Hermann van Pels

Hermann van Pels (1898-1944) was a German-Jewish businessman. He, his wife, Auguste, and their son Peter fled Germany for the Netherlands in 1937. They joined Anne Frank's family in hiding from 1942 to 1944, when they were betrayed. Hermann was sent directly to Auschwitz, where he was worked until his hand was injured, and he selected for gassing in October, 1944.

Hermann van Pels in "The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging"
Hermann van Pels and her family joined young Anne Berkowitz's family in hiding from 1942 for the duration of World War II, emerging from their hiding place only after the Netherlands were liberated in 1945. The eight people quickly dispersed.

In 2013, an elderly Anne Berkowtiz, now living in a retirement home in California, shared some of her experiences with the eighth-grade history class from nearby Junipero Middle School. She had little to say about Hermann van Pels, but described Auguste van Pels as an "airhead" and a "ditz", words that she did not have in her youth.