Notes:
Listed alphabetically by last name (American-style —
"van" or "de" are seen as part of the last name).
see the expanded people page for the symbols key
some street names have changed since the
war.
underlined death date means they died in a concentration camp.
 
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Egyedi, Käathe "Kitty"
Wartime address: Noorder Amstellaan 167
Anne and Kitty were friends as kids. They both lived on the same street and went to the Montessori school. (Kitty is the fourth from the right in the group picture of Anne's birthday party: see the photo album at the USHMM AF exibit.) They grew apart in about 1939 and then Kitty's family moved out of the immediate neighborhood, and they hardly saw each other after that. But Anne and Kitty did have a sympatico conversation briefly before Anne had to go into hiding. When the anti-Jewish laws made them both change schools in autumn 1941, Kitty instead went to private lessons in a small group of other Jewish kids. Kitty and Anne nearly met again at Westerbork in 1944, where Kitty was a courier who also worked on sewing machines. Instead, they only learned about each other's presence on the camp: Kitty and her parents and brother were put on a train to Theresienstadt on September 4th. The four survived, probably largely due to how late they got there. She eventually became a dentist in Amsterdam, like her father. She got married, and had two children (presumably grown up by now). Otto Frank kept in touch with her and they both assumed that she was Anne's diaries' "Kitty." Kitty chose to retain her privacy by remaining somewhat anonymous. However, Müller's biography of Anne asserts that the "Kitty" of the diary was a character from Cissy van Marxveldt's story, Joop ter Heul, arguing that Anne perhaps chose Kitty Francken to write to because of their similar last names. Further, Anne refers to Kitty in quotes (front endpaper of her fourth diary), which suggests that Anne's Kitty was not a real person. Anne also wrote a short story about a fictional girl named Kitty. Maybe Anne just liked the name. (AF:B p. 144-5, 236, 243, 289-290; Anne Frank researcher) |
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Elias, Bernhard "Buddy" (b: 2 Jun 1925) Address in 1939: Basel, Switzerland Anne's cousin, a few years older than her. Like her, he was born in Frankfurt. While in hiding, she wrote about fantasies she had about going on outings with him. He survived the war and had a ice-skating career. He is currently (2007) the chairman of the Anne Frank Foundation. (CE p. 269-271, 283: 7 Oct '42, 18 Oct '42; AF:B p. 270, family tree; Anne Frank House CD-ROM; 2005 photo) |
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Evers, Bloeme
(b: 1926)
Met Anne and Margot in the Jewish Lyceum, Westerbork, and Auschwitz. Born in Amsterdam, the daughter of a working class couple (a diamond cutter and seamstress). They lived in a Jewish neighborhood but had renounced religion. She met Anne and Margot in the fall of 1941, when everyone had to go to the Jewish Lyceum. She was in Margot's grade level, but in a different class. When she got a summons from the Nazis at the end of 1942, Bloeme's father was able, diligently moving up the chain of command, to successfully argue for a temporary exemption for his daughter! She continued going to school as her class diminished over the months. On the day of her finals for her last year of High School (spring 1943), she was suddenly the only student left taking exams (in the morning there had been three) and she was arrested that night. She very resourcefully escaped, complete with hiding place arranged for her (of course it was quite complicated). Then she worked and lived in a nursing home, and helped nurses. But she eventually had to leave. (This was now one year of hiding.) She got false papers, moved to Rotterdam and found work as a maid until they went on vacation in August 1944: she had to live elsewhere for two weeks. While in hiding, she was arrested. At the prisoners' barracks in Westerbork, she met the Franks again. Like them, she was sent to Auschwitz, but their paths were separate after that. She was part of a small group of women who stuck together and tried to keep each other's dignity and spirits up (encouragement, mothering as a second family, kept track of dates). In October they were sent to a work camp. Anne had a rash and so was not eligible to go, so Margot and Edith stayed behind with her. Bloeme a dream in November that the liberation would on the first of May. They were liberated on the eighth. She married Hans Emden. They raised a "relatively large family." She studied psychology part time and attained her doctorate in the late 1980's. She and Hans became active in the Jewish community in Amsterdam. She still has special friendships with those women she banded with for nine months in the camps. (her interview in The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank) |
