The inter-relationships encompass more than just those in the Secret Annex. They also include social relationships outside and even before going into hiding. These relationships can be separated into:

• Before going into hiding
• Within the Frank family
• Within the Van Pels family
• Inside the Secret Annex
• Between the people in hiding and the helpers
• Between helpers
• Between helpers and the outside world

Obviously, Anne's notes are a very important source. Insights can also be derived from later reactions, following publicity around the diary, the play and the film.

Before going into hiding

Anne regularly writes about her friends and classmates, as well as others from before going into hiding. Among other things, she describes classmates and teachers at the Montessori school. An important relationship for Anne was the one with her classmate Hanneli Goslar. She also mentions the entire class 1 L II and all her teachers at the Jewish Lyceum. She makes sweeping statements about some classmates at the Lyceum. Furthermore, she mentions everyone who came to her thirteenth birthday, and what they gave her as a present. She also mentions all kinds of people from the neighbourhood, especially children of a similar age like Peter Schiff, Hello Silberberg and Fredie Weisz. She further expresses her jealousy about the interactions between Jacqueline van Maarsen and Danka Zajde,^[1] both of whom she had met at the Jewish Lyceum. Hello, Jacqueline and Danka later gave their views about their dealings and their friendship with Anne.^[2] Several other surviving classmates have also commented on Anne.

In her diary, Anne set out her family history, and she did so quite extensively.^[3] This included grandparents and second cousins. She regularly wrote about her grandmother Holländer, who died on 29 January 1942, whom she missed very much.^[4] The short story Lodgers or Tenants is about four of the subtenants who lived with the Frank family at various times. The last of these, Werner Goldschmidt, was also with the family at the beginning of the period in hiding.^[5]

Social contacts also existed with Fritz Pfeffer and the Van Pels family. Peter gave her a bar of milk chocolate for her thirteenth birthday.^[6] Pels' subtenant Mr Bernhardt gave Anne an ice cream at Oase.^[7] Pfeffer first met Otto Frank in the spring of 1940 at the home of his landlady Stephanie Meijer-Schuster, a 'Jugendfreundin' of Otto's.^[8]

Within the Frank family

After Grandma Holländer's death, even before going into hiding, domestic peace deteriorated, according to Anne.^[9] Anne was fond of her father, while her relationship with her mother was problematic. Anne and Margot were also not very familiar with each other. Margot wanted to be, but Anne held back.^[10] Otto Frank believed that the much more mature Margot settled into the hiding situation more easily than Anne. Margot also suffered much less from changing moods.^[11] In early 1944, things improved between the sisters.^[12]

Otto Frank spoke out several times in later years about relationships within his family. In a general text, with which he intended to answer some frequently asked questions in advance, he wrote that he was on better terms with Anne than with Margot and that he was concerned about the poor contact between Anne and her mother.^[13] It is well enough known that Anne repeatedly expressed very negative views of her mother in her diary.

Within the Van Pels family

Anne sometimes describes the family in mild, but more often in sharp terms. Many of these involve quarrels between the Van Pels spouses. In September '42, there was a fuss about a book Peter was not allowed to read. He argued about it with his parents for several days, and his father flew into a rage when Peter shouted something down the stovepipe from the attic.^[14]

In the autumn of 1943, there was a disagreement between the Van Pels couple. According to Anne, this was about money.^[15] Hermann van Pels supported his son Peter when he had a conflict with Pfeffer.^[16] When Peter spoke to Anne about his parents, he said that they loved each other a lot but that he himself kept his distance.^[17]

Inside the Secret Annex

Miep said the following about Otto Frank's role during the period in hiding, in response to his dependence on the helpers: 'But, in the secret annex itself with the people in hiding, he was the boss again: what Mr Frank said, that was done. He decided, he had the last word, on what had to be done.'  She also said: 'he was the boss, wasn't he, of the whole company (...). Otto decided everything (...).'^[18]

Otto Frank himself believed that his attitude during the period in hiding was mainly an optimistic one.^[19] He told Arthur Unger in 1977 that a positive element of life in hiding was that - unlike the time he worked in his business - he could spend all day with his children.^[20]

