| Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank (June 12, 1929 – circa February or March 1945) and Hannah “Hanneli” Pick-Goslar (November 12, 1928 – October 28, 2022) together on the Merwedeplein (“Merwede Square”) where both of their families lived prior to World War II in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Hannah remembered, “We lived at number 31. I only had to go down the stairs and up the next stairs to number 37 to go to Anne.” Starting September 3, 1934, Hanneli went to the school for Preparatory Education Number 51, where Anne Frank had been at school for some time. Hanneli remembers the 1st day of school well: “My mother brought me to school, I didn’t know the language yet and my mother was so afraid how it would go, how I would react. But I came in and Anne stood opposite the door by the bells and made them ring. She turned around and I flew into her arms and my mother was at ease to go home.” On July 13, 1935, Hanneli was transferred to the 6th Montessori School in Amsterdam. Anne was also enrolled there from August 16, 1935. Despite changing class compositions, Hanneli and Anne were in the same class for 6 years. On June 14, 1942, Anne wrote in her diary: “Hanneli and Sanne [Ledermann (October 7, 1928 – November 19, 1943)] used to be my two best friends, and anyone who anyone saw us together always there said there walk Anne, Hanne and Sanne.” The next day, she wrote, “Hanneli Goslar or ‘Lies,’ as she is called at school, is a bit of a strange child. She is usually shy and very cheeky at home, but modest with others. She blabs everything you tell her to her mother. But she has an open opinion and especially lately I have appreciated her very much.” On June 20, 1943, a large raid took place in Amsterdam-Zuid and the entire Goslar family was arrested. Up until that moment, they had managed to avoid deportation by purchasing Paraguayan passports. The fact that her father was a recognized Zionist had also contributed to this. Meanwhile, Anne, in her hiding place, thinks about her friend Hannah, writing on December 29, 1943: “Last night I was very sad again. Grandma and Hanneli came back to me. And Hanneli? Is she still alive? What is she doing? Oh God, protect her and bring her back to us. Hanneli, you always make me see how my fate could have been. I always see myself in your place.” At that time, the Goslar family is still in Westerbork. They will stay there for 8 months, until February 15, 1944. The Goslar family was not deported to Auschwitz, but to Bergen-Belsen. 6 months later, Anne also ends up in Westerbork, in August 1944. The people in hiding have been betrayed, they have been able to evade arrest for over 2 years. The Frank family is deported to Auschwitz on the last transport leaving the Netherlands. Anne and her sister Margot are taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in an overcrowded train at the end of 1944. Their mother Edith stays behind in Auschwitz. Anne Frank meets children in Bergen-Belsen whom she knows from Amsterdam. For example, she still speaks with Nanette Blitz and Hanneli Goslar, with whom she went to school. In the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Hanneli met Anne again and spoke to her for the last time. She gave Anne part of a Red Cross package and told her that Hanneli’s mother had died in childbirth in 1942. In the winter of 1944-1945, the situation in Bergen-Belsen deteriorated severely. There was little food, and it was filthy and full of vermin. Many prisoners fell ill. Margot and Anne Frank contracted typhus and died in February 1945. Nothing is known about their last days. In July 1945, Hanneli returned to the Netherlands and 1st spent a few months in the hospital in Maastricht because of typhus fever. Otto Frank (May 12, 1889 – August 19, 1980), Anne’s father, visited her there in early August and told her that Anne was no longer alive. Shortly afterwards, she moved to the Joodse Invalide in Amsterdam. Otto Frank also visited her there. With Otto Frank’s help, she and her sister Gabi Goslar (April 7, 1928 – December 2017) were reunited with her uncle Hans Klee (November 3, 1906 – May 22, 1959) in Switzerland on December 5, 1945. Even after Hanneli immigrated to Israel, she stayed in contact with Otto Frank. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0560.jpg |
| Image Size | 594.76 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2400 x 3209 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1939 |
| Location | |
| City | Amsterdam |
| State or Province | North Holland |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Archive | Anne Frank House |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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