Today I want to find out a little about what happened to the eight people from the Secret Annex after they were arrested.
After their arrest on the 4th of August 1944, they were taken to the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) headquarters at Euterpestraat in Amsterdam, where they were interrogated. They were then transferred to the House of Detention (Huis van Bewaring) on the Weteringschans.
The prison conditions were harsh. There were many other Jewish prisoners held there, along with members of the Dutch resistance, political prisoners, and people arrested for other reasons. By August 1944, Jews arrested during raids, discovered in hiding, or awaiting deportation were frequently held there. The prison was overcrowded, with cramped cells, limited food and poor sanitation. Prisoners often had little idea where they were going next or what would happen to them. This was the last time all eight of them were together.
Westerbork Camp
They were then sent to the Westerbork transit camp on the 8th of August. Because they had been caught in hiding, they were treated like criminals, placed in the punishment section and forced to carry out hard labour. On the 3rd of September 1944, they were placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, they arrived about two and a half days later. By this stage the Second World War was turning against Germany. The Allied forces had liberated much of France and Belgium and were approaching the Netherlands, the Soviet Red Army was advancing from the east towards Poland. As a result, no further trains were sent from Westerbork to Auschwitz after this transport, making it the last of its kind.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944
When the train arrived at Auschwitz, the reality of the camp became clear. Guards shouted orders as the prisoners were forced onto the platform for a selection. Within minutes, the men were separated from the women, often without any chance to say goodbye. The prisoners had to hand over all of their belongings before their heads were shaved, they were stripped, disinfected and given thin striped prison uniforms. Their names were replaced with identification numbers, and they were sent into overcrowded barracks where hunger, disease and fear were part of life.
Otto Frank, Hermann van Pels, Peter van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer were all sent to the men's camp. Anne, Margot, Edith Frank and Auguste van Pels stayed together in the women's camp at Auschwitz for several weeks. The conditions were beyond harsh but at least they still had each other during this time. In late October 1944, Anne and Margot were transferred to Bergen-Belsen, and Edith Frank stayed at Auschwitz. It was the last time they would all be together.
At Bergen-Belsen, Anne and Margot faced terrible overcrowding, starvation and disease. Both sisters tragically died there in February or early March 1945, only weeks before the camp was liberated. Edith Frank died in Auschwitz in January 1945. Hermann van Pels was killed at Auschwitz, Fritz Pfeffer died at Neuengamme, Peter van Pels survived the death march from Auschwitz but died at Mauthausen on the 5th of May 1945, just three days before the camp was liberated. Auguste van Pels died during forced transfers between camps in the final months of the war. Otto Frank was the only one of the eight to survive.
After the war, Otto returned to Amsterdam, where Miep Gies gave him Anne's diary. She had managed to save it from the floor of the annex after the family had been taken, and she had kept it safe in the hopes of returning it to Anne.
I would like to take a moment and remember Anne Frank, the seven people who shared the Secret Annex with her, and the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust. May they never be forgotten. No matter what is happening in the world, we must always remember the cost of hatred.
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