Victor Kugler

Victor Kugler (June 5, 1900-December 16, 1981) was one of the people who helped hide Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

Related Topics:
June 5 - 1900 - December 16 - 1981 - Anne Frank - Nazi - The Netherlands

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Born in Hohenelbe, Austria, he joined the Austrian Navy during the First World War once his education was completed but was discharged in 1918 after being wounded. He moved to Germany and worked as an electrician, then in 1920 moved to Utrecht, Holland to work for a company selling pectin. He joined the Amsterdam branch of Opekta as Otto Frank's deputy in 1924. He became a Dutch citizen in May 1938. In 1940 this allowed him to prevent the Nazi confiscation of Opekta and he accepted the directorship the business, renamed Gies and Co, from Otto Frank. He and his wife Laura Maria Buntenbach-Kugler (May 10, 1895 - December 6 1952) lived in Hilversum during the war, a distance of about sixteen miles from Amsterdam.

Related Topics:
Hohenelbe - Austria - First World War - 1918 - Germany - 1920 - Utrecht - Pectin - Amsterdam - Otto Frank - 1924 - 1938 - 1940 - May 10 - 1895 - December 6 - 1952 - Hilversum

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From July 1942 to August 1944 he aided his colleagues Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman and Bep Voskjuil in the concealment of eight people, including Anne Frank in a sealed-off annexe in their office premises on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht. He was arrested by the Gestapo on August 4 1944, after an unknown informant betrayed them.

Related Topics:
1942 - 1944 - Miep Gies - Johannes Kleiman - Bep Voskjuil - Anne Frank - Prinsengracht - Gestapo - August 4

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He was interrogated at the Gestapo Headquarters on the Euterpestraat, then transferred the same day to a prison for Jews and 'political prisoners' awaiting deportation on the Amstelveenseweg. On September 7 he was moved to the prison on Weteringschans, in a cell with people sentenced to death. This was followed, four days later on September 11, by a transport to a concentration camp in Amersfoort where he was selected for transport to Germany. on September 17 the Amersfoort train station was destroyed in a bombing (Arnhem Air Raid) and on September 26, he and around 1100 other men were taken to Zwolle for forced labourer, digging anti-tank trenches.

Related Topics:
Euterpestraat - Amstelveenseweg - September 7 - September 11 - Concentration camp - Amersfoort - September 17 - September 26 - Zwolle

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Kugler was moved again on December 30, 1944, to Wageningen for forced labour digging under the German S.A. (Brownshirts or Storm Troopers) until March 28, 1945, when some 600 prisoners were marched from Wageningen through Renkum, Heelsum, Oosterbeek, Arnhem, and Westervoort, to Zevenaar with the intention of going on to Germany the following day. There was a bombing raid during the march and Kugler took advantage of the confusion to escape. He was hidden by a farmer for a few days, borrowed a bicycle and made his way back to Hilversum, which he reached in April 1945. He hid there until the liberation of the Netherlands on May 5, 1945.

Related Topics:
December 30 - 1944 - March 28 - 1945 - May 5

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His wife, Laura Kugler, died on December 6 1952 and three years later he married Lucie (Loes) van Langen and they moved to Canada, where his brother, sister and mother already resided.

Related Topics:
December 6 - 1952 - Canada

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In 1973 he received the Yad Vashem Medal of the Righteous and in 1977 the Canadian Anti-Defamation League awarded him a 10,000 dollar prize in recognition for his assistance in the hiding of the Frank and van Pels families.

Related Topics:
1973 - Yad Vashem - 1977

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