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Frank, Alice Betty Stern (20 Dec 1865 - 20 Mar 1953)
Address in 1939: Basel, Switzerland Anne's paternal grandmother in Switzerland. Born in Frankfurt. She had four children: Robert, Otto, Herbert, and Helene. Became owner of her husband's bank when he died in 1909. After the bank closed in 1933, Anne's father (Otto) went to the Netherlands and Anne, Margot, and Edith lived with her in Frankfurt. They then moved in with the other grandmother (Holländer), in Aachen, still in 1933. A few months later, this grandmother (Frank) moved to Basel to live with her daughter, Helene's, family. She died in Basel in 1953. (CE p. 1, 4, 5; AF:B family tree) |
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Frank, Anneliese "Anne" Marie (12 Jun 1929 - early 1945) Anne herself. This site has an overview, but you can read all about Anne in the reference books and other resources (plus this very site). Best of all, you can read about her dreams, thoughts, and feelings (during ages 13-15) in her diary, preferably the Critical Edition, which is the least edited of the diary editions. Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany. She had an outgoing, amusing character and developed her thoughtful idealistic side within her diary, which she started on her thirteenth birthday. When she was a little kid, her family had fled to the Netherlands because the Nazis had come to power in Germany. Two years after the Nazis took over the Netherlands, her family went into hiding, which was shortly after she started her diary. But the family was caught two years later. Anne died at age 15, of typhus, in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, between the end of February and the end of March, 1945, just before its liberation. (CE p. 3, 54-5) |
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Frank, Edith Holländer (16 Jan 1900 - 6 Jan 1945) Anne's mother. In her diary, Anne tells of a lot of disagreements and discord with her, but also once called her a champion of youth! They apparently also pulled together within the camps. Born in Aachen, Germany, the youngest of four children in a wealthy family. Edith was a quiet person. She and Otto were married in the spring of 1925. She was 11 years younger than him. Died on 6 Jan 1945, in Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. (CE p. 3, 52) |
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Frank, Margot Betti (16 Feb 1926 - early 1945) Anne's (older) sister. Born in Frankfurt, her middle name was in the memory of Betti Holländer. Margot was a quiet girl and an outstanding student. Her hopes for her future were to become a nurse in Palestine. She and Anne stayed close together in the camps. They both died of typhus, Margot dying a few days before Anne, sometime between late February and late March 1945, in Bergen-Belsen. (CE p. 3, 54-5; AFM p. 52-5; AFB p. 131, 193; HLOF p. 50; MOAF p. 133) |
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Frank, Otto "Pim" Heinrich (12 May 1889 - 19 Aug 1980)
Wartime Address: Merwedeplein 37-II (before hiding in July 1942 at Prinsengracht 263)
Anne's beloved father and the person who bought her first diary. After her death, he fulfilled her plans to publish a version of her entire diary and also promoted her ideals until his death. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, he served in the German army in WWI, earning the Iron Cross and the rank of Lieutenant. When the family bank (The Michael Frank Bank) closed in March 1933, he moved to the Netherlands and established a company selling pectin, a gelling agent. Erich Elias, his brother in law, who he had been in business with before, loaned him money to do this, as did a cousin, Armand. In 1934, Otto brought his wife and kids (Margot and Anne) along. At some point after the German occupation of the Netherlands, he tried to emigrate out of the Netherlands with his family, but it was too late, so he devised a plan to go into hiding on the premises of his business. He was the only person hidden in the secret annexe to survive the war (had been deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp). He returned to work, and worked on getting Anne's rewritten diary published (first published summer 1947). On 10 Nov 1953, he married Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits. They lived in Birsfelden, Switzerland. He founded the Anne Frank Fonds, cooperated with playwrights, and responded to letters from Anne's readers. Died 19 Aug 1980, leaving Anne's diary to the Netherlands. (CE p. 1-9, 55-56, 71; AFB p. 9, 27, 276-7; The Hidden Life of Otto Frank; Anne Frank: the Biography) |
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Gies, Hermine "Miep" (nee Santrouschitz) (b: 15 Feb 1909)
