Peter van Pels in Auschwitz I

Peter van Pels arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau with the other people from the Secret Annex on the night of Tuesday 5 to Wednesday 6 September 1944. Subsequently, the men from this transport, including Peter, went on foot to Auschwitz I, also called Stammlager, located about 3 kilometres from Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II).^[1] With the other men from the 3 September 1944 transport, Peter van Pels stayed in quarantine block 8.

After his quarantine period, Peter entered Block 2, where Meier (Max) Stoppelman (1915-2005) by now held the position of Stubenältester - barrack leader. Peter had by now become separated from Otto, who was assigned to another barrack.^[2] Although Stoppelman and Peter van Pels had never seen each other in Amsterdam, it soon turned out that Peter knew Stoppelman's mother and knew that she was the Jewish landlady of Jan and Miep Gies who had helped them to find a hiding place. Stoppelman later said: "The first thing he told me was that he had heard from Jan and Miep that everything was still fine with my mother. I told him to stay near me as much as possible and that I would try to get him through it."

A bond immediately developed between Peter and Stoppelman, and Stoppelman would take him under his wing as Stubenältester until the evacuation of Auschwitz. After that, they lost sight of each other.^[3]

Paketstelle
On the transport list of 3 September 1944, Peter van Pels was registered as a metal worker. Because having a profession increased the chances of a better life, prisoners made up occupations: bricklayer, carpenter or lathe worker. It is plausible that Peter therefore registered as a metal worker. Whether Peter was indeed initially classified as a metal worker in Auschwitz is unknown. What we do know is that in Auschwitz Peter managed over time - possibly with Stoppelman's help - to secure a good job at the Paketstelle and that later, on his card in the camp administration of Mauthausen, it was recorded that he was Tischler (furniture maker).^[4] "Peter was lucky enough to get a job at the camp's post office which was for the SS and non-Jewish prisoners who received mail and parcels."^[5]

The men working at the Paketstelle were tasked with opening parcels for deceased prisoners and selecting the contents. Without too much effort, they were able to purloin many of the contents. The regime at the Paketstelle was also less strict: prisoners did not have to be on roll call and they had more freedom of movement. With the extra food and warm clothes, working at the Paketstelle allowed them to gain weight.^[6] So it was that by January 1945 Peter was able to be in relatively good shape and, in addition, able to visit and care for the sick Otto Frank. Otto Frank later stated that he saw Peter daily and that he was a great support to him.^[5]