Kindergarten

Nothing is as yet known about a kindergarten that Peter van Pels is said to have attended in Germany.

Primary school

In Osnabrück, Peter van Pels attended the Israelitische Elementarschule at Rolandstrasse 5.^[1] This school was attached to the Synagogue-Gemeinde of Osnabrück. Peter was taught there by Abraham Trepp who, in addition to being a teacher, held the position of preacher, cantor and teacher of religion in the synagogue.^[2]

Pupils from different year levels were in one class together; practically all the lessons were taught by Abraham Trepp. The school initially provided only the first four years of schooling, but when it was made increasingly difficult for Jewish children to attend public schools after 1933, the Israelitischen Elementarschule extended its four years of schooling to the upper grades of primary school.^[3]

More and more children left the school as they moved abroad with their parents, and by the 1936-1937 school year only 13 children were still in school. As part of the increasing Auswanderung, New Hebrew was taught and there were English courses for adults in the evenings. Kristallnacht put a definitive end to education at the Israelitischen Elementairschule in Osnabrück.^[4]

During Peter's school days, students were regularly sworn at and attacked by members of the Hitler Youth.^[5]

Three class photos of Peter van Pels with his classmates/classmates are known.

1932:
Siegfried Redler, Lilo Fröhlich, Helga Meyer, Ruth Weinberg, Dagobert Rychter, Manfred Elbaum, Else Jacobson, Lisbeth Klein, Hans Löwenstein, Ludwig Elbaum, Fredi ?, Inge Meyer, Lore Weinberg, Ruth Lipschütz, Irmgard Höchster, Marianne Netheim, Margot Schoeps, Peter van Pels, Rudi Heilbrunn, Frieda Redler, Hanna Rychter, Hannelore Frölich, Ilse Weinberg, Nathan Elbaum.^[1]

1934:
Maja Nieporent, Erna Leichentritt, Steffi Loewenstein, Irmgard Heimbach, Eva Netheim, Mirjam Stein, Rudolf Jacobson, Simon Siegbert Schoeps, Martin Trepp, Ewald Aul, Fritz Loewenstein, Ernst Weinberg, Herbert Lipschütz, Liselotte Fröhlich, Trude Leeser, Helga Meyer, Else Jacobson;^[6]

1935:
Eva Netheim, Rudolf Jacobson, Steffi Loewenstein, Maja Nieporent, Ewald Aul, Ernst Weinberg, Martin Trepp, Fritz Loewenstein, Liselotte Fröhlich, Irmgard Ohl (b. Heimbach), Trude Leeser, Helga Meyer, Herbert Lipschütz, Else Jacobson, Miriam Stein.^[7]

In the summer of 1937, Peter emigrated with his parents to Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^[8]

It is not known exactly which primary school he attended. A former classmate of Peter van Pels at the MULO school, Wim van de Graaff, said in an interview that Peter first did the transition course in the Diez school before going to the regular primary school.^[9]

MULO

The same Wim van de Graaff also relates that at the Spinoza School (MULO), Peter van Pels sat next to him in the first grade (August 1940 - July 1941). Class teacher was Mr Roemers.^[9]

No official records are known of Peter van Pels' enrolment at the Spinoza School. As a Jewish pupil, he had to leave the school after the summer of 1941.

Trade school

Otto Frank wrote in a letter that Peter van Pels ended up at a Handwerkschule, 'da er unter den herrschenden Zuständen doch sonst nicht weiter gekommen wäre'.^[10]

It is not known what course this involved. However, a photograph has survived in which Peter appears to be working on the inner springs of a chair.^[11] Anne writes in her diary that Kleiman gave Peter a new spring for his divan so that he could upholster it.^[12]

While in hiding in the Secret Annex, Peter learned English and French and did schoolwork.^[13]

• On the transport list from Westerbork to Auschwitz (3 September 1944), Peter is listed as Metallarb. (metal worker).^[14]
• Peter's Jewish Council card indicates that he was without occupation and unter 16 Jahren.^[15]
• The Mauthausen camp records give his occupation as Tischler.^[16]
• The Red Cross settlement records after the war gave his occupation as: Tischler and Furniture Maker/Turner.^[15]