Address in 1939: Hunzestraat 25 She saved Anne's diary and did a great deal of the daily help for the people hiding in the annexe. She also ran the companies until Kleiman returned (August - Sept 1944) and gave Otto a home after he returned from Auschwitz. She was born in 1909 in Vienna, Austria. She partly grew up in Holland with a foster family. Starting in 1933, she was an all around help at Otto Frank's office and soon became a friend of the Frank family. Married Jan Gies on 16 July 1941. During the war, she and her husband lived quite near the Franks' home (see map). While they were in hiding, Miep helped them almost daily. After the raid, she retrieved Anne's scattered diaries, diary pages, family photo albums, schoolbooks, and Anne's hair-combing shawl. After the war, she and Jan took Otto in, first at 25 Hunzestraat, then at Jan's sisters' apartment, then at Ab Cauvern's. She and Jan had a son, Paul, after the war (13 July 1950) and he has three children. She wrote a book about her life, emphasizing the war period, She has won several humanitarian awards and is still alive. (CE p. 8, 10; AFB p. 281-2; AFR p. 27, 31, 62-3, 199, 248; HLOF p. 195-6; AFBD p. 89; see also this online interview with Miep [http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/tscripts/miep.htm]) |
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Gies, Jan A. (18 Aug 1905 - 26 Jan 1993)
Address in 1939: Hunzestraat 25 Friend and helper of the Franks and those in hiding, he was also Miep's husband. He and Miep first met while working in another company. He met the Franks via Miep. He worked as a municipal official (social worker). When the anti-Jewish laws came into effect, so that Otto's businesses could continue, Jan was named as supervisory director, and then the company became N.V. Handelsvereniging Gies & Co. ("Gies & Co." for short). It was all a cover: he was not involved in the business. During a good part of the war, Jan was a resistance worker in his spare time. He was one of the annexers' helpers, too, visiting them almost daily and getting them ration coupons. He found a hiding place for Mrs. Stoppelman's son, Max, and daughter-in-law. Both he and Miep hid a student in their rooms and they found a way to get Mrs. Stoppelman's grandchildren into hiding elsewhere. Part of his job after the war was processing returning camp prisoners at the Centraal Station (see map). (CE p. 10; AF:BTD p. 109; AFB p. 258, 281; HLOF p. 145; AFR 171-3, but there is a lot more about him in this book, including some of his resistance activities [note: he is called "Henk" in this book]) |
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Goldsmith/Goldschmidt, Mr. The Franks had rented him a room in their apartment on the Merwedeplein. He was also Jewish but was not let in on the secret of the hiding place. Anne briefly describes him at the end of her essay, "Roomers or Subtenants": a friend of a friend of her parents, he was a divorced man with a new fianc�, "a big tall man of thirty-five with glasses, most unprepossessing to look at." He may have stole their stuff after they left. He was deported to the camps, but survived the war. (CE p. 232, 238, 292: 22 Aug '42, 21 Sept '42, 5 Nov '42; AFR p. 95, 239; AF:B p. 155) |
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Goslar, Rachel Gabrielle "Gabi" Ida
(b: 1940)
Anne's friend's toddler sister, who she saw regularly. Gabi (and Hanneli) was sent to Bergen-Belsen and had very bad ear infections there. She (and Hanneli) survived. After the war, she went with Hanneli to Switzerland, something Anne's father arranged at least part of (they had an uncle in Geneva). (MOAF p. 128-9, plus of course the rest of the book; AFB p. 112; LSMAF p. 33) |
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Goslar, Hannah "Hanneli" Elizabeth "Lies" (born: 12 Nov 1928) Anne's friend (the one with a cute toddler sister, Gabi). Anne had a dire dream about her while in hiding and later furtively met her in Bergen-Belsen. For a time, Hanneli lived on the Merwedeplein, like Anne. Their parents were very good friends as well. They were all German Jewish immigrants. After the Franks went into hiding, Hanneli's mother died during childbirth (the baby died, too), in the fall of 1942. The Goslar family was taken away on 20 June 1943. They were in Westerbork until a train took them away on 14 February 1944. They were taken to Bergen-Belsen as Jews on a preferred list. While there, she and Anne met a few times under dire circumstances but she was nonetheless able to get Anne some food (Hanneli was in a better part of the camp). Hanneli barely survived the concentration camp. Their father and grandparents did not. Otto Frank visited her in the hospital and arranged for Gabi and her to go to Switzerland to recuperate. She moved to Israel in 1947, became a nurse, and married Dr. Walter Pinchas Pick. She and Otto maintained contact. She is still alive and regularly travels to speak in schools. (MOAF p. viii, 2, 44, 66-7, 105-6, 109, 125-6, 128-130; CE p. 205, 229, 291, 422-3: 5 July '42, 14 Aug '42, 2 Nov '42; 27 Nov '43; AF:B p. 53; LSMAF p. 34 (see also the rest of her interview); Online Interview with Miep Gies; an Anne Frank researcher sent her birth date and notes that Hanneli's records spelled her name "Hanna Elisa Goslar.") |
