The Diary Of Anne Frank
Real-life biographies
Helpers
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Miep Gies
Born Hermine Santrouschitz in Vienna, Austria, Miep moved to the Netherlands in 1920 to escape the food storages and poor health of economically battered Austria.
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She was taken in by a large foster family who had five children of their own but did not hesitate to take in an 11-year-old stranger as one of their own. This family then gave her the less formal name of Miep.
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It could be said that Miep was able to selflessly help those in hiding because she herself was shown such care and love by her foster family despite the strain on the family.
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"It is our human duty to help those who are in trouble," Miep said in Ann Arbor.
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"I could foresee many, many sleepless nights and a miserable life if I had refused to help the Franks. Yes, I have wept countless times when I thought of my dear friends. But still, I am happy that these are not tears of remorse for refusing to assist those in trouble."
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Miep was hired by Otto Frank to be a part of his small company, Opekta, in 1933 quickly becoming a close friend of the entire family.
For two years Miep brought the families in hiding food, clothes, entertainment and friendship, all the while risking her own safety.
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When the families were taken away she still attempted to save them through trips to the SS office and offering bribes. She returned to the attic hiding space and picked up the personal items that were left behind.
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After his return to Amsterdam from Auschwitz, Otto went to live with Miep and her husband Jan Gies. Miep is the reason that we have Anne's diary today.
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Johannes Kleiman (character: Mr Koophuis)
Johannes Kleiman was born in Koog aan de Zaan, Netherlands and met Otto Frank in 1923 when Otto opened a branch of the Frank family bank, Michael Frank Bank, in Amsterdam.
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The bank closed in 1933 and as Kleiman was by then a close friend of Otto, he was hired as a bookkeeper for Opekta in 1938.
He helped take care of the families in the attic for two years and was arrested by the Gestapo when they were turned in by an anonymous informant.
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Kleinman spent six weeks in several camps and prisons before being released. After the war ended Kleiman was very involved in the beginning of the Anne Frank Foundation and took people on tours of the house.
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He died in 1959, just before the House was opened as a museum.
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Victor Kugler (character: Mr Kraler)
Victor Kugler was born in early June 1900 in Hohenelbe, Austria/Hungary. It was a German speaking area full of German citizens but is now part of the Czech Republic.
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He was brought up by his mother, who came from a wealthy family and paid for his education in prestigious schools. He joined the Austrian Marines but was quickly discharged due to being wounded.
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After returning to work in Austria he found the economic environment unstable and was sent on to the Netherlands to work on an assembly line.
He was hired by Opekta as a deputy and became a Dutch citizen in 1938 when it became apparent that Otto's business would be taken by the Nazis and put into the hands of someone in the party.
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Kugler visited the families in hiding often and brought with him whatever could be spared as well as any money that he could hide from sales from Opekta.
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"Sometimes he succeeded in buying rationing coupons on the black market. Primarily, however, Mr. Kugler sold bulk orders of spices without recording the sale and he was then able to pass the money along to us." - Otto Frank
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His wife did not know that he was helping to hide the families in the house so he suffered the stressful and dangerous situation without support.
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Bep Voskuijl (character: Elli)
Bep (Elisabeth) Voskuijl was born on 5 July, 1919. She was the eldest of eight children in a Dutch Reformed Christian family in Amsterdam.
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She began working for Opekta when she was 18 years old and her father joined Opekta in 1937, working in the warehouse. He helped build the bookcase at the opening of the secret annexe and was the only person in the warehouse aware of those in hiding. Neither Bep nor her father let the rest of their family know their secret.
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In 1942 she was told by Otto Frank about the families that were going to be hiding in the rooms above the office. She readily agreed to help; she organised correspondence courses for Anne, Margot and Peter in her own name, brought special treats for everyone in hiding and ate dinner with them every night.
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Bep was very close to Anne and everyone in the annex: their deaths deeply affected her. Although she was very shy about giving interviews, she continued a close relationship with Otto for many years, even naming her daughter after Anne.
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The Frank Family
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Otto Frank
Otto Frank was born into a wealthy family in Frankfurt. The Frank family business was the Michael Frank Bank, which specialized in foreign currency exchange. The Frank family attended and gave many lavish parties and dinners, the best of society.
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The Frank family was not particularly religious. They had assimilated into German society, Otto even mentioning that his grandmother only attended synagogue to get married and then never attended again.
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Otto attended courses at Heidelberg University and spent time in foreign countries on holiday.
Otto served time in the Imperial German Army during World War I, being promoted to lieutenant in 1915.
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He married Edith Hollander in 1925; it was a merging of two wealthy business families. Otto's family was shocked at this quick engagement to a woman that most of them had never met. The marriage took place at a time when the Frank family was struggling and Otto was getting older and interested in starting a family. Margot arrived soon after their marriage.
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Otto recognized the Nazis' rise to power in Germany as dangerous for his young family and relocated them several times, first to Aachen, Germany and then to Amsterdam. He also attempted to secure visas to the United States or Cuba, for them to travel out of harms way, but could not get them.
