Miep Gies
Miep Gies is the woman who hid the Frank family during WWII. In her younger years she was a foster child by a Dutch family. Originally she was going to stay for six months, but because of her health she stayed with them longer in the Netherlands. In 1933 began working with Otto Frank and they developed a close, trusted friendship with them. When the war became worse, Otto seeked to Miep for hiding and she agreed. While in hiding, Miep was a great support for them, buying them food and avoding suspicion. After the family was betrayed she tried buying back their freedom but wasn't successful. She also saved Anne's diary. In 1994 Miep was rewarded with the Order Of Merit Of The Federal Public Of Germany, the Wallenberg Medal and the Yad Vashem Medal. She was also knighted by the Queen of Beatrix and had a minor planet named after her called planet 99949 Miepgies. In 2009 the Austrian ambassador gave her the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austrian. Miep Gies died on January 11th, 2010 at the age of 100.
Hanneli Goslar
Hanneli Goslar is one of Anne's oldest friends. They met in 1934, having both come from Germany to Holland, in a grocer store. The next day Hanneli went to Kindergarten but knew no one there. Anne happened to be in the same class and they ran into each others arms. From then on they were close friends. They played hopscotch, marbles and jump rope together. Hanneli explains in an interview how Anne had been a spicy girl. She'd try to get everyone's attention and be in every group. Hanneli's mother once said, "God knows everything, but Anne knows everything better". Hanneli remembers Anne sitting in class and writing in her diary. When the war started on May 10th, 1940 it was said the Frank's had gone to Switzerland (really they were in hiding) . Hanneli learns this when she tries to go to Anne's house but is told by tenant that they had gone to Switzerland. She is happy because she hopes Anne would make it, but then Hanneli and her family is taken on June 20th, 1943 when she was 14 years old. Hanneli is lucky though because she is in the transport camp in Bergen Belsen where she is treated better. She has to take care of her little sister when her father and mother die. In the camps she made braids for cellophane bags. Well she was in Bergen Belsen she saw Anne. At first she was surprised but then they talked and Anne said she had no one. Hanneli thinks that if Anne had known her father was alive she might have held on. Hanneli gives her a package she gets from the red cross but she still dies. The day before her father dies they were going to get transferred but then the Nazi's change their mind. Her father dies thinking they would be free. By the end of the war Hanneli was close to death from typhus and tuberculosis when she is liberated on April 11th, 1945. It had started with her, her sister, mother, father and grandparents, but Hanneli and her sister Gabi were the only ones to survive. After the war, Hanneli had to stay in a hospital to recover. She grew up with several grandchildren as she wanted and wrote books about her and Anne. She now lives in Jerusalem with her husband.
Jacqueline Van Maarsen
Jacqueline Van Maarsen was born in Amsterdam and started in a normal school until 1940 when she had to go to a Jewish school. On her first day of school she was riding home when Anne frank called out and asked if she was going in the same direction. Anne decided that they would cycle home together. She took Jacqueline home and and introduced her to everyone. Anne decided Jacqueline would be her best friend. From then on they did everything together. They did their homework, talked about everything, played games and were in the Little Dipper Minus Two. Sometimes Jacqueline found it hard to be Anne's best friend. She talked a lot and wanted to know everything about her. They were very different and argued sometimes. Basically Anne had put a claim on Jacqueline. When Jacqueline was out with other girls Anne became jealous and unhappy. She always had to prove to Anne they were best friends. When Anne went into hiding she was sad she hadn't been able to tell Jacqueline. Anne writes a letter to her but she can't send it so she later copies it into her diary. Meanwhile Jacqueline's mother saved their family's life when she convinces the organization to delete their names off the deportation list because they only had two Jewish grandparents not four and it works. Jacqueline then attends a non Jewish school during the war. After the war, when Otto learns his daughters are not alive, Otto seeks Jacqueline for consolation. Otto gives Jacqueline the two letters Anne had wrote to her and a edition of the diary in 1947. Jacqueline now gives readings and interviews about her and Anne's friendship.
Mary Bos
Mary Bos was a classmate of Anne's in the Montessori school. Anne invited Mary to her tenth birthday. Mary still has the picture taken in 1939 and Anne even wrote a note. Even though the words are fading they say, "think of your girlfriends in the past. When you think of that, and the last few years, think then Mary also of me." Mary is also briefly mentioned in Anne's diary in 1944 when she has a dream of Peter Schiff. She wrote, "we were looking at a book of drawings by Mary bos. The dream was so vivid I can even remember some of the drawings.."