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Goslar, Hans (4 Nov 1889 - 25 Feb 1945) 1934 Address: Merwedeplein 31-1;
1937 address: Zuider Amstellaan 16-2 (until deported) He, his wife, and daughter were good friends with the Franks. Their daughter, Hanneli, was friends with Anne. If it were not for their toddler, Gabi, and their expecting another baby, they would have been invited to share the hiding place. (MOAF p. 105-6; HLOF p. 83 or 100; Addresses and birth dates sent by an Anne Frank researcher.) |
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Goslar-Klee, Ruth Judith (23 Oct 1901 - 28 Oct 1942) She, her husband, and daughter were good friends with the Franks. She died during childbirth in 1942. Anne did not seem to know this, only that the baby died. (CE p. 291: 2 Nov 1942, her Joodsmonument info) |
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Holländer, Julius (11 Dec 1894 - 4 Oct 1967)
Wartime Locations: Germany, USA (Leominster, MA) Anne's uncle: her mother's brother. He was born in Eschweiler, Germany, was six years older than Edith. He fought in WWI and had a stiff elbow: a war injury. He and brother Walter ran the family business (dealers in industrial equipment and scrap metal). He applied for entry to the USA (had a cousin there, Ernst, who vouched support) and arrived in April 1939. Not speaking English very well, he could only find unskilled work at a box factory (in June 1940). Walter followed later. They became American citizens on the same day (13 Nov 1944). The troubles and losses of the years hit him harder than Walter, though. In 1963, they moved to New York (at the end of 1956, they finally got reparations pensions). In 1967, Julius fell into an elevator shaft and died. (AFM p. 52-55; AFB p. 23-4, 82, 88, 110, 285-8, family tree) |
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Holländer, Rosa Stern (25 Dec 1866 - 29 Jan 1942) Anne's maternal grandmother, who had a sweet disposition. Born on Christmas Day, 1866, in Langenschwalbach. She had four children (Julius, Walter, Betti, and Edith). Lived in Aachen until 1939, then lived with the Franks in Amsterdam until her death (cancer) in 1942. (CE p. 5, 16, 183, 190: 20 June '42, 28 Sept 1942 diary 1, p. 29, with photo; AFM p. 52-5; AFB p.136) |
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Holländer, Walter (6 Feb 1897 - 19 Sept 1968) Wartime
Locations: Germany, Netherlands, USA (Leominster, MA) Anne's uncle, Edith Frank's brother. He was born in Aachen (three years older than Edith). He and Julius ran the family business, but were arrested in the November 1938 raids, in Aachen. Walter was released but Julius was taken to Sachsenhausen. He was allowed to leave the country about three weeks later because he had gained admittance to Holland (via his relations, the Franks). However, he had to stay in a quarantine camp there, paying all expenses. He could only leave after about a year, leaving for the USA to join Julius. Walter's boss agreed to sign an affidavit for Anne's family, but it was too late to be any use. He and his brother became American citizens in 1944. Walter died on 19 Sept 1968, in New York. See Julius's entry for some more info. (AFM p. 52-55; AFB p. 81-4, 86, 110-1, 285-8) |
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Kimel, "Sally" "Sol" (b: 7 Oct 1928)
"A short, fat, fair-haired friendly boy, with a great sense of humor." Friends for years, starting in Kindergarten, Anne was quite fond of him, even later while in hiding. She wrote: "A week ago, even yesterday, if you had asked me, 'Which of your friends do you consider would be the most suitable to marry? I would have answered: 'Sally, for he makes me feel good, peaceful and safe!'" He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He lived with his mother, possibly with his Aunt and cousins. Sally was born in Berlin. In the fall of 1942, his mother was taken in a roundup in Amsterdam (she later died in Auschwitz). He was taken in by distant relatives and then put into hiding, with several other Jews, on a farm. The farm was raided in early 1945. Sol was sent to Westerbork on the 8th of February, where he remained until it was liberated, on April 12th. He studied chemistry in Amsterdam and America, and then moved to Israel, where he remains. He has a wife and two children and was a professor working in cancer research (now retired). (CE p. 448, 451: 6 Jan 1944 p. 18, 22; AF:B p. 64, 289) |
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Kleiman, Johannes (19 Aug 1896 - 30 Jan 1959) Wartime
