After the play…. Answers to frequently asked questions

Differences between the play and what really happened:  The last diary entry was August 1, The play version makes up the August 4 th entry.  No automobile, no rifles beating down the door.  Who Turned them in?  We DON’T KNOW  possibly a thief  Willem van Maaren (creepy foreman guy)  Anton Ahlers (rival businessman)

The real Mr. Dussel  Fritz Pfeffer was born on April in Giessen, Germany. He was given the rather unflattering name Albert Dussel by Anne, which translates as 'idiot.'  Fritz (Albert) was a dentist in Berlin and married Vera Bythiner in They had one son together called Werner. The marriage ended in divorce in 1933 and Fritz gained custody of Werner.  He then met Charlotte Kaletta, a Catholic, who was also divorced with a son. Due to the Nürnberg Laws which prevented Jews and non-Jews from marrying, it was impossible for them to wed. Following increased violence against Jews in Germany in 1938, Werner was sent to England as a refugee and Fritz and Charlotte fled to Holland.  Miep acted as a courier between Fritz and Charlotte during his time in hiding - they would send letters and packages to each other, but Miep never revealed to Charlotte that she knew where Fritz was.

Did any of the helpers get arrested?  Yes, Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were also arrested and taken to the holding cell with the family.  Kugler was moved from prison to camps and work sites, often made to march from place to place under hard conditions. On one of these marches there was a bombing raid and Kugler took advantage of the confusion to escape. He was hidden by a farmer for a few days, borrowed a bicycle and made his way back to Hilversum, which he reached in April He hid there until the liberation of the Netherlands on May 5, 1945.

When the Nazis found Anne and her family were they sent directly to a "Death Camp?"  No. They spent 4 days locked in a holding cell in Amsterdam, and on August 8, 1944 they were transported to the Westerbork Camp.  They stayed there for the whole month of August in the "punishable barracks." They were considered "punishable prisoners" since they had not given themselves up when the call-up notices were sent, but had been captured in hiding.

Where did they go after Westerbork?  On September 3, 1944, the eight prisoners joined 1,011 others on the last train bound for the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.  Hermann van Pels (Mr. Van Daan) is gassed on September 6, 1944, a few days after arrival.  Otto, Peter, and Mr. Dussel go to the men barracks. Anne, Margot, Mrs. Frank, and Mrs. Van Daan are sent to the women’s barracks. Mr. Frank never sees his wife or daughters again.

 Anne and Margot are sent to Bergen-Belsen, in October Mrs. Van Daan arrives at Bergen-Belsen at the end of November.  Edith Frank dies of disease and/or malnutrition at Auschwitz on January 6, 1945  Otto Frank & Auschwitz is liberated on January 26, 1945 by the Russians.  Mr. Frank made it back and arrived at Miep’s  doorstep on June 3 rd, 1945.

Where was Bergen-Belsen?  Bergen-Belsen was a concentration camp located in northern Germany. Bergen-Belsen was established in April 1943 as a detention camp for prisoners who were to be exchanged with German imprisoned in Allied countries.  Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945.

What happened to Anne and Margot?  Anne and Margot both died of typhus and starvation during February- March  Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945.

What happened to Mr. Dussel?  He was deported to Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg and died n 20 December His cause of death was listed in the camp records as "enterocolitis", a catch-all term that covered, among other things, dysentery and cholera, both of which were common causes of death in the camps.  (Charlotte Kaletta married Fritz Pfeffer posthumously on 9 April His son, Werner, survived the war in England and emigrated to the United States in 1947.)

What happened to Mrs. Van Daan?  Mrs. Van Daan, we think, was transferred before March 1945 to Buchenwald, then to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She is believed to have died either en route to Theresienstadt, or shortly after her arrival there.

What happened to Peter?  He was transferred to and then died in Mauthausen after a death march.  Mauthausen Concentration Camp records indicate that Peter van Pels was registered upon his arrival there on 25 January Four days later, he was placed in an outdoor labor group. On 11 April 1945, Peter was sent to the sick barracks. His exact death date is unknown but the Red Cross designated it as 2 May He was 18 years old.  Mauthausen was liberated three days later on 5 May 1945 by men from the 11th Armored Division of the U.S. Third Army.

What happened to Mr. Frank?  Otto remarried in 1953 to a neighbor Elfriede Geiringer- Markovits (Fritzi) and moved to Basel, Switzerland.  When he heard that the office building where he and his family hid for two years was scheduled to be torn down, he began the Anne Frank Foundation (1957) in order to acquire the space and turned the building into a museum in The Anne Frank-Fonds in Basel was set up in 1966 to protect his daughter’s name and deal with royalties from the diary which benefits several charities.  Otto Frank died on August 19th, 1980 after a battle with cancer, he was ninety-one years old.

What happens to the Helpers?  When the families were taken away, Miep still attempted to save them through trips to SS office and offering bribes. She returned to the attic hiding space and picked up the personal items that were left behind. Miep is the reason that we have Anne’s diary today.  Miep took over the business at Opekta while Kleiman, Kugler and Otto were detained. She also attempted to bribe the Gestapo to release the Franks, van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer. Her husband Jan helped in the Dutch resistance, which was not known by any of the people hidden in the Secret Annexe.  Miep later stopped working and concentrated on her family. Jan retired from Gies & Co. in 1955 when Otto and Kugler both retired from Pectacon.  Jan died on the 26th of January  Miep died on January 11, 2010.

The Secret Annex

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