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The Frank family went into hiding in 1942 in the attic space of Otto's business, Opekta. After over two years of hiding, they were turned in to the SS and shipped to various camps. Otto was separated from his family in Auschwitz and suffered from illness during his internment. He was sent to the infirmary in the last days of the Second World War and was left for dead, missing the death march that took many prisoners' lives.
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Otto returned to Amsterdam after a long journey only to find no word about his family. After inquiring in many different places for news he found out that his wife and daughters had not survived.
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Once they knew that Anne had not survived, Miep handed Anne's diary to Otto who eventually had it published, according to her wishes, in 1947. He was determined his daughter鈥檚 diary should be used as a force for good.
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Otto remarried in 1953 to Auschwitz survivor Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits and they moved to Basel, Switzerland. Togerher they devoted their lives to the diary and answered every letter they received from all over the world.
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When Otto heard that the office building where he and his family hid for two years was scheduled to be torn down, he created the Anne Frank Foundation (1957) in order to acquire the space and turn the building into a museum, which opened in 1960.
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His 1976 appearance on 大象传媒's Blue Peter was the most requested repeat item of that year.
He died in 1980 aged 91.
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Edith Frank-Holl盲nder
Edith Holl盲nder was born on 16 January, 1900 in Aachen, a small town in Germany close to the border with the Netherlands. Due to this close proximity Edith's ancestors originated in the Netherlands, as their family name shows.
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The Holl盲nder family had a successful trading company dealing in machines, metal and rags. They were not considered by Anne to be as wealthy as the Frank family but there were tales of extravagant parties and weddings. The Holl盲nder family was very involved in the Jewish religious community of Aachen.
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Edith was quite religious and well educated, having attended a girls' high school.
Otto was eleven years older than Edith when they married on 12May, 1925. Margot quickly followed nine months later on 16 February, 1926. Edith was a doting new mother carefully keeping track of Margot's life in a baby book.
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The Franks began to notice the separation of Jewish and non-Jewish children and soon moved out of Germany to Amsterdam. She felt lonely and isolated by the move to a foreign city, made worse by the fact that she couldn't visit her mother in nearby Aachen. Soon her mother came to live with them in Amsterdam and that helped Edith a great deal.
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The Nazis came to occupy the Netherlands in 1940. Edith's mother died in 1942 and soon after the persecution of the Jews begins to increase in Amsterdam. To escape deportation the Frank family went into hiding on 6 July, 1942.
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Edith had a hard time in hiding, feeling very depressed and the distressed with the relationship she had with Anne.
They were captured in 1944 and sent to Auschwitz. Soon after Edith, Anne and Margot were sent to the women's prison, Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Edith died.
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Margot Frank
Born in 1926 in Frankfurt, Germany, Margot was the adored, first daughter of Otto and Edith Frank. Otto took hundreds of photos of his daughter as a baby. In 1929, sister Anne joined the family and Margot was delighted to have a sister to take care of.
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"Margot was sweet and kind. She was good at everything but also very modest. You could trust her; you could rely on her."
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In Anne's diary Margot had noble ambitions to 'nurse new-born babies in Palestine'.
The two sisters were very different from each other. Margot was described as a very reserved and tranquil child while Anne was feisty and full of energy. Margot was a quiet, obedient child, who always kept her clothes neat and clean, unlike her younger sister who was constantly in trouble.
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"Anne was a frivolous child who always sought attention and always wanted to be the first at everything. She was three years younger than Margot and that was quite an age difference. Margot looked upon Anne as her little sister, someone she had to protect. She must have been irritated by her occasionally but she never let it show."
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Margot was academically successful and was a serious student. The letter requiring Margot to serve in a labour camp was the reason that the Frank family went into hiding.
In hiding the two sisters came to rely on each other and their friendship grew. Anne was able to confide in Margot and they reconnected as sisters and friends.
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After they were discovered in the annex, Margot and Anne stayed with one another as they were moved from camp to camp. Both sisters fell ill with typhus and Margot died of hunger and disease either in late February or early March 1945, Anne very soon after.
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Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born on 11 June, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her family was thrilled to welcome her and from early on she showed an interest and curiosity in everything and everyone surrounding around her. She had one sister, Margot, who was three years older.
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Anne spoke her mind and often got into trouble for doing exactly what she pleased, unlike her sister who was very quiet and obedient. Edith described her daughter as "a little comedian".
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Anne, Margot and their parents lived in Frankfurt in Germany until Anne was four. The feeling in Frankfurt towards Jews in 1929 was already dangerous with strong anti-Semitic attitudes present.
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When the Frank family encountered some financial problems it seemed like moving would be the best option with Otto looking to open an Amsterdam offshoot of Opekta. The Franks were not alone; several thousand Jews (63,000) left Germany in 1933, seeking new towns and cities to re-locate to in order to evade the anti-Semitic threat.
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The Franks re-settled in Amsterdam with ease, Anne and her sister picked up the Dutch language and found the schools friendly and accepting. Anne was always an imaginative child who enjoyed reading, writing and creating stories.
After a few happy years in Amsterdam, World War II broke out.
