charcater list (anne frank)

• Anne Frank

  The author of the diary. Anne was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, and was four years old when her father moved to Holland to find a better place for the family to live. She is very intelligent and perceptive, and she wants to become a writer. Anne grows from an innocent, tempestuous, precocious, and somewhat petty teenage girl to an empathetic and sensitive thinker at age fifteen. Anne dies of typhus in the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in late February or early March of 1945.
• Margot Frank

  Anne’s older sister. Margot was born in Frankfurt in 1926. She receives little attention in Anne’s diary, and Anne does not provide a real sense of Margot’s character. Anne thinks that Margot is pretty, smart, emotional, and everyone’s favorite. However, Anne and Margot do not form a close bond, and Margot mainly appears in the diary when she is the cause of jealousy or anger. She dies of typhus in the concentration camp a few days before Anne does.
• Otto Frank

  Anne’s father. Otto is practical and kind, and Anne feels a particular kinship to him. He was born on May 12, 1889, into a wealthy Frankfurt family, but the family’s international-banking business collapsed during the German economic depression that followed World War I. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Otto moved to Amsterdam in 1933 to protect his family from persecution. There he made a living selling chemical products and provisions until the family was forced into hiding in 1942. Otto is the only member of the family to survive the war, and he lives until 1980.
• Edith Frank

  Anne’s mother. Edith Hollander was originally from Aachen, Germany, and she married Otto in 1925. Anne feels little closeness or sympathy with her mother, and the two have a very tumultuous relationship. Anne thinks her mother is too sentimental and critical. Edith dies of hunger and exhaustion in the concentration camp at Auschwitz in January 1945.
• Mr. van Daan

  The father of the family that hides in the annex along with the Franks and who had worked with Otto Frank as an herbal specialist in Amsterdam. Mr. van Daan’s actual name is Hermann van Pels, but Anne calls him Mr. van Daan in the diary. According to Anne, he is intelligent, opinionated, pragmatic, and somewhat egotistical. Mr. van Daan is temperamental, speaks his mind openly, and is not afraid to cause friction, especially with his wife, with whom he fights frequently and openly. He dies in the gas chambers at Auschwitz in October or November of 1944.
• Mrs. van Daan

  Mr. van Daan’s wife. Her actual name is Auguste van Pels, but Anne calls her Petronella van Daan in her diary. Anne initially describes Mrs. van Daan as a friendly, teasing woman, but later calls her an instigator. She is a fatalist and can be petty, egotistical, flirtatious, stingy, and disagreeable. Mrs. van Daan frequently complains about the family’s situation—criticism that Anne does not admire or respect. Mrs. van Daan does not survive the war, but the exact date of her death is unknown.
• Peter van Daan


  The teenage son of the van Daans, whose real name is Peter van Pels
• Peter van Daan


  • Obnoxious
  • Lazy
  • Hypersensitive (initially)
  • Quiet
  • Timid
  • Honest
  • Sweet to Anne
• Anne and Peter


  Develop a romantic attraction, which Mr. Frank discourages
• Peter is Anne's first kiss, and he is her one confidant and source of affection and attention in the annex
• Albert Dussel

  A dentist and an acquaintance of the Franks who hides with them in the annex. His real name is Fritz Pfeffer, but Anne calls him Mr. Dussel in the diary. Anne finds Mr. Dussel particularly difficult to deal with because he shares a room with her, and she suffers the brunt of his odd personal hygiene habits, pedantic lectures, and controlling tendencies. Mr. Dussel’s wife is a Christian, so she does not go into hiding, and he is separated from her. He dies on December 20, 1944, at the Neuengamme concentration camp.
• Mr. Kugler


  A man who helps hide the Franks in the annex
• Mr. Kugler


  1. Arrested along with Kleiman in 1944

  2. Escapes in 1945

  3. Immigrates to Canada in 1955

  4. Dies in Toronto in 1981
• Mr. Kleiman


  Another man who helps the Franks hide
• Mr. Kleiman


  1. Arrested in 1944

  2. Released because of poor health

  3. Remains in Amsterdam until his death in 1959
• Bep Voskuijl


  • A worker in Otto Frank's office
  • Helps the family by serving as a liaison to the outside world
• Mr. Voskuijl


  Bep's father
• Miep Gies


  • A secretary at Otto's office who helps the Franks hide
  • After the Franks are arrested, she stows the diary away in a desk drawer and keeps it there, unread, until Otto's return in 1945
• Miep Gies


  Died in 2010 at the age of 100
• Jan Gies


  Miep's husband
• Hanneli


  • Anne's school friend
  • The Nazis arrest her early in the war
• Peter Schiff


  • The love of Anne's life from the sixth grade
  • A boy one year older than Anne
  • Anne has dreams about him while in the annex
• Peter Schiff


  Also referred to as Peter Wessel
• Hello Silberberg


  A boy with whom Anne has an innocent, though romantic relationship before she goes into hiding
• Hello Silberberg


  Also referred to as Harry Goldberg