Susanne Ledermann
Susanne Ledermann was one of Anne's oldest friends. She came to Holland from Berlin and attended the Montessori school where she becomes friends with Anne and Hanneli. Anne, Hanneli and San were close friends in the Montessori school and were called Anne, Han and San. Susanne also helps Anne write a poem when Anne had talked too much in class. When the war started Susanne was moved to a Jewish school but Anne and Hanneli had gone to another one. Susanne still stayed good friends with them and was in their ping pong team called Little Dipper Minus Two (this is because they thought the Little Dipper had seven stars but really it was five, so Little Dipper Minus Two). When Anne goes into hiding Susanne is not informed. On June 20th, 1943 her family is arrested and taken to Westerbork Transit Camp. In November they are taken to Auschwitz and gassed on arrival. The only one who survived in her family was her older sister Barbara. Barbara was able to escape the Nazi's by using contacts from the Dutch underground. Barbara then goes to the United States and marries a Noble prize winner.
Nanette Blitz
Nanette Blitz was a classmate of Anne Frank. Nanette was the girl who in Anne's diary had been initialed G.S. Even though they weren't really friends Nanette was invited to Anne's 13th birthday. In Bergen Belsen they saw each other. Nanette Blitz remembers how Anne had told her about her diary and how she was going to make a book about her experiences in the camp. Nanette lost track of Anne later because of prisoners always being shifted. Nanette was the only one to survive out of her family. After the war she had to recover from tuberculosis.
Peter Schiff
This is the only known picture of Peter that was given to the Anne Frank Foundation in 2009.
Peter Schiff was the boy Anne Frank had fell in love with. When Anne was younger, they were inseparable in the summer of 1940. When Peter changes addresses and his new acquaintance convinces Peter Anne is just a child (Peter is three years older than Anne), Peter stops talking to her. This makes Anne sad but she still admires Peter and has dreams about him well in hiding. Peter was in Bergen Belsen but then taken to Auschwitz before Anne got there. Peter dies in Auschwitz, exact date unknown.
Peter Schiff was the boy Anne Frank had fell in love with. When Anne was younger, they were inseparable in the summer of 1940. When Peter changes addresses and his new acquaintance convinces Peter Anne is just a child (Peter is three years older than Anne), Peter stops talking to her. This makes Anne sad but she still admires Peter and has dreams about him well in hiding. Peter was in Bergen Belsen but then taken to Auschwitz before Anne got there. Peter dies in Auschwitz, exact date unknown.
Hello Silberberg
Hello Silberberg is a boy that meets Anne just before they go into hiding. They meet and Hello adores Anne, walking her places, but Anne writes that she is not in love with Hello. Hello was 16 at the time and also went into hiding, though the circumstances weren't as bad as Anne's. Unlike the Frank's, they were never discovered. Their town where they were hiding was liberated on September 3rd, 1944. After the war Hello went to the United States. Today he is known as Ed Silverberg and he is still alive today.
Eva Geiringer
Eva Geiringer (now known as Eva Schloss and Anne's stepsister) was a friend of Anne Frank. Their apartment was opposite to their's and Eva remembers playing games with Anne like hopscotch. Life was good for Eva until the war started. Then people became hating the Jews and Eva's brother even came home from being beaten at school for being one. Coincidentally, Eva's brother got a call up notice from the Nazi's the same day Margot got her's. Coincidentally, Eva's family also went into hiding the same day Anne's family did, though they were split into two (Eva and her mother in one, her father and her brother in the other). Eva recalls that one of their hiding places belonged to Mrs. Reitzman and that they had a trapdoor to hide in when the Nazi's came. Even though the family was split in two, they were both found on May 11th, 1944, three months before Anne was found. The day Eva was found was Eva's birthday. In an interview she explains that she was in the middle of opening a present when the Nazi's came and arrested them. They were taken to the Gestapo head quarters and then four days later taken to Auschwitz. On January 27th, 1945 Eva and her mother were liberated. Her father and brother were dead.
Marion Blumenthal Lazan
Marion Blumenthal Lazan is the survivor of 6 years in Nazi concentration camps (age 4 to 10). These years included refugee, transit and prison camps that included Westerbork and Bergen Belsen. During her time in Bergen Belsen, Marion was in the same barrack at the same time as Anne Frank. Marion recalls tripping over dead bodies and how she would occupy her time with games such as Four Pebbles. Marion would try to find four pebbles, and if she did, that meant that her family would survive. From the age 4 to 10 Marion peed on her leg to prevent frostbite and picked lice out of her hair. One night her mother was trying to make illegal soup for them to eat when the Nazi's had a surprise inspection. When her mother tried to hide the soup the boiling water spilled on Marion's leg. Marion says that if she had cried out her and her mother would've been punished and killed. When they were liberated, everyone survived, but her father died months after because of typhus. Today Marion travels telling her story. She also has a book called Four Perfect Pebbles that is about her experience.