Today I want to take a look at the arrival of the final person to join the Secret Annex. By the time Fritz Pfeffer arrived, the Frank family and the Van Pels family had already been there for just over four months. They had settled into a routine, but life was increasingly cramped and stressful.
On the 16th of November 1942, Fritz Pfeffer, a 53-year-old Jewish dentist who had fled Germany years earlier, arrived at the Secret Annex. Otto Frank already knew Fritz through their shared circle of Jewish friends in Amsterdam, and the two had remained in contact as conditions for Jewish families became increasingly dangerous. Fritz had been living alone after he had been separated from his fiancée, Charlotte Kaletta, who was not Jewish. Otto Frank and his helpers decided that Fritz was no longer safe living on his own and offered him a place in the Annex. Once the warehouse workers had gone home for the day, Victor Kugler escorted him to the Secret Annex.
In her diary, Anne referred to him by the pseudonym Albert Dussel, in order to protect his identity if the diary was ever discovered. At first, Anne was pleased that someone new had joined them. She hoped he would have news from the outside world. But, her impressions soon changed.
There was no spare bedroom, so Anne had to share her tiny bedroom with Fritz and Margot moved in with her mother and father. For a thirteen-year-old girl who needed privacy, this was a difficult adjustment. Anne was often frustrated that she could never really be alone, and they had arguments over the small desk where she wanted to write her diary.
Anne described Fritz as disciplined, quiet and very set in his ways. He liked order, expected silence and could be quite strict. Anne was the opposite, she was lively, curious and independent. Their different personalities often clashed, and Anne felt he treated her like a child rather than listening to her. Although Anne's diary can make Fritz seem difficult, it is important to remember that we are seeing him through the eyes of a teenage girl living under unimaginable pressure. Fritz, like everyone else in the Annex, was also living with constant fear and he must have felt more alone than the others because he had no family with him.
His arrival also changed what life was like in the Annex. Privacy almost disappeared entirely, and the already limited food and supplies now had to be shared between eight people. Despite the tensions, they continued to rely on one another and on their helpers as they tried to stay hidden.
Next time, I want to take a look at what a day was really like for the people inside the Annex.
How do you think you would have felt having to share one tiny bedroom with a complete stranger?
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