Fritz Pfeffer

Friedrich 'Fritz' Pfeffer (April 30, 1889 - December 20, 1944 was a German dentist and Jewish refugee who hid with Anne Frank during the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands, and who perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp in Northern Germany.

In Hiding and afterwards

In the autumn of 1942 he decided to go into hiding and inquired with Miep Gies about suitable addresses. She consulted Otto Frank, who, with his and the van Pels family, was being hidden by her at secret rooms in her office building. Frank agreed to accommodate Pfeffer and he was taken into their hiding place on November 16.

Related Topics:
1942 - November 16

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Margot Frank moved into a room with her parents, which allowed Pfeffer to share her small room with Anne, beginning what would become a torturous relationship for both. The forty-year age gap between them was perhaps the least of their differences. Pfeffer's orthodox approach to Judaism clashed with Anne's liberal views; her energy and capriciousness grated on his nerves while his sobriety and rigidity frustrated her.

Related Topics:
Margot Frank - Anne - Judaism

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Pfeffer left a farewell letter to Charlotta and Miep met her on a weekly basis to bring letters from him and take provisions from her. His letters never disclosed the location of the hiding place and Miep never revealed it, until August 1944, when the eight occupants of the hiding place were anonymously betrayed and arrested for deporatation to Nazi concentration camps.

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With the rest of the group and two of their protectors, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler, Pfeffer was taken to the Nazi headquarters in Amsterdam-South, then to a prison for three days before being transported to Westerbork on August 8. Pfeffer was taken to the Punishment Barracks with the others, where he undertook hard labour, until he was selected for deportation to Auschwitz on September 3. He was seperated from the others on arrival on September 6 and sent to the men's barracks, where he was reunited with Otto Frank. On October 29 he was tranferred with fifty-nine other medics to Sachsenhausen and from there to Neuengamme on an unknown date, where he died of starvation, exhaustion, and, according to the camp's records, enterocolitis, in the sick barracks on December 20, 1944 at the age of 55.

Related Topics:
Johannes Kleiman - Victor Kugler - Westerbork - August 8 - September 3 - September 6 - October 29 - Sachsenhausen - Starvation - Exhaustion - Enterocolitis - December 20 - 1944

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