Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank [Hardcover]

Rick Kardonne (Author), Eda Shapiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2008

Of all the personalities associated with Anne Frank, the most important figure, without whom Anne Frank would never have been able to write her diary, is perhaps the least known. He is Victor Kugler, the Mr. Kraler of the diary. The principal business partner of Otto Frank, Victor Kugler assumed managerial control of the Frank's Amsterdam spice-importing business when Nazi persecution forced the Frank family into hiding. It was Victor Kugler who kept the business going and obtained food rations under what was the harshest German wartime occupation in all of Western Europe. Without Victor Kugler, Anne Frank and her family would have starved to death a month after going into hiding. For this heroism, Victor Kugler himself was arrested and sent to a series of German labor camps in Holland where he survived by his wits and finally escaped a few weeks before the end of the war. Several years after the end of the war, when the Dutch spice business collapsed following the Indonesian revolution that nationalized Dutch holdings, Victor Kugler emigrated to Toronto, Canada. There, he led a quiet life where nobody knew who he was and what he had done during the war. Only twenty years later he began to reveal his story. The modern-day saga of this Righteous Gentile, who was honored as such at Israel s Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority, is told here in semi-documentary style, largely in his own words as told to Torontonian Eda Shapiro, herself of Eastern European Jewish background; and by many others who knew him, as compiled by well-known Toronto writer-journalist Rick Kardonne.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About The Authors Eda Shapiro interviewed Victor Kugler from 1969 to 1973, and wrote these memoirs as he dictated them to her. After her passing in 1992, her husband Irving Naftolin took it upon himself to have them published so the details of this shy hero's life would be presented for the world to see. Without this endeavor by Eda and Irving, important facts about Anne Frank would have remained forever hidden. Rick Kardonne is a journalist and a composer. He has written for the Jewish Tribune for over a decade during which he interviewed such people as Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Perez, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa and Liza Minelli. Rick was also a music critic for the Canadian Jewish News for fifteen years. He has had six stage musicals produced in Canada and he composed the original soundtrack for Cayle Chemin s film I Am Home, which opened the Cape Town Film Festival of 1997. Rick is married to the former Eda Golub and they have two daughters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Gefen Publishing House (March 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9652294101
• ISBN-13: 978-9652294104
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Frank, Anne

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One everybody should read, May 15, 2008

By 

K. Gilligan "grad student & literature lover" (Haddon Heights, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank (Hardcover)

"I first saw Anne Frank when she was only four years old, in March 1934.... Even in those early minutes of our acquaintance I was struck by her large, dark brown eyes; those probing, searching, questioning eyes."(pg 34) So said Victor Kugler of his first meeting of Anne Frank.

I had doubts about this book. I knew that "The Diary of Anne Frank"was published by her father in order to get her story out there. However, not knowing anything about Victor Kugler, I was afraid that this was yet another person trying to make money by telling their story. I was relieved that this was not the case. My fears about this book were set to rest after reading the preface. Victor Kugler told his story to Eda Shapiro from 1969-1973, and later died in 1980. After Shapiro passed away, her husband Iriving Naftolin had Kugler's memoirs published with the help of Rick Kardonne.

To many, the name Victor Kugler may be unfamiliar. Those who have read "The Diary of Anne Frank"will recall Mr. Kraler being the man who hid the Frank family and their companions. Kraler and Kugler are one and the same. It was hard to read this book knowing that Kugler's hiding place would eventually be discovered, and what would happen to the Franks.

"Again and again they tried to movie it but they failed. Finally, they found the hook that kept it in its place. The hook was unfastened and they moved the bookcase. The door leading to the staircase and rooms above was now exposed.

My heart sank.

The moment I had been dreading for two years had now arrived.

I realized the object of this search. I knew we had been betrayed. The secret had been revealed and our plans had failed. The eight people in the Secret Annex were now doomed. A terrible fate awaited them all." (pg 52)

7006. That was the number that was sewn onto Kugler's jacket in the concentration camp he was sent to after the Franks were discovered. From there he traveled to two other concentration camps before amazingly escaping on a bicycle while his group was attacked by British Spitfires. He credits his survival to many who helped him on his travels, and he remembered them all. Among them were farmers who sheltered him and gave him clothing, a woman who warned him about a dangerous road, and a boy who directed him.

There were a few things I was disappointed in after reading this book, but there weren't many. One was the length. I found it entirely too short. Added to that, there are sections that aren't really Victor Kugler's story. I wanted to read about Kugler, and how he helped the Frank family. Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd care to read any more after the Secret Annex was discovered, but I stuck with it and found I couldn't turn away from Kugler's experiences in the concentration camp. I found them both sickening and alarming, but how could anyone feel differently? I do admit that I found the later sections, after Kugler's move to Canda, a bit boring since Kugler was no longer in the thick of things. Overall, this was a very moving book. Like Anne Frank, Kugler's story should never be forgotten.

(Thanks to LibraryThing's EarlyReviewers Program, and Gefen Publishing House for an advanced reader's copy)

(Originally reviewed for "Kathleen's Book Reviews")

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Story of a Courageous Man, May 14, 2008

By 

Succinct Reviews "Pirulina" (FLORIDA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank (Hardcover)

RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY REVIEW COPY

I read "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" in my early teens. It made a powerful impression on me. Anne, the people in the attic, and Mr. Kraler, the man who hid them, left me awe struck. Consequently, when I was given the opportunity to review this title I was excited and immediately sat down to read it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is well organized and puts into perspective the historical events of these times, but most importantly it gives insight into the courageous man who hid his friends "because morally he had no choice. It did not occur to him to do otherwise." Victor Kugler, the man Anne referred to as Mr. Kraler, hid his friends for two years. After the hiding place was discovered, he was sent to various labor camps to pay for his "crime." This book chronicles these events and documents the rest of his life.

Overall, the authors did a good job of recounting the events of Mr. Kugler's life. My only criticism is that I expected the book to contain more of his personal words, letters, etc. Nonetheless, I recommend this book to anyone interested in the holocaust, WWII, or if you simply want to believe in humanity again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another biography for those fascinated by the Anne Frank story, November 8, 2009

By 

Wendi (One of the Great Lakes States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank (Hardcover)

Of interest primarily to those who just want to know all they can about Anne Frank and the stories surrounding the family. It's not the best written book I have ever read, but it does satisfy the itch to know about some of the unsung heroes who tried to save the Frank family.

In the 1960's Eda Shapiro learned that the man who hid Anne Frank (and kept her father's spice business which supported them all going successfully) was alive and in Toronto. She did several intereviews with him. Upon her death, her husband looked for somebody to take her notes and work and publish them. Rick Kardonne finished organizing her material and added some background information and this book is the result.

Eda Shapiro comes across not so much as a biographer, but as the head of Kugler's fan club, which is understandable. Kugler himself was apparently a deeply humble, self-effacing man, who was not interested in flashy self publicity. This combination makes the story weaker in the telling than one could wish, but Kugler is still there to be discovered, revealing the depths and sincerity of his soul, a man to be admired.

Visitin Yad Vashem in the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles, Mr. Kugler stooped down and picked up a small leaf from 'his' tree. He wore that leaf in his lapel until the day he died.

I wanted more from this book, and I want more men like Victor Kugler in this world.