Address: Generaal Vetterstraat 40 Close business associate and friend of Otto and the family. He was the Franks' most long-term friend in Amsterdam. He had known Otto since about 1924. He was one of the helpers of those hiding in the secret annexe. Sometimes his wife would visit and Anne would ask her longingly about their teenaged daughter's life in freedom. Their daughter was very fond of Anne and did not know of the secret but probably guessed as soon as November 1942. After the raid, Johannes was imprisoned and was to be sent to a labor camp in Germany, but he had a gastric hemorrhage and the Red Cross soon successfully intervened to get him (and several others) released. When well enough to work again, he took charge of Gies & Co. (CE p. 1-3, 8-16, 49; AF:BTD p. 109; HLOF p. 99, 336; FAF p. 79-81; an Anne Frank researcher sent his birth date and said his wife was born on 10 Feb 1897, Catharina Reuman, however HLOF states her name was Johanna.) |
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Klein, Hannelore "Hansi" This girl convinced a neighbor lady, Schütz, to put on a comedic play, in the winter of '41-42 (they both directed). Anne played the lead. Hansi's older sister was called up on the very same day that Margot was. Their christian grandmother went to the Nazis with a convincing lie about her dead husband: that he had been an Aryan (i.e. not Jewish). This officially made her three granddaughters only half Jewish and their mother completely Aryan. Hansi went to the regular school again. She married Rudi Nussbaum in 1947 (he had survived by hiding with a farm family) and they moved to the United States in 1957. They had three children. Hansi (now called Laureen) became a literature professor and Rudi presumably worked in physics. They live in Oregon. (AF:B 134-5, 290-1) |
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Kugler, Victor Gustav (6 June 1900 - 16 Dec 1981)
1938 address: Leeuwenhoekstraat 117; moved in 1941 to Eemnesserweg 56 (both in Hilversum) "Miep and Kugler carry the heaviest burden of us and all those in hiding," Anne wrote in her diary (26 May 1944). Born in Austria, he apparently got Dutch citizenship by 1938. He was apparently unsuccessful at business (and Otto Frank took over in 1933). He then became Otto's right hand man and he was named as managing director when the non-Jewish laws came into effect (so the business could continue). He was one of the helpers of those in hiding and ran the business during the long periods when Kleiman was ill. He got Anne film magazines and Anne would beg him for newspapers (forbidden to her). He would sometimes give her a peek at a newspaper. After the raid, he was taken to prison. He was digging trenches until 28 March, 1945, when they were near the border and the confusion of a British attack enabled him escape to a farm. He bicycled for two weeks to his wife, Laura. He hid at home until the Liberation (a few weeks later) and returned to work. After his wife's death in 1952, he remarried and moved to Canada in 1955. In 1973, he was awarded the Yad Vashem Medal of the Righteous, for helping the eight Jews in hiding. (CE p. 7, 10, 49-50; FAF p. 77-8, 81; AF:BTD p. 109; AFR p. 229-230; AF:B p. 291; Anne Frank researcher) |
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Kuiper, Maarten (13 Nov 1898 - 30 Aug 1948)
Wartime Addresses: Oude IJsselstraat 15-2, Jan van Eijckstraat 22-1
A Dutch policeman, one of the major betrayers of Jews in hiding during the war, he was one of those who raided the annexe. He was friends with, or acquainted with, Tonny Ahlers. He was executed on 30 Aug 1948, for betraying many, many Jews. (HLOF p. 125, 128, 220, 319, 367 [note #29]; note that he lived at the same address as Tonny Ahlers but not at the same time: Kuiper lived there very soon after Ahlers did) |
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Ledermann, Barbara (b: 4 Sept 1925) Margot's best friend until the schools were switched, in autumn 1941, due to the anti-Jewish laws. (After that, Barbara went to a private ballet school.) Barbara was also Sanne's older sister. Further, their parents were friends with the Franks. At some point before June 1943, Barbara was able to go "underground": her blond hair and blue eyes allowed her to pass as a non-Jew, complete with phony ID card (renaming her Barbara Waarts), and she became an important courier in the Resistance movement. In 1947, being unable to get Dutch citizenship and having none of her immediate family left alive, she emigrated to New York. In 1950, she married Martin Rodbell and had four daughters. Her husband won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1994 and they live in North Carolina. (AF:B p. 52, 131, 234, 292-3 [as usual, there is more information about her in this book]) |
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Ledermann, Franz Anton (16 Oct 1889 - 19 Nov 1943)
