Johannes Kleiman

Johannes Kleiman(17 August 1896 – 28 January 1959) was one of the Dutch residents who helped hideAnne Frankand her family during theNazioccupation of theNetherlands.In the published version of Frank's diary,Het Achterhuis,known in English asThe Diary of a Young Girl,he is given thepseudonymMr. Koophuis.In some later publications of the diary, the pseudonym was removed (just like the other protectors' pseudonyms), and Kleiman was referred to by his real name.

Johannes Kleiman
Johannes Kleiman
Born	(1896-08-17)17 August 1896 Koog aan de Zaan,Netherlands
Died	28 January 1959(1959-01-28)(aged 62) Amsterdam,Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Other names	Mr. Koophuis
Occupation	Board Worker of Opekta

Kleiman was born inKoog aan de Zaan,the Netherlands and metOtto Frankin 1923, when he was trying to establish a branch of the Michael Frank Bank inAmsterdam.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 forOpektaand Pectacon in 1938, but had become a close friend from about 1933, when the Frank family fled to the Netherlands to escapeNazipersecution inGermany.

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 toPrinsengracht263 at the end of 1940. He officially joined as bookkeeper for both Opekta and Pectacon, withVictor Kuglerand secretaryBep Voskuijlfor Pectacon, andOtto Frankand his secretaryMiep Giesfor Opekta.

On 4 August 1944, Kleiman was arrested withVictor Kuglerduring theGestaporaid that arrested theFrank familyand four other concealedJewsin the premises on the Prinsengracht. After interrogation at Gestapo headquarters, he and Kugler were transferred to a prison on the Amstelveenseweg for Jews andpolitical prisonersawaiting deportation. Kleiman was imprisoned in the Amersfoort labour camp before he was released by special dispensation of theRed Crossbecause of his ill health. In all, he was a prisoner of the Nazis for about six weeks.

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 Stichting (Anne Frank Foundation) on 3 May 1957 but did not live to see the building open as a museum in May 1960. He died, behind his desk, on 28 January 1959. Otto Frank was devastated about this loss. On 8 March 1972,Yad Vashemrecognized Kleiman as one of theRighteous Among the Nations.

Further reading

• The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition,Anne Frank, edited by Harry Paape, David Barnouw, and Gerrold van der Stroom of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), translated byArnold J. Pomerans,compiled by H. J. J. Hardy, second edition, Doubleday, 2003.
• Anne Frank Remembered,Miep Gies with Alison Leslie Gold, Simon and Schuster, 1988.
• Roses from the Earth: the Biography of Anne Frank,Carol Ann Lee, Penguin, 1999.
• Anne Frank: the Biography,Melissa Müller, with an afterword by Miep Gies, Bloomsbury, 1999.
• The Footsteps of Anne Frank,Ernst Schnabel,Pan, 1988.
• The Hidden Life of Otto Frank,Carol Ann Lee, Penguin, 2002 (US edition: William Morrow, 2003).
• The Last Secret of the Secret Annex: The Untold Story of Anne Frank, Her Silent Protector, and a Family Betrayal,Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl and Jeroen De Bruyn, Simon and Schuster, 2023.