Johannes Kleiman

Johannes Kleiman (August 17, 1896 - January 28, 1959) was one of the Dutch citizens who helped hide Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands.

Related Topics:
August 17 - 1896 - January 28 - 1959 - Anne Frank - Nazi - The Netherlands

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Kleiman was born in Koog aan de Zaan in the Netherlands and met Otto Frank in 1923, when he was trying to establish a branch of the Michael Frank Bank in Amsterdam. Kleiman was registered as a proxy for the bank in May 1924 and given full powers in December of that year when the bank went into liquidation. He was hired by Frank as a bookkeeper for Opekta and Pectacon in 1938 but had become a close friend from about 1933, when the Frank family fled to Holland to escape Nazi persecution in Germany.

Related Topics:
Otto Frank - Amsterdam

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Johannes Kleiman became a member of the board of Opekta and the company was established at his home address for the next five months until it moved to Prinsengracht 263 at the end of 1940. Johannes Kleiman officially joined as bookkeeper for both Opekta and Pectacon, with Victor Kugler and secretary Bep Voskuijl for Pectacon, and Otto Frank and his secretary Miep Gies for Opekta.

Related Topics:
Prinsengracht - Victor Kugler - Bep Voskuijl - Otto Frank - Miep Gies

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In August 1944 he was arrested with Victor Kugler by the Gestapo after an unknown informant alerted the authorities to their aiding and concealment of Jews in the premises on the Prinsengracht. After interrogation at the Gestapo Headquarters he and Kugler were transferred to a prison on the Amstelveenseweg for Jews and 'political prisoners' awaiting deportation. He was imprisoned in the Amersfoort labour camp before he was released after a week by special dispensation of the Red Cross, due to ill-health.

Related Topics:
Victor Kugler - Gestapo - Political prisoners

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After the publication of Anne Frank's diary, which detailed her two years in hiding, Kleiman regularly took journalists and visitors around the former hiding place, which had been vacated in the early 1950s. He became very involved in the establishment of the Anne Frank Foundation on May 3, 1957 but did not live to see the building open as a museum in 1960. He died, behind his desk, on January 28, 1959.

Related Topics:
Anne Frank's diary - May 3 - 1957 - 1960 - January 28 - 1959

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