Address in 1939: Noorder Amstellaan 37-3 or 57-3 (until deported) Anne called him "Uncle Franz," though they were not related. There were several connections between their families (see his wife and daughters). He was a German lawyer who emigrated with his family to Holland and learned Dutch law, passing the bar in about 1936. Meanwhile, he and Mr. Goslar worked together helping fellow immigrants deal with finances, real estate, and legal matters. He was a fine violinist and violist, and played in the neighborhood concerts with his wife and others. Along with his wife and one daughter, Sanne, he was deported on 20 June 1943, and gassed immediately after their arrival at Auschwitz (see Sanne for more details). (AFB p. 58, 125, 134, 292 [see this book for much more]) |
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Ledermann, Ilse Louise Citroën (8 Mar 1904 - 19 Nov 1943)
Anne called her "Aunt Ilse," though they were not related. There were several connections between their families. "Aunt Ilse" was the mother of Anne's friend, Sanne, and Margot's best friend, Barbara. Like many in the neighborhood, they had emigrated from Germany. She was Dutch by birth and played piano. Among others, she and her husband, Franz, played music, in neighborhood homes, every other Sunday. Anne sometimes went to these concerts, which were largely a way around restrictions against Jews going to movie houses, etc. Along with Sanne and her husband, she was deported on 20 June 1943, and gassed immediately after her arrival at Auschwitz (see Sanne for more details). (AFB p. 52, 57, 58, 125, 134, 292 [see this book for much more]) |
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Ledermann, Susanne "Sanne" (7 Oct 1928 - 19 Nov 1943)
Anne's friend who lived around the corner early on. She helped Anne write a clever verse to turn in: it was Anne's punishment paper for chattering in class. When the anti-Jewish laws had them all changing schools, she ended up in a different Jewish school than Anne but they remained friends. She was the president of their Little Bear Minus Two Club. She was deported to Westerbork with her parents on 20 June 1943. (Hanneli and her family were taken during the same day's raids.) The three were sent on a train to Auschwitz on 16 Nov, and gassed upon their arrival on the 19th. Her older sister survived with a false identity. (CE p. 185, 197: 20 and 21 June '42; MOAF p. 127; AFB p. 52, 131, 182-3, 292 [see this book for much more]) |
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Naumann, Gertrud
(died: 1 Dec 2002)
A friendly older neighbor kid in Frankfurt, the Franks kept in contact with her for several years after they moved to the Netherlands. After the war, Otto reconnected with her, and they remained friendly until his death. Gertrud was the youngest of six children, loved babies, and was very attentive to Margot and then Anne, who was about 13 years younger than her. Gertrud was like a member of the family, and called Otto "Papa Frank." She frequently enjoyed meals with them, got presents like any member of the family, and sometimes slept over. She even took care of Anne during a move in 1931. The Franks visited Gertrud in Frankfurt at least twice but she could not visit them (her mother was ill and her father was under Nazi attack as a Catholic and as a centrist). She and the Franks sent each other gifts and photos, too. Nazi mail censors kept them from really communicating via the mail (for instance, about her father's situation). They could only send chat. Gertrud worked as a secretary. She married Karl Trenz in 1949, and had three children. Almost every year, usually in the fall, Gertrud and her family visited Otto and Fritzi at their home in Birsfelden, Switzerland. (AF:B p. 17-18, 25-6, 73, 76, 294-5; date of death from the Anne Frank House's book, Anne Frank and Family - Photographs by Otto Frank) |
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Pfeffer, Friedrich "Fritz", Dr. (1 May 1889 - 20 Dec 1944) Anne had to share a small bedroom and a small desk with this man during their two years in hiding. Various conflicts arose between them: Anne's diary has many accounts of their mutual distaste and discord. Further, the name change she chose for him was "Dussel": a dope. However, several other people (Miep, his wife, his son) later defended his character. Anne had earlier been acquainted with him and his wife because they were often guests at her parents' Saturday afternoon teas (before the anti-Jewish laws). He was born in Giessen, Germany. He became a dentist and had a son, Werner, who was about Anne's age. After divorcing, he had custody of Werner. In Nov 1938, he sent Werner on a children's transport to London and Fritz's brother in England looked after him for the duration of the war (though largely via boarding schools). Pfeffer also moved in late 1938, to Amsterdam, with his girlfriend, Lotte. Miep invited him to join those in hiding and he moved into the annexe on 16 Nov 1942. She had first met him in 1939. He worked at her dentist's office and, as mentioned, he was also a regular guest at Otto Frank's home. Pfeffer died on 20 Dec 1944, in Neuengamme concentration camp. (His son survived the war, in England, moved to the USA [California], changed his name to Peter Pepper, and had a business and a family. He died in about 1995. He was probably the Peter W. Pepper, of Playa Del Rey, California, who was born on 3 Apr 1927 and died on 15 Feb 1995.) (CE p. 16, 50; AF:B p. 188-190, 289, 295; for more final days information, see HLOF p. 195; Social Security Death Index. Regarding Werner, it seems likely he was a Kindertransport child.) |
