Van Pels family
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The van Pels family (Hermann, Auguste, and Peter) was the family of German-Jew refugees who hid with Anne Frank from 1942 until 1944 when an unknown reporter revealed where they and the other occupants of the Secret Annexe were hiding. In Anne's diary, they were given the aliases the van Daans.
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[edit] The van Pels
Hermann van Pels was born in 1898. He married Auguste van Pels on December 5, 1926 and moved to an apartment in Martinistrasse, Osnabruck. Peter van Pels, their only child, was born one year later in November 8, 1926.
When Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany, three of Hermann's siblings - Max,Ida, and Meta - escaped, whereas the others remained in Germany. Two of them died. Shortly after Hermann and Auguste failed to move to the United States, they moved in with Anne and her parents and sister in Otto Frank's office.
According to Anne's diary, when the van Pels first moved in, she and Auguste had a rather heated relationship, Hermann didn't treat her so well at first but gradually became nicer, and Peter was always considered too 'quiet and shy', though he was Margot's age.
[edit] Arrest
The van Pels remained with the Franks in the Secret Annexe until August 4, 1944, when an unknown reporter betrayed the families in hiding. The eight Jews along with two of the men hiding and assisting them were arrested. The Franks were in a great deal of trouble since they ignored a call-up notice to Margot in 1942. After a few weeks, all were sent to Auschwitz, where Otto was separated from his wife and daughters forever, and Auguste was never to see her husband and son again. After an injury in his hand, Hermann was selected to the gas chambers. Peter died in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. Auguste, along with Anne and Margot, was sent to the Bergen-Beslan concentration camp in Germany, where Anne was reunited with a school friend, but she and Margot died of the typhus outbreak. It is unknown when Auguste died, either shortly after arriving or before the war ended.
[edit] The diary
Out of the eight people in hiding, Otto Frank was the only survivor. When he came back to Amsterdam, he discovered Anne's diary. Before publishing, he edited the diary and took out some heated comments of the van Pels. In order to protect their privacy, he renamed the family from Hermann, Auguste, and Peter van Pels to Hermann, Petronella, and Peter van Daan.