The only people who later said anything about the tension and relaxation within the Secret Annex from their own observations were Otto Frank and the helpers. In the 1970s, Otto wrote about living with the Van Pels family: 'we did not foresee how many problems would arise because of the differences in character and views.'^[13] Nor was he positive about how the Van Pels perceived their duties as parents.^[21]

In the early days, there were adjustment problems between the two families. Pfeffer was not there then. Anne writes repeatedly that the atmosphere was good and convivial, and that they laughed a lot.^[22] At the same time, there were quarrels about parenting, washing dishes and being modest or not, among other things. Anne describes Mrs Van Pels as an "idiotic person".^[23] Over a year later, she was still describing her as "scrawny, selfish and stupid", with the nuance that it was possible to talk to her.^[24] When asked by Ernst Schnabel in 1957, Victor Kugler wrote that friction repeatedly occurred between Anne and Mrs Van Pels during the period in hiding.^[25]

In the spring of 1943, Anne writes of an occasion when the whole house was "thundering with strife".^[26] The cause of much disagreement was food supplies. Thus, resentment arose when there was sugar for Edith Frank's birthday, but not for Auguste van Pels'.^[27] Whether or not to give rice to the convalescent Johannes Kleiman also led to conflicts.^[28]

When Pfeffer joined them in November '42, everyone had to scale back again. The arrival of a third party occasionally led to different alliances. Like Pfeffer with Auguste van Pels, when both agreed - according to Anne - that Anne had been raised wrong.^[29] Anne's opinion of Pfeffer is evident when she provides the main characters with aliases in her rewrite. She called Pfeffer 'Albert Dussel',^[30] while 'Dussel' means something like 'silly' in German. Pfeffer occasionally stood up to the rest, for instance when he acted dangerously in their eyes by continuing correspondence with Charlotte Kaletta.^[31] At the end of '43, according to Anne, Pfeffer had a conflict with the Van Pels family, which allegedly had its origin in Pfeffer not giving Mrs Van Pels a present on the first anniversary of his arrival.^[32] Edith, according to Anne, sighed some weeks later that she would gladly not see Hermann van Pels for a fortnight.^[33]

An important element in the Secret Annex history is the romance between Anne and Peter. This began to emerge in late March 1944 ^[34] and faded away after about six weeks.^[35] According to Otto Frank, there was initially little contact between them, but a strong bond developed over time.^[13] In the B version, Anne denies being in love with Peter under the date 6 January 1944,^[36] but again, given the later rewriting, this is retrospective.

Between the people in hiding and the helpers

Van Pels and Otto were angry with Kugler for jeopardising the business relationship with W.F. Westermann and C.W. Heijbroek. Kugler in turn was angry when the people in hiding were lax with security, such as the time the bolt was not released in time and he had to climb in via Keg.^[37] In July 1943, Pfeffer was angry because Kugler had gone to hand in the radio on the prescribed day.^[38]

In early 1944, there was a discussion about the possibility of an evacuation of the western part of the country. According to the people in hiding, Jan Gies was far too optimistic, but according to Jan, they were looking at things far too negatively.^[39]

In late May '44, there was a serious conversation with Miep. Apparently there was resentment among the people in hiding about indifference, perceived or otherwise, on her part. Anne: 'Miep came up one afternoon all flushed and asked Father straight out if we thought they too were infected with the current anti-Semitism. Father was stunned and quickly talked her out of the idea, but some of Miep's suspicion has lingered on.' According to Anne, Miep thought the people in hiding feared that she felt the same way. Otto Frank then allegedly talked Miep out of this.^[40] Otto Frank got into an argument with Miep once when he said she stayed too long with Pfeffer, and Anne did not like that.^[41]

If the diary is accurate on this point, relations with Kleiman remained positive throughout. Edith Frank, according to Anne, said, "When Mr Kleiman comes in, the sun rises! ''^[42] Kleiman later described Anne's attitude towards him during his daily visits to the Secret Annex as modest. She was always delighted with the children's books he brought, though.^[43]

