His father, Erich Elias (his maternal uncle's brother-in-law), became head of the Basel-based Opekta company in 1929 and Bernhard moved there in 1931 with his mother and brother Stephan.

Otto Frank visited his relatives in Basel on a regular basis, often with his daughters Anne and Margot.

[7] Elias was the first cousin and last-surviving close relative of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February or March 1945.

As a Member of the Board of Trustees and as president of the Fonds, Buddy Elias dedicated himself to keeping alive the legacy of Anne Frank.

[10] As a president of the Anne Frank Fonds he decided to bring together the estates of the Frank-Elias family in the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.