The Roommate of Anne Frank [Paperback]

Nanda Van Der Zee (Author), Fritz Pfeffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003 | ISBN-10: 905911096X | ISBN-13: 978-9059110960

Van Der Zee re-creates the life story of Fritz Pfeffer, a German born Jewish dentist, who under the name of 'Dussel' - which means 'day-dreamer' or even 'dullard' - prominently appears in the diary of Anne Frank. In Het Achterhuis, Anne Frank describes this man, who was her roommate in hiding for almost two years, as a narrow minded, irritating and gloomy figure. This material, including Pfeffer's last letter to Kaletta, his lover, dated 15 November 1942, came into the hands of the well-known Dutch historian Nanda van der Zee. With the help of Pfeffer's son, who gave her a wealth of unpublished photographs, as well as friends and acquaintances of Kaletta and Pfeffer from Germany, Holland, Belgium and South Africa and the Pfeffer archives of the Anne Frank Foundation, she re-created the story of his life. This book, which was published in the Netherlands in 1990, is the merit of Nanda van der Zee that she corrects the image that Anne Frank gave of Pfeffer and in essence rehabilitates him. He emerges as an affectionate man and a caring, warm lover. This new image proves to be a correction to the 'Diary' and may alter some of the hagiography surrounding Anne Frank. The testimony this book provides will penetrate deeper than a more empirical, historical account. It is a valuable supplement to the 'Diary'. The most significant value however lies in the author's underlying message: that war has a total, senseless and destructive effect on everybody.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Aspekt B V Uitgeverij (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 905911096X
• ISBN-13: 978-9059110960
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,373,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but significantly overpriced for what it is, July 24, 2007

By 

Timothy Ryberg (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Roommate of Anne Frank (Paperback)

This soft cover book is only 95 or so pages but costs what a hardback would. An interesting book but I'm not sure that would justify the cost to most people.

The premise is this. The author managed to find some old letters, pictures and other effects that had belonged to Charlotte Kalotte ('Lotte mentioned in Anne's Diary) who was Fritz Pheffer's widow. She had recently died and somehow her personal things ended up being sold in a flea market in Amsterdam in the late 80's. The author used them and a variety of other sources to construct an imaginary interview with an elderly Charlotte and this is the first 49 pages of the book.

The remainder of the book consists of full page reproductions of Fritz's last letter to Charlotte before going into hiding and a number of other letters he had written her in the late 30's and early 40's. They are first presented in German and then in an English translation. The letters that Fritz sent her weekly from the secret annex are not included and the fictional Charlotte explains in the text that she'd had to destroy them as soon as she read them because they were dangerous to have (probably the truth).

The book is interesting in that it provides a lot more info about Fritz and puts a better face on him than Anne did in the diary. It also puts to rest a question that has been debated: they two were not legally married, however they had repeatedly tried to be but been refused due to the Nuremberg laws. Apparently even before the invasion, the Netherlands had upheld German law for German citizens living on their soil. They had, however, lived together and regarded each other as a married couple. All of his letters are addressed to "my beloved wife." Charlotte had married him posthumously in 1950.

A couple other interesting things:

* It explains that they had not fled earlier because they had family they did not want to abandon.

* Fritz and Charlotte had been in Berlin during the famous Krystalnaught (the night of the broken glass)

* Fritz and Charlotte had visited the Frank family every Sunday along with the van Pels' and others.

I'm an amateur Anne Frank scholar and this is a welcome addition to my Anne Frank library but as interesting as these things are, most of you may want to read it from the library before buying it.

NOTE: This is an English translation of a book which originally appeared in the Netherlands almost 2 decades ago.