The arrest of Peter van Pels

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]

Few details are known about Peter van Pels' experiences during 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.

During the raid, Peter was in his own room. Otto Frank was helping him learn English and just pointing out a mistake in his dictation, when he suddenly heard someone running up the stairs: "Suddenly someone came running up the stairs and then the door opened and a man was standing right in front of us with a gun in his hand. Downstairs they were all gathered".^[2]

In 1963, he added:

"He made us raise our hands and then searched us for weapons. (...) Then he ordered us to go downstairs. He came after us with a gun drawn. We first entered the room of the Pels family, where I saw Mr and Mrs Pels, as well as Mr Pfeffer [also] standing with their hands raised. Here too stood a man dressed in civilian clothes, unknown to me, who had also drawn his pistol. Then we all had to go down another floor, where I lived with my family. There I saw my wife and both daughters standing, also with their hands raised. (...) I also saw a man in a green uniform, unknown to me, who had already drawn his gun. I found out later that this man was called Silberbauer."^[3]

Together with helpers Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler, Peter and the other people in hiding were taken to the SD building on Euterpestraat. The people in hiding were taken the next day to the Detention Centre on Weteringschans, and later on to Westerbork.^[4]