Mr. Kraler (real name: Victor Kugler) was arrested and spent seven months
in various work camps. He escaped and worked his way back to
Hilversum, his home town. He eventually emigrated to Canada, and lived
to the age of 81.
Miep Gies and her husband Jan (named Dirk in the play) remained in
Amsterdam. She never read Anne’s diary, out of respect for Anne’s
privacy, until Otto Frank had it published. She was appointed a “Knight of
the Order of Orange-Nassau” by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. She
lived to be 100 years old.
Mr. Van Daan (real name: Hermann van Pels) was sent to
Auschwitz-Birkenau with both his son Peter and Otto Frank. Witnesses
state that he mentally gave up after just 2 or 3 days in the camp. He
injured his thumb on a work detail and requested to be sent to the sick
barracks. Shortly after that a sweep was made through the sick barracks
for selection. Mr. Van Daan was sent to the gas chambers early in October,
the only member of the Annex to be gassed – and the first of the Annex
residents to die.
The exact date of the death of Mrs. Van Daan (real name: Auguste van
Pels) is not known. She was transferred to Bergen-Belsen with Anne and
Margot, but was not there when they died. Records show that she was
sent on to Buchenwald and then to the Czechoslovakian camp
Theresienstadt in April of 1945. She either died on the train transport or
shortly after arriving at the camp, as Theresienstadt was liberated in May.
Peter Van Daan (real name: Peter van Pels), along with his father and Otto
Frank, was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mr. Frank and Peter worked
together in the same group until Mr. Frank’s poor health kept him in the
barracks. Thinking his chances might be better in another camp, he joined
the march out of Auschwitz-Birkenau to Mauthausen in January. As part of
an outdoor labor group, Peter got sick and was sent to the sick barracks.
The exact date of his death is unknown, but it is believed that he died only
5 days after the camp was liberated in May of 1945. Peter was the last of
the Annex residents to die in the camps.
