«I hope that I’ll learn to skate as well as Bernd someday. (…) maybe we can skate as a pair together someday»
Letter from Anne Frank to Alice Frank, 13 January 1941
Buddy (Bernd), who was born in Frankfurt in 1925 and grew up in Basel, was Anne's cousin. After his international career as an ice clown and actor, he became the President of the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel.
Bernhard Paul Elias (Buddy) was born in Frankfurt am Main on 2 June 1925. His mother Helene (Leni) was Otto Frank’s youngest sister and Anne’s aunt.
As young parents, Leni and her husband Erich, together with their sons Stephan (*1921) and Bernhard, lived in the house of the boys’ grandmother, Alice Frank. After the young family’s economic situation deteriorated on account of the world economic crisis, Erich Elias moved to Basel in 1929 to establish a branch of Opekta, a company producing pectin for jam-making. Two years later, Leni followed with their sons, and in 1933 Leni’s mother, Alice Frank, joined them.
Buddy and his brother, Stephan, Frankfurt, around 1927/28. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
The Elias family lived in Basel in Gundeldingerstrasse, near the Margarethen ice rink. This was also where Buddy and his older brother Stephan attended primary school.
The Frank family was always very close. Otto Frank regularly came to Basel to see his sister and brother-in-law, and always took Margot and Anne with him. The cousins also met in the summer holidays on occasional visits to another relative called Olga Spitzer, who lived in Sils Maria in the canton of Grisons. Buddy got on well with his cousins, particularly with Anne, who was four years younger than him. They were both passionate about ice-skating.
Buddy and his brother, Stephan, Frankfurt. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy playing with Margot. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy and Stephan in Gundeldingerstrasse, Basel. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
«I’m at the rink every spare minute. (…) I’m taking skating classes regularly now, where we’re learning how to dance and jump and everything else. (…) I hope that I’ll learn to skate as well as Bernd someday. (…) Bernd, maybe we can skate as a pair together someday, but I know I’d have to train very hard to get to be as good as you are.»
Letter dated 13 January 1941, Anne Frank to Alice Fran
Buddy at the ice rink, Basel, around 1937. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy at the ice rink, Basel, around 1937. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy with an ice clown colleague at a performance in January 1941. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
From 1935 onwards, Buddy Elias attended the Realgymnasium secondary school in Basel. Four years later, he switched to the Handelsschule (commercial college). In his free time, Buddy did a lot of sports: ice-skating in the winter and athletics in the summer. In 1941, Nazi Germany passes a law that makes the Elias family stateless, as all German Jews living outside Germany are deprived of their German citizenship. Two applications for Swiss citizenship in 1936 and in February 1942 are unsuccessful.
Birthday letter from Anne to her cousin, Buddy, 1942. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
On 3 June 1942, Anne writes a birthday letter to her cousin Buddy. This is the last direct contact between the two cousins. One month later, on 6 July, the Franks leave their apartment in Merwedeplein in Amsterdam and go into hiding in the secret annex, which has been ready for months.
Leni with her sons, Buddy (left) and Stephan (right), Basel, around 1932. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy with his father in Basel. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
Buddy Elias took his school-leaving exams in 1943 and started an apprenticeship as an optician, which he soon broke off in favour of training to be an actor at the conservatories of Basel and Zurich. He had his first small engagements in 1946 in Berne, Basel and Winterthur. In 1947, his friend Otto Rehorek got in touch with him. The two of them had performed as ice clowns all over Switzerland under the name of «Buddy and Baddy», and were now offered the clown part in «Holiday on Ice». For the next fourteen years, Buddy toured the world with the show, keeping in touch with his family in Basel through weekly letters.
Buddy and his ice partner, Otto Rehorek. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
In 1961, Buddy returned to his family in Herbstgasse in Basel. He again worked as an actor and embarked on a stage and television career in German-speaking Europe and in England.
In 1965 he married the Austrian actress Gertrud Wiedner (Gerti), their son Patrick was born in 1966 and Oliver in 1971.
Wedding of Buddy and Gertrud (Gerti) Wiedner, 1965. © Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
During their theatre years, Gerti and Buddy Elias often both appeared on stage in cities across Germany. The family moved to Bremen in 1969, spent one season in Mannheim in 1972, lived in Berlin for several years, and finally returned to Basel in 1986. Leni Elias, Buddy’s mother, still ran her antiques shop at the time. Now Gerti took it over and continued with it for another fifteen years.
In 1986, Buddy is elected as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel. In 1996, he is made honorary President of the foundation. Until his death in 2015, he tirelessly dedicates himself to the legacy of Anne and Otto Frank, using education to stand up against anti-Semitism and discrimination. Like his Uncle Otto, he sees Anne Frank’s text as a contemporary document for peace work and dialogue between people. Together with his wife Gerti, he takes responsibility for the charitable work of the foundation, which the latter continues after his death.
Buddy on his commitment to the Anne Frank Fonds. © Anne Frank Fonds/AVE