Anne had a strong bond with Bep Voskuijl. She was the eldest child in a large family, and her sisters were several years younger than Anne. On the other hand, she was the youngest of the helpers, and was counted by Anne as one of the Secret Annex youngsters. Kleiman thought that the ups and downs of Bep's love life also played a role in Anne's preference.^[44]

Miep said of Margot: 'I had absolutely no contact with Margot. She was there, present, and not much else.'^[45]

Between helpers

There was a hierarchical distinction between the helpers. Kugler and Kleiman were directors of the companies, Miep and Bep the office girls. When there was merriment in the office over a phone call, Anne writes: 'the directors together with the office girls make the greatest fun!'^[46] During the raid on 4 August 1944, Kleiman sent Bep with his wallet to drugstore Kollen on Leliegracht, and she indeed managed to get away unhindered.^[47] Otto Frank later stated that Kleiman and Kugler managed to convince people that Miep and Bep had not known anythng about the people in hiding.^[48]

Between helpers and the outside world

Several times in Anne's diary there is mention of the Amende family. This is the family who owned the boarding house where Jan Gies lived from 1936 and with whom he and Miep were friends. There were items belonging to the Franks in storage at this address,^[39] and Miep said in an interview that this family knew nothing about her helping people in hiding.^[49] Miep and Jan Gies obviously knew about each other. They kept quiet about the help they gave the Stoppelman family and others.

Kleiman's wife was fully aware of her husband's activities^[50] and also visited the Secret Annex several times.^[51] Anne even counted her as a member of the 'female side of the Secret Annex '.^[52] However, for reasons unknown, Kugler never spoke to his wife about the help he was providing.^[53] So for her, her husband's arrest came as a complete surprise. Bep only spoke to her father about the Secret Annex. He was informed in mid-July 1942, and at Kugler's initiative he made the bookcase.^[54]

As Opekta representative Johan Broks was curious and repeatedly asked about Otto Frank, a diversionary tactic was devised.^[55] Opekta/Gies & Co. sent a note to a client in Aardenburg, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. It included an addressed return envelope written by Otto Frank. Receipt of it at the office was intended to give the impression that he had sent this letter. The envelope with a postmark from a border town was intended to serve as proof of departure for Switzerland.^[56]

'Resonance'

With Anne as virtually the only source, a distorted picture of the other people in hiding emerges. Pfeffer and the Van Pels couple in particular do not come off very well in her account. Because the scriptwriters of the stage adaptation adopted Anne's negative qualifications, conflicts arose from this years later. When the American play made the diary more widely known, criticism followed. Greta Goldschmidt, a sister of Auguste van Pels, wrote to Otto Frank in 1958 that more justice should have been done to Peter. Anne got 'all the limelight', but since Peter had certainly made her time in hiding less harsh, he was still due 'ein kleines Lob' too.^[57] Having seen the film nine months later, she wrote again to express her indignation at the way the Van Pels family was portrayed.^[58]

A former acquaintance of Pfeffer from Berlin was outraged by the way the play ridiculed Pfeffer. In a letter to Otto Frank, she asked him if he realised why Pfeffer, unlike the others, had become 'ein Nörgler' when in hiding. She reproached Frank for allowing the scriptwriters to portray Pfeffer as a joke figure.^[59] By the late 1950s, there was also a distancing between Charlotte Kaletta on the one hand and Otto Frank and the helpers on the other.^[60][61] Kaletta and Frank even entered into a formal agreement in which the former pledged to renounce any claim regarding the diary, play and film.^[61]

Complicating matters is that Anne's diary is virtually the only source for the period in hiding, and direct notes are virtually non-existent for the year 1943. Moreover, later observations by Otto Frank or helpers were usually in response to diary passages. It is therefore of great importance to take into account a strong 'bias' in Anne's notes. Also given the situation she found herself in, a certain injustice towards the others in her diary entries is inevitable. Of the classmates at the Jewish Lyceum, about half survived the war years, and a few of them later gave their opinions on things. The same applies to a number of teachers. These statements naturally give nuance to Anne's picture of her school days. Of course, these classmates and teachers knew nothing about the situation in the Secret Annex from their own observations. For Pfeffer and the Van Pelses in particular, it is necessary to arrive at a more balanced picture than the one Anne painted of them.