Albert Dussel

Albert Dussel is a fifty-four-year-old Jewish dentist. The Franks

and the van Daans invite him to join them in the annex in
November, 1942. He shares a room with Anne, and she quickly
grows tired of what she sees as his high-handed manner. Anne's
quarrels with Dussel are one of the main features of the diary.
Her satirical portrait of him is recorded in her diary entry for
August 9, 1943: "Pants that come up to his chest, a red jacket,
black patent-leather slippers and horn-rimmed glasses-that's
how he looks when he's at work at the little table, always
studying and never progressing." In Anne's eyes, Dussel is
pompous, petty and unreasonable.
Anne gave pseudonyms to the other residents of the attic. In
real life, Dussel was Fritz Pfeffer. He died on December 20, 1944,
in the Neuengamme concentration camp.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank is the author of the diary. She was born in 1929, in
Frankfurt. When she was four years old, the family moved to
Amsterdam, where Anne attended a Montesorri school, and
later, after Jewish children were expelled from their schools, a
Jewish lyceum. Anne was an attractive, popular, outgoing girl,
the center of attention at parties. Anne's life changed
dramatically when the family went into hiding. She was cut off
from all her former pursuits and had to face her adolescent
years confined to an annex with seven other people, unable to
go outside even for a moment. Anne was given a diary for her
thirteenth birthday, and decided to record in it all her innermost
thoughts and feelings, which she felt she could not confide to
anyone.
After the residents of the annex were arrested on August 4,
1944, Anne was sent with her family to Westerbrok, a labor
camp in Holland. On September 3, 1944, she along with the
others was transported to Auschwitz concentration camp, in
Poland. At the end of October, Anne and Margot were sent to
Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in Germany. Conditions
were unsanitary and disease was rife. The prisoners were given
almost no food or decent clothing. There was an epidemic of
typhus, and Anne and Margot both fell ill. They died within days
of each other, in February or March, 1945. Anne's body was

dumped in a mass grave.

Edith Frank
Edith Frank is Anne Frank's mother, a well educated woman from
a well-to-do family who married Otto Frank in 1925. Anne and
her mother were never close, and during the two and a half
years in which she kept her diary, Anne maintains a very critical
attitude towards her, on many occasions rejecting her
altogether. Anne feels that her mother favors Margot, and she
resents her mother's criticisms. She thinks her mother does not
understand her and treats her as a child. In early 1944, however,
Anne rethinks her attitude, realizing that she may have been too
harsh on her mother. She realizes that her own attitude put her
mother in a difficult position, and together with the stress of
being in hiding, this helped to make her nervous and irritable.
But in spite of her effort to understand, Anne still cannot give
her mother the kind of love that a daughter would normally feel.
Edith Frank died of hunger and exhaustion in Auschwitz
concentration camp on January 6, 1945.
Margot Frank
Margot Frank is Anne's sister. She is three years older than Anne.
Margot is beautiful and gifted and always excelled in school.
Anne and Margot are not close, and Anne feels that her parents
favor Margot over her. It may be that Anne is jealous of her
sister, although she never openly admits this. She writes in one
entry that Margot gets on her nerves constantly. But later in
their stay in the annex, they reach an understanding and
become more friendly, even writing letters to each other in
which they reveal their feelings.
Margot Frank died of typhus at the German concentration camp
of Bergen-Belsen sometime in March, 1945.
Otto Frank
Otto Frank is the husband of Edith Frank and the father of
Margot and Anne. Otto was born in Germany and served in the
German Army in World War I, attaining the rank of Lieutenant of
the Reserves. When anti-Semitism arose in Germany, he moved

his family to Amsterdam in 1933. Otto was a businessman, and

in Amsterdam he set up an independent company called Opekta,
which made pectin, an ingredient used in jam. The company was
successful and in 1938 expanded to include the production of
spices. In Anne's diary, Otto emerges as a tolerant, goodtempered man and loving father. He is also very modest and
does not talk much about himself. Anne calls him Pim and is
devoted to him. Otto tries in vain, however, to mediate in the
quarrels between Anne and her mother, and Anne sometimes
complains that even he treats her like a child.
Otto Frank was the only member of the eight residents of the
annex to survive the war. He was liberated from Auschwitz
concentration camp by Russian troops. After the war, Miep Gies
gave him Anne's diary; he edited it and it was published in 1947.
Jan Gies
Jan Gies is Miep's husband. He helps the Franks go into hiding.
Miep Gies
Miep Gies was born in Austria in 1909. In 1933 she began
working as an office assistant for Otto Frank. When he asked her
in 1942 if she would take care of them if they went into hiding,
she unhesitatingly replied that she would. For over two years
she brought the residents of the annex food and whatever else
they needed, as well as news from the outside world. She knew
that she was taking a great personal risk in doing so. After the
Franks were arrested, Miep rescued Anne's diary and returned it
to Otto Frank after the war. Miep has received many
international honors for her courage in sheltering the Franks.
She is still alive and lives in Holland. She says that every year on
August 4, the day of the arrest, she grieves for the friends she
lost.
Hanneli
Hanneli is Anne's childhood friend. Anne does not know what has
happened to her and dreams of her. She prays that Hanneli may
be safe. The two girls were to meet again at the concentration
camp of Bergen-Belsen in 1944. Hanneli Goslar was sick with