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Schiff, Lutz Peter (9 Sept 1926 - date unknown)
Wartime Addresses: Germany (Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam: Zuider Amstellaan 53-2, then on Waalstraat, until going into hiding at Amstellaan 37 III, until deported) Anne's long term, longed for love, Peter. She called him "Petel." He was three years older than her and usually overlooked her. Originally from Berlin, Germany, his family (mother, stepfather, and him) moved to Amsterdam in 1939. (His biological father had emigrated to the USA in the 1930's. His parents were sent to Theresienstadt.) He was sent to Westerbork as early as September 1943, then Bergen-Belsen in February 1944, and finally to Auschwitz, where he died — date unknown. (CE p. 186, 202, 446-451: 20 June '42, 1 July '42, 6 Jan '44 [ver a: ver b splits it into Jan 6 and 7]; AFB p. 295-6; AFB p. 152; his Joodsmonument page; Dutch Jewry Search) There is a photo of Peter in the blog. |
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Silberbauer, Karl Joseph (21 June 1911 - 1971 or 1972) The uniformed SD sergeant in charge of the raid on the annexe. German, from Vienna. Miep described him as very workaday: "He looked as though he might come around tomorrow to read your gas meter or punch your tram ticket." During the raid, when he found out that Otto Frank had been an German lieutenant during WWI, he ordered that everyone take their time. He was investigated a few times but not found to have done much more than follow orders. See his life chronology. (CE p. 35, 45-6; AFB p. 298; FAF p. 101; Anne Frank researcher) |
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Silberberg, Helmuth "Hello"
Wartime Locations: Germany, Amsterdam, Brussels
Anne's most recent beau before going into hiding. He had come to see Anne on the same day that Margot got the call up notice to report to the S.S. Originally from Germany. In 1938, both his parents separately escaped to Belgium (illegally) and Hello moved in with his grandparents in Amsterdam. After a couple of close shaves with raiding Nazis in 1942, he escaped to Brussels. His grandparents soon went into hiding (in an attic in Amsterdam). Hello and his parents also soon went into hiding in a house near Brussels (periodically hiding in a cave and in cloister gardens). Hello got phony identification papers (becoming "Edmond Mertens") so he had some freedoms. He is still alive, in America. (CE p. 198, 206-8: 24 June, 8 July '42 — Anne also mentions him several times in late June to early July 1942; AFB p. 150-1, 244-5, 298-9; 2005 photo). |
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Swillens, Rie "Iet" "Ietje"
(b: 12 July 1929) Address in 1939: Zuider Amstellaan 184 hs.
Anne's frequent school companion until the schools were switched on them in 1941. She was Dutch and had very good grades. In the 1970's, she became a teacher. (AF:B p. 79, 132, 300; MOAF p. 127; Anne Frank researcher) |
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van Dijk, Lucia A friend of Anne's until the schools were switched in 1941 (due to the anti-Jewish laws). Before that, Lucia's parents joined the NSB (Dutch Nazi Party), her mother proudly wearing an NSB pin. Anne's father told Anne it could be just a social club: not all NSB members were bad, just had bad political ideas (he himself employed two NSB members). After the school switch, Lucia was enrolled in a sort of Dutch Nazi Youth group (Jeugdstorm), complete with uniform. Her grandmother did not approve and Lucia herself felt uneasy about it all. She quit the group in late 1942 — her father had quit the NSB the previous August. (He died in 1944. Her mother did not quit the NSB but was not punished, like many NSB members were.) After completing school, Lucia did secretarial work, married in 1955, and had two sons. She lives in Amsterdam. (AF:B p. 132-3, 269-270; see also HLOF about Otto's wartime perspective on NSB members) |
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van Maaren, Wilhelm "Willem" Gerardus "Gerard" (10 Aug 1895 - 28 Nov 1971)
Address in 1939: Kouterstraat 9 The new head warehouseman, replacing Bep Voskuijl's father when he went to the hospital ill, in the spring of 1943. He was probably stealing from the start. He was curious about the back part of the building and also found v. Pels wallet and wanted to know who it belonged to. He set up trips and soon deduced that people were in the warehouse at night. He always denied tipping off the authorities and there was never real evidence that he was the one who did. Died in 1971. (CE p. 21, 29-44, 405, 616, 618: 16 Sept '43, 21 April '44, 25 April '44; AFB p. 294; HLOF p. 336; AF:B p. 218; see also the early 2003 investigation) |