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In July 1942, following a call up for a "work camp" for 16-year-old Margot, Anne and her family went into hiding to escape from the persecution, imprisonment and maybe even death.
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Just before the family hid, Anne's parents bought her a present for her 13th birthday on June 12. It was a red checked diary.
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After two years in hiding the group were betrayed and transported to concentration camps. In early March 1945, seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died of hunger and typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
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Others in the annex
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Fritz Pfeffer (character: Albert Dussel)
Fritz Pfeffer was born on 30 April 1889 in Giessen, Germany. Fritz studied to be a dentist in Berlin where he started a dental practice.
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In 1921 he married Vera Bythiner, and their son, Werner, was born on 3 April, 1927. Sadly they divorced in 1933.
Fritz met and fell in love with Charlotte Kaletta but did not marry because of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 prohibiting marriages between Jews and non-Jews.
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After Kristallnacht, "The Night of Broken Glass", Fritz made arrangements for them to leave the country. He arranged for Werner to go to England; Charlotte and Fritz would emigrate to the Netherlands.
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In Amsterdam he again worked as a dentist, where he met a patient named Miep Gies. On 16 November, 1942, thanks to Miep, 53-year-old Fritz Pfeffer became the eighth person hiding in the secret annex.
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Fritz Pfeffer was deported to Neuengamme concentration camp after their hiding place was discovered. Fritz died at Neuengamme on December 20, 1944.
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Charlotte Kaletta posthumously married Fritz Pfeffer on April 9, 1953. Werner Pfeffer, Fritz's son, survived the war and moved to the United States in November 1946, changing his name to Peter Pepper.
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He died in 1994, a few weeks after being interviewed and introduced to Miep Gies in the Oscar-winning documentary film Anne Frank Remembered.
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Hermann van Pels (character: Mr van Daan)
Hermann was born on 31 March 1898, the third of six children. The children went to the Jewish primary school and then to the secondary school. On 5 December, 1925 he married Auguste (Gusti) R枚ttgen.
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Hermann and his sister Ida joined the family meat seasoning business, just before the family were forced to sell it at a huge loss in 1933 under the newly-introduced Nazi Jewish possession laws.
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The van Pels's synagogue removed Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels from its registry on 26 June, 1937, their destination was Amsterdam.
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The Frank and Van Pels families knew each other from 1937 as Otto Frank and Mr van Pels were in business together. Otto Frank had hired van Pels for his vast knowledge of spices used in the butcher's trade.
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In 1939 the Van Pels family moved to the Zuider-Amstellaan, right behind the Frank family. Otto and Edith Frank often had open house on Saturday morning, Hermann and Gusti Van Pels were usually present.
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Hermann was deported to Auschwitz with Otto and Peter. A few weeks after his arrival Hermann van Pels was gassed.
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Auguste Van Pels (character: Mrs van Daan)
Auguste Van Pels was born on 29 September, 1900 into a lower middle class Jewish household.
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On 5 December, 1925 she married Hermann Van Pels. She became Dutch since, according to German law, women automatically assumed the nationality of their husbands. They lived in Osnabruck, near the Dutch and German border, where their only child Peter was born on 8 November, 1926.
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Auguste moved with her family to Amsterdam in June 1937 and found an apartment on the south side of the city in a neighbourhood which was accommodating many of the Jewish refugees from Germany.
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Auguste was transported along with Margot and Anne Frank from Auschwitz to Bergen Belsen. She was then selected to work as a slave labourer and evacuated from the camp on February 6, 1945 to the Raguhn labour unit in Buchenwald camp, in eastern Germany. The unit was liquidated on April 8 and the prisoners were marched to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia.
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The Red Cross who investigated the deaths of all Dutch victims of the Holocaust estimated that Auguste Van Pels died either during this march or shortly after arriving. They were certain that she was not alive when the camp was liberated on 8 May, 1945.
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Peter Van Pels (character: Peter van Daan)
Peter was born on November 8, 1926 and lived in Osnabr眉ck, near the Dutch border. In 1937 his family moved to Amsterdam, after his father鈥檚 and all other Jewish businesses were boycotted.
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He attended the Jewish Lyceum in the same year as Margot Frank, in accordance to the Nazi regulations that Jewish and Christian children should be educated separately. He was not remembered as being particularly gifted academically but did master carpentry, giving his trade on official documents as "furniture maker".
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Peter was 16 when he and his family moved into the secret annexe. Anne does not write a great deal about Peter's pre-war life or his future plans.
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In February 1944, Peter mentions his idea "to go to the Dutch East Indies and live on a rubber plantation."
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After they were arrested Peter was taken to Auschwitz with his father, Fritz Pfeffer and Otto Frank. In 1974, Otto Frank recalled that in Auschwitz Peter van Pels had a job with the postal department and was able to get extra food clothing.
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Peter was evacuated when the Russians were approaching the camp. After surviving a death march from Auschwitz, Poland, Peter ended up in Mauthausen camp, in Austria, where he died aged 19 on 5 May, 1945, just three days before the end of the war.
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