Anne en Margot in the scabies barrack

After their arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Anne and Margot stayed temporarily in the Krätzeblock - the block for scabies sufferers - due to scabies. It is unclear exactly when and for how long Anne and Margot stayed in this infirmary block, but there are several witnesses who confirm the sisters' presence in the Krätzeblock. For instance, Ronnie van Cleef and Frieda Brommet also ended up in the Krätzeblock soon after their arrival and moved there together with Anne and Margot.^[1]

Conditions in the Krätzeblock were poor. The sick were largely left to fend for themselves and depended on their fellow inmates. To help her daughters, Edith Frank, together with Rebecca Brommet-Ritmeester, Frieda Brommet's mother, and helped by Lenie de Jong-van Naarden, dug a hole somewhere on the side of the barracks to give food to the children.^[2]

Frieda Brommet recalled how they got extra food through the hole:

'And during that period when Ronnie and I were there together, the thing is that my mother and Mrs Frank, Edith, formed a kind of couple. Because together they stole things they... They dug a hole together. (...) One day my mother came and she could also speak through that hole, and she said, she would shout, 'Frieda! Frieda!' (...) And said: 'Mrs Frank and I are the only ones here in the camp now. We have been hiding because the group has been put on a transport. But we hid because we wanted to stay with you. And we stole some bread and I'm handing it to you through the hole now and you have to share it between the four of you.' And the four of them was with Margot and Anne (...).'^[3]

In late October 1944, according to Frieda Brommet, Anne and Margot were discharged from the infirmary barrack.^[4] On 30 October 1944, Anne and Margot were selected for transport to Bergen Belsen.^[5]