EN

Death of Hermann van Pels

Presumably, Hermann van Pels was murdered in the gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 3 October 1944.

Event

Oct. 3, 1944

50.034695 N 19.178028 E

Birkenau

Only a few scant testimonies have survived about the fate of Herman van Pels. It is thought that Hermann van Pels was murdered in the gas chamber of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 3 October 1944.[1]

In a statement issued in February 1961, the Red Cross said it considered Hermann van Pels to have died on 6 September 1944.[2] This would mean that he was gassed immediately upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hermann van Pels, however, was forty-six years old on arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau and therefore not part of the age group (fifty years and older) that, as a rule (with many exceptions), was immediately selected for the gas chamber.[3]

After the war, the Information Bureau of the Netherlands Red Cross tried to map the deportations to Auschwitz and other camps, on the basis of collective reconstruction.[4] The Red Cross reconstructed the date of death of missing people from the 3 September 1944 transport who survived the first selection on 6 September 1944, between 1 October 1944 and no later than 15 March 1945. As a result, some sources list 15 March 1945 as the date of death of Hermann van Pels.[5]

According to Fritzi Frank, Otto Frank repeatedly stated that Hermann van Pels got through the first selection on 6 September 1944. While working at a subcamp a few weeks later in October or November, he seriously hurt his thumb. He was therefore given Zimmerdienst. There was then a selection that presumably proved fatal for Van Pels.[6] In another interview Otto Frank also mentions 5 October 1944 as Hermann van Pels' date of death.[7]

From July 1943 there were no more gassings in Auschwitz I, the camp where Hermann van Pels was imprisoned. If Hermann van Pels was gassed, it happened in Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau) where crematoria were in operation until November 1944.[8]

Fritz Simon, a fellow inmate from the 3 September 1944 transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz, stated that he did not see Hermann van Pels again after a selection of people who had Blockschonung (dispensation from work due to a labour disability).[9]

Based on data from Danuta Czeck's timeline, 2 and 7 October 1944 are possible dates when Hermann van Pels was gassed after selection in Auschwitz-Birkenau. On 2 October 1944, Lagerarzst Thilo carried out a selection in the Quarantine Block, when 101 prisoners were selected to be sent to the gas chamber the same night. We know that more prisoners from the 3 September 1944 transport died on that exact date, 3 October 1944.[1] It is almost certain that, together with Hermann van Pels, they were killed on that day in one of the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hermann was 46 years old at the time.

Footnotes

  1. a, b Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis (NRK), Den Haag, Collectie Westerbork en de reconstructie van de lotgevallen na WOII, 1939-2007, inv.nr.1293 – Fritz Simon. Simon noemt geen datum. In de aantekeningen van Ernst Schnabel: '5.X bald nach Ankunft Selektion. Van Daan selektiert. Grosser kräftiger Mann. Beim Graben Hand verstaucht. 3 Tage Stubendienst. Alle Stubendienste wurden selektiert. (…) Peter sah zu, wie Vater heraufsah, ehe alle abmarchierten. Letzter ängstlich- verzweifelter Blick'. Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach, Archief Ernst Schnabel: Research Schnabel, uitgetypte notities, p. 149. Uit een interview met Otto Frank in de Duitse krant Welt am Sontag, 4 februari 1979: 'Und nie werde ich vergessen, wie der 17jährigen Peter van Daan und ich in Auschwitz einen Trupp selektierter Männer sahen. Einer von ihnen war Peters Vater. Die Männer marchierten ab. Zwei Stunden später kam ein Wagen zurück, beladen mit ihren Kleidungsstücken'. Het gedeelte over de wagen beladen met kledingstukken kan niet kloppen omdat vergassingen in die periode plaatsvinden in Auschwitz-Birkenau en Peter van Pels in Auschwitz I verbleef. Danuta Czech noemt verschillende mogelijk data begin oktober 1944. Op 2 oktober 1944 voert SS-Lagerarzt Dr. Thilo een selectie uit in het Quarantaineblok waar bij 101 gevangenen worden geselecteerd die nog de zelfde nacht naar de gaskamer gaan. Op 7 oktober 1944 selecteert Thilo nog eens 20 gevangenen in het mannenquarantainekamp die nog op dezelfde dag worden vergast. Danuta Czech, Kalendarium der Ereignisse im Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau 1939-1945, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1989, p. 892, 87-898.
  2. ^ NRK, dossier 103586-3.
  3. ^ Zie: L. Landsberger, A. de Haas, K. Selowsky (red,), Auschwitz. Deel V. De deportatietransporten in 1944, ’s-Gravenhage: Hoofdbestuur van de Vereniging Het Nederlandsche Roode Kruis, 1953, p. 21.
  4. ^ Zie noot 3. Zie ook: NRK, dossier 103586-11 en 12: Correspondentie van het Informatiebureau NRK met Mr K. Jansma, oktober 1948.
  5. ^ Het Joods Monument noemt 15 maart 1945, evenals Peter Junk & Martina Sellmeyer, Stationen auf dem Weg nach Auschwitz. Entrechtung, Vertreibung, Vernichtung Juden in Osnabrück 1900-1945. Ein Gedenkbuch, Osnabrück: Rasch Verlag Bramsche, 1988, p. 300.
  6. ^ Anne Frank-Fonds, Bazel, Fritzi Frank aan Vincent Frank Steiner, 14 december 1990. Zie verder noot 1.
  7. ^ 'How the end came to Anne Frank' by William Banks verschenen in Bungei Shanju-sha, zonder datum. Zie verder noot 1.
  8. ^ Wacław Długoborski, Franciscek Piper (eds.), Auschwitz 1940-1945. Central issues in the history of the camp, Oświecim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2000, deel III, p.133, 159, 210.
  9. ^ NRK, inv.nr. 1293, Collectie Westerbork en de reconstructie van de lotgevallen na WOII, 1939-2007: Fritz Simon, 13 augustus 1945.