tuberculosis, but she survived the camp and emigrated to

Jerusalem in 1947.
Mr. Kleiman
Johannes Kleiman is a friend and business associate of Otto
Frank. He works in the building where the Franks and van Daans
are in hiding and provides them with all the help they need.
Anne describes him as unfailingly cheerful and extremely brave,
since he is seriously ill with a stomach problem. Kleiman was
arrested along with the others in 1944 and sent to a work camp.
But he was later released because of his ill health.
Mr. Kugler
Victor Kugler is a business associate of Otto Frank. He is one of
the people who helps the Franks and van Daans when they are
in hiding. He makes a point of bringing Anne one of her favorite
magazines, Cinema & Theater, every Monday, which greatly
pleases her. Kugler was arrested with the others in August, 1944.
In March, 1945, he was among six hundred prisoners being
deported to Germany when British troops attacked, and he
managed to escape. In 1973, he was awarded the Medal of the
Righteous in Jerusalem for his efforts in sheltering the Franks
and the van Daans.
Peter Schif
Peter Schiff is a childhood sweetheart of Anne Frank.
Hello Silberberg
Hello Silberberg is a boy with whom Anne forms a romantic
friendship a short while before she goes into hiding.
Mr. van Daan
Mr. van Daan, whose real name was Hermann van Pels, is a
businessman and friend of Otto Frank. Like the Franks, he is a
Jewish German refugee. The Franks invite him and his wife to go
into hiding with them. Mr. van Daan and his wife frequently
quarrel, and make no attempt to disguise their feelings, but then
they make up affectionately. The Franks, who are more reserved,

are uncomfortable with this kind of behavior and increasingly

distance themselves from the van Daans. After the arrest in
1944, Hermann van Pels died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz
in October or November, 1944.
Mrs. van Daan
Mrs. van Daan, whose real name was Auguste van Pels, is
presented in Anne's diary as an emotional, quick-tempered
woman. Anne takes a thorough dislike to her. "Mrs. van Daan is
always saying the most ridiculous things" (May 2, 1943), is one
of her milder comments, and she also uses words like pushy,
vain, egotistical and cunning to describe her. The hostile feelings
appear to have been mutual. After the arrest, Auguste van Pels
was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and then moved to
several other camps, including Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald and
Theresienstadt. She did not survive, but the exact date of her
death is unknown.
Peter van Daan
Peter van Daan is the son of Mr. and Mrs. van Daan. Fifteen
years old when he first moves to the annex, he is a quiet, shy,
rather awkward and nervous boy. Anne thinks little of him at
first, but later she befriends him and they have quite an intense
emotional and romantic relationship. Ultimately, Anne is
disappointed in Peter because they do not communicate as
deeply as she would like. Peter van Daan, whose real name was
Peter van Pels, died on May 5, 1945, in Mauthausen in Austria,
where he had been forced to march from the concentration
camp at Auschwitz. The march became known as the "death
march" because so many of the prisoners forced to take part in
it died.
Mr. van Maaren
Mr. van Maaren is hired as warehouse foreman in 1943. The
residents of the annex feel uneasy about him because he is
always snooping about, and they fear he suspects that some
Jews are in hiding in the building. It is possible that van Maaren
was the person who betrayed the Franks, but in an official
inquiry after the war, nothing was proven against him.

Bep Voskiujl
Bep Voskiujl is a twenty-three year-old typist who works in the
office of Otto Frank's company in the same building as the
hideaways. She visits them during the day and also, with Miep,
brings supplies, including bringing them milk without any of the
warehouse workers noticing. She helps in other ways, too,
sending in Margot's shorthand lessons in under her own name.
Anne appreciates all the help she gives. When Bep copies a
picture postcard of the Dutch royal family and gives it to Anne,
Anne comments, "It was incredibly nice of Bep, don't you think?"