Death of Auguste van Pels

The date and place of death of Auguste van Pels are not precisely known and have been reconstructed by the Dutch Red Cross as being between 9 April 1945 and 8 May 1945 in Germany or Czechoslovakia.^[1] This is the period between the evacuation transport from Raguhn to Theresienstadt on 9 April 1945 and the liberation of Theresienstadt on 8 May 1945.

Rachel van Amerongen Frankfoorder, who was part of the same transport as Auguste, stated to the Red Cross on 28 September 1945: "During the journey from Ranguhn to Theresienstadt, Mrs Gusti van Pels-Roettgen, about 42 years old, was thrown under the train by the Germans and, as a result, killed."^[2]

Otto Frank stated that he heard from someone that Auguste had died in a train carriage after being evacuated from Bergen Belsen. AFS, Anne Frank Collection, Otto Frank Archive, reg. code OFA_076: Otto Frank to Rechtsanwaltin Elisabeth Späth (regarding Entschädigung Auguste van Pels), 13 April 1960.

Annelore Daniel told Otto Frank after the war that Auguste died beside her during the train journey from Raguhn to Theresienstadt and was then laid beside the train. AFS, Witness Stories II, interview with Annelore Beem-Daniel, Bilthoven, 19 May 2014.

Bertha Kaas-Hekster also states something about Auguste's death: "(... ) died there of typhus or on transport to Theresienstadt I remember (...) Gusta Pels - German by birth, but deported from Amsterdam". Netherlands Red Cross (NRK), War Aftercare Bureau (entry 2050), inv. no. 1204: statement Bertha Kaas-Hekster, 8 January 1948.

This transport started on 9 April 1945 and Auguste's date of death is given as the first half of April 1945 as a result. See note 1.