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van Maarsen, Jacqueline "Jacque" Yvonne Meta
(born: 30 Jan 1929)
1937 Address: Albrecht D�rerstraat 40 Friend of Anne's, the one whose puberty started earlier. She was the secretary of their Little Bear Minus Two Club. She survived the war by getting an "Aryan" identification card. She is still alive and regularly travels to speak at schools and has written books about Anne which I have not read yet. (CE p. 185: 20 June 1942; MOAF p. 126; AFB p. 254, 294; Online Interview with Miep Gies) |
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van Pels, Auguste "Gusti" (nee R�ttgen) (29 Sept 1900 - spring 1945) Hermann van Pels' wife. Lived in hiding with the Franks. Birthday: 29 Sept. Died between 9 April and 8 May, 1945, in Germany or Czechoslovakia, probably as a prisoner (unless she escaped) having already been taken to four concentration camps. (CE p. 52; HLOF p. 195) |
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van Pels, Hermann (31 May 1899 - fall 1944)
Wartime Addresses: Germany, then Amsterdam: Zuider Amstellaan 34-II, Biesbosstraat 59 (until going into hiding) Otto's business partner involved in diversifying Opekta's sales into spices, starting in the summer of 1938. He and his family hid with the Franks in the secret annexe starting on 13 July 1942. Hermann's ancestors were Dutch, but he grew up in Germany. He was a gregarious heavy smoker. He and his family had lived in Osnabrück, Germany. He had worked with his father as suppliers of spices and other things for butchers and meatpackers. He and his wife and boy fled to Amsterdam in 1937. After the raid on the annexe, he was sent to Westerbork with the rest and then on to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. He was gassed, probably in early October, 1944. (CE p. 8-9, 50; AFB p. 93, 259) |
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van Pels, Peter (8 Nov 1926 - May 1945) Anne became close to him in hiding and probably again at Westerbork. He was the first boy Anne kissed: right there in hiding. He was the van Pels' son. Before going into hiding, he was in Anne's circle of friendly acquaintances (he gave her a milk chocolate bar for her birthday). He had lived in Germany until he was eleven, in 1938, when his family fled to Amsterdam. He and his parents lived in hiding with the Franks and Pfeffer, in the secret annexe. In Auschwitz, he befriended Max Stoppelman and later was attentive to Anne's father, in the Auschwitz "hospital." Peter died on 5 May 1945, in Mauthausen concentration camp, three days before that camp's liberation. However, because some online sources say Mauthausen was liberated on 5 May, I wonder if he died on 2 May. (CE p. 52, 93, 186, 607: 20 June 1942 [d1, p11], 16 Apr 1944 [d3, p 198]; HLOF p. 195; AF:B p. 258) |
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Voskuijl, Elisabeth "Bep" (5 July 1919 -
6 May 1983)
Address in 1939: Lumeijstraat 18-2 Quiet secretary and all around help in Gies & Co. Started working there in 1937. She visited the group hiding in the annexe every workday (and once spent the night there, in Oct 1942, on an air mattress). She smuggled the office milk allotment to them, she enrolled Margot in a correspondence school shorthand course under her (Bep's) name, and, like Miep, brought the girls hand-me-downs. (CE p. 9; AF:B p. 177; FAF p. 86) |
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Voskuijl, Johannes "Johan" Hendrik (15 Jan 1892 - Nov 1945)
Address in 1939: Lumeijstraat 18-2 Bep's father. He was "deeply attached" to Otto Frank, knowing him a long time. Johan was the head warehouseman until he went to the hospital ill in the spring of 1943. He had built the bookcase door. Died of cancer in late Nov 1945. (CE p. 16, 230: 21 Aug '42; AFB p. 225, 300; FAF p. 111; HLOF says he died in December: p. 338; AFR p. 207 — he is called "Hans Vossen" in that book) |
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Wagner, Ilse
(26 Jan 1929 - 2 Apr 1943) Address in 1939: Grevelingenstraat 11-II
Ilse was a friend of Anne's, the member of the Little Bear Minus Two Club who had a ping pong set. She was also from Germany (born in Hamburg). In January 1943, she was arrested and sent to Westerbork. She, her mother, and grandmother were deported to Sobibor and gassed upon their arrival on 2 April 1943. (AF:B p. 142, 301; see also the Joodsmonument page for this address — it looks as if her father had been deported and killed a few months earlier, and then her aunt and uncle, who lived with them, were killed in Sobibor in April 1943.) |
Note: Otto Frank owned two companies, but
they used the same staff and,
in 1941, folded them into one. I refer to his companies as if they were one: Gies & Co.
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Last Modified: 1 Dec 2007