FSB Author Article
Peter van Pels
By Sharon Dogar,
Author of Annexed
What we know
of Peter van Pels is almost entirely limited to Anne Frank's diary, and
her own personal view of him. He was, it seems, a shy boy, helpful and
good with his hands. Reading between the lines of Anne's diary I've
tried to imagine what Peter was "really" like. How do I do that? Here's
an example: on Peter's arrival in the Annex, Anne describes him as a
"hypochondriac" who "won't amount to much." She's fed up and dismissive
of his histrionics, as most clever, early adolescent girls would
probably be.
Anne describes a boy who sleeps all the time, lacks any type of
motivation, has strange physical symptoms and believes he might be
dying. If a child in my counseling room felt this way, I'd suspect
depression. In fact, from an occupational point of view Peter's
depression makes sense; it's a reasonable response to real events.
Having to go into hiding to save your life isn't merely depressing,
it's terrifying. Peter's "symptoms" and his fear that he's "dying"
reflect the reality of both his own situation and of those in the
attic. It's possible that this is partly what makes Anne so angry and
dismissive of Peter, she doesn't want to be reminded of how dire a
situation she is in (not at this stage). She wants to believe that
she's safe. Peter's constant 'whinging' (as she calls it) keeps on
reminding her that she's in danger.
We all have our own ways of managing fear and difficulty. Anne creates
a safe fantasy world for herself (as many writers do) whilst Peter
turns his distress into physical symptoms. Looked at in this way,
Peter's character takes on a potentially different meaning from the one
presented by Anne.
By carefully considering Anne's brilliantly vivid descriptions of
Peter, and analyzing what they might mean, I slowly created a picture
of how I thought Peter might be, and he came to feel very real to me.
Most writers have that feeling of "hearing" their characters voices.
Peter's voice (as I heard it) was quiet, thoughtful, questioning, full
of feeling and in the end, quite stubborn and determined to be his own
person. I can't, of course, know what the "real" Peter van Pels was
like, but then again, how well do any of us know each other? How well
did Anne know him, and how much was her view coloured by her own needs
and desires?
I miss thinking and writing about Peter. I will always feel
heart-broken and horrified at the waste of his young, promising life,
and the lives of millions of others that the Nazis judged worthless.
When it came to researching, imagining and writing about Peter's life
in the camps I already felt very close to the character I'd created. I
no longer really wanted to take the novel (and Peter) on into
Auschwitz. I put off writing every day. I read survivor's testimonies.
I went for long walks. I had very bad dreams. I decided that if I was
going to go on, and imagine a life in the camps for Peter, then I had
to make sure that every part of the "story" of what happened was rooted
in reality. I studied the mechanics of life as a Jewish inmate of
Auschwitz. I also realized that in imagining an ending for one person
-- Peter van Pels -- I could try to describe the horror and systematic
destruction of human life that was a Nazi concentration camp. And so I
began to write the final section of the novel. It was written very
quickly, almost in one go, and the words came surprisingly easily.
Nonetheless, it's not something I would want to do again.
It may sound odd, but for me a part of the horror of human mass
destruction is the total disregard those who kill fellow human beings
show for the story that each and everyone of us holds within us; the
story of our life. So in the end I gave Peter a story. It's probably
not the story he would have told himself, but it tries to acknowledge
that his story did not end with his arrest on August 1st, 1944, and
that there is a story to be told. It may be horrific, it may not be
something we want to think about, but Peter, and millions like him had
no choice, they had to live it, and unlike the survivors who can give
testimony, they died. In their millions. That doesn't mean that they
can't be thought about, or that we don't have the right to imagine
their story; for me it was the opposite, I felt compelled to create a
story.
© 2010 Sharon Dogar, author
of
Annexed
Author Bio
Sharon Dogar, author of Annexed, is a children's
psychotherapist who lives in Oxford, England, with her family. She
discovered Anne Frank's diary as a child and then again recently when
her daughter started reading it. While writing and researching this
book, she spent many hours soaking up the atmosphere of the Annex. This
is her third novel for young adults.
For more information please visit www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.