The arrest of Hermann van Pels
Hermann van Pels, along with the other people in hiding, was arrested by the SD on 4 August 1944 and taken to Euterpestraat.
On 4 August 1944 , an arrest team of the Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst, (Sipo-SD) raided Prinsengracht 263 and the Secret Annex. The team was led by SS-Hauptscharführer Karl Silberbauer and included the detectives Willem Grootendorst and Gezinus Gringhuis. All eight people in hiding and two helpers, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler, were arrested and taken to the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung building at Adama van Scheltemaplein 1 in Amsterdam. It has never been fully clarified how the SD tracked down the people in hiding.[1]
No details are known about Hermann van Pels' experience of the 4 August 1944 raid on the Prinsengracht 263 building. The course of events on the third floor of the annex during the arrest is known only through statements by Otto Frank and Karl Silberbauer.
Hermann van Pels and the other people in hiding were gathered by Silberbauer and conducted to the second floor.[2] Initially, only Kugler went with them into the Secret Annex, but later Kleiman was also taken there.[3]
Together with Kleiman, Kugler and the other people in hiding, Hermann was taken to the SD building on Euterpestraat for interrogation. The next day, he and the others were transferred to the Detention Centre on Weteringschans and later transported to Westerbork.[2]
Footnotes
- ^ Zie ook: Gertjan Broek, Onderzoeksverslag inzake verraad en arrestatie van de onderduikers in het Achterhuis, Anne Frank Stichting (december 2016).
- a, b Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Centraal Archief Bijzondere Rechtspleging, inv. nr. 23892 (dossier van Maaren): Verklaring Otto Frank in proces-verbaal Rijksrecherche, p. 3.
- ^ Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach, Archief Ernst Schnabel: Victor Kugler aan Ernst Schnabel, 17 september 1957.