amsterdam, Amsterdam 25 October 1995