Customer Reviews

Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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")

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.

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.

I was 11 when I first read the story of Anne Frank. It was horrifying to think that a girl little older than me had to go through such hardship, and when I found out that she didn't survive, it struck an even deeper chord. It is because of Victor Kugler that the story of Anne Frank exists. I can't believe it has taken me 10 more years to discover his story, but I am glad that I was able to eventually read it.

The parts of this book that detail Kugler's life and gives us his own words are truly magnificent. I was disappointed to find that this wasn't the sole subject of the book. I did appreciate the historical context, because it helped me understand the atmosphere of Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general at the time of The Secret Annex. However, the information about various retellings of Anne Frank's stories is extensive and almost irrelevant (except when detailing Kugler's reactions to the adaptations).

The writing itself wasn't particularly interesting (it falls rather dry and flat), but the story is certainly one worth knowing about.

Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank by Eda Shapiro and Rick Kardonne, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel is a fascinating look into and beyond the familiar world of Anne Frank's Diary. Shapiro and Kardonne introduce us to this recipient of the "Medal of the Righteous" given to "Righteous Gentiles" and allow us to hear his story in his own words as taken from several years' worth of interviews.

There are explanations of factors in Victor's life that were key to his placement in a position to help the Franks and the other Jews he helped hide. We are given his impressions of Anne Frank both before and during the hiding time. Krugel also gives clear and interesting glimpses into life in the Nazi Netherlands and the concentration camps he was sent to for the crime of Judengeunstigung - helping Jewish people. Victor goes on to discuss the remainder of his life to the point of the interviews and the authors provide a number of pictures and reproductions of primary documents of important times in Victor's life.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in the Holocaust or even just the story of Anne Frank. Being a home educator, I also see its potential benefit in historical studies of the Holocaust, or studies of the country of Holland. For an avid book reader, it is well put together and a real page-turner, especially the parts where Victor is speaking in the first person.

This book is a unique perspective on the famous Anne Frank story. While definitely told within the Jewish context, we also get to see how gentiles experienced the war. Well written but not at all dry, we also get many interesting little details about the night the gestapo found the Annex.

This book includes a very helpful, brief history of Holland and the other European countries before WWII, along with the rise of Nazism. Then the author relates the story of Victor Kugler, the hiding place for the Franks and a few others, the discovery of the Jews, the awful circumstances after Kugler's arrest, followed by his more ordinary life after that point.

Mr. Kugler was honored as a "Righteous Gentile," a non-Jewish person who risks his life in order to save the life of a Jew. This humble man never saw what he did for the Jews as being particularly heroic or outstanding. He was only doing what was morally right and helping his friends. Mr. Kugler is an example of many outstanding individuals who also courageously stepped up to the plate when duty called during this period of time.

I loved the way Mr. Kugler intelligently outwitted the Nazis and their collaborators not only before being caught, but also while living in the work camps. The unbelievable inhumanity Mr. Kugler described was only matched by the great sacrifices and the good deeds of those who fought against the evil as best they could.

In Appendix 3, I was struck with conviction while reading Irvin Naftolin's quotation of Elie Wiesel (and then his own comment):

"The opposite of love, education, law, is Indifference."

Victor Kugler, who helped to hide Anne Frank, was not indifferent.

This book is very well researched; adds to the pantheon of information about those who helped the eight in the Annex survive for as long as they did. The work also reveals the type of person Kugler was; how he lived out his life, quite modestly, it seems. The crux of the work was interviews conducted over a few years; some added life details and a bit of repetition slows down the read just a bit.

Most of us are very familiar with the story of Anne Frank, but many are left to wonder what happened to the man that hid Anne and her family. In the book authored by Rick Kardonne, we are walked through the history of Holland, especially it's state during the blemish of Nazism as well as Kugler's early life and business life with Otto Frank. We then face the years of hiding through the eyes of Kugler, glimpse into Kugler's fond rememberance of the life that Anne exuded without even trying as well as harrowing days of effortlessly trying to protect the family. We then see the tragedy as the Annex is discovered. Most of the stories we read usually ends here, but Kardonne takes the reader on another adventure of arrests, imprisonment in concentration camps and escapes. The will to live for all the right reasons. The reader is even allowed to see the work that Eda Shapiro underwent to gain Kugler the recognition of Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem. A must read for fans of Ms. Frank as well as for those fine men and women like Victor Kugler: the fearless, silent hero's.

Almost everyone knows the story of Anne Frank. Far fewer people know the story of one of the men who hid her and her family from the Gestapo for 2 years. The mere fact of having his story of bravery be told makes this book worthwhile.

Victor Kugler's story shines brightest when told in his own voice. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often. Large portions of the book are taken from the notes of Eda Shapiro, who interviewed Kugler late in his life. This is fine, as far as it goes, but Shapiro's words are also used to give us historical background information on topics such as WWII and the history of Jews in Holland. Surely a more authoritative source could have been found for these subjects.

At least this historical background is interesting. Not so the rest of the book's padding, including descriptions of various dramatic and musical productions of Anne Frank's story that Kugler attended and his reaction to them, and descriptions awards and honors that Kugler was given, including his inclusion among the Righteous Gentiles at Yad Vashem, all well-deserved. I could have lived with a lot less of this extraneous material, especially since Kugler's story stands so well on its own.

FTC disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this review.