Peter Van Pels

Okay, so today is Peter's birthday. And I said I wanted to write something specially for him, so here it goes.

Peter Van Pels is known for being the boy who went into hiding along with famous writer Anne Frank. He is even more known for being her romantic interest during their lives in the Secret Annex. People usually only know this about him. And of course that he was a very shy boy who had no goals in life. But I beg to differ.

Peter Van Pels, for me, was just as smart and talented as Anne was. He was actually the very first reason I took interest in the Diary. I first read it when I was fourteen years old. Now, six years later, I've read the Diary over six or seven times, in three different languages, and have dedicated part of my time to look for interest facts about him, that still haven't been known (Or that aren't known by most people).

I've run into a lot of facts that suggests that there's more from Peter that what people usually thought it was. Some of them are main reasons for him to be one of my biggest inspirations in history.

Peter is described as shy at first. And Anne didn't really expect much from him. I think that's something a lot of people, boys and girls, can relate to now days. Every single person, at some point in life, have felt socially awkward in a given situation. It's not how people are asked to be. It's not how they like to be. They're just that way. People who are shy are actually born that way (Lady Gaga song reference there). So you can't actually blame them, specially if you're going to hide with seven other folks and lose all of your privacy whatsoever. And specially if you're a fifteen year old boy who has to be locked up with two other beautiful girls.

Anne didn't expect much from him, but neither did anyone. Not even his parents. I don't think he was very close to his father. The movies make it seem like he was physically abusived to his son (Anne Frank: The Whole Story with Nicholas Audsley as Peter Van Pels and Joachim Kròl as Hermann Van Pels), but I don't remember anything from the Diary that suggests that he was (The fact that I don't remember it doesn't mean it can't/isn't be there. If you know a Diary entry where this is suggested, let me know, although it doesn't change the point I'm trying to reach here). Either way, physically abusive or not I'm completely sure he was verbally abusive. Both of their parents didn't believe he could make anything in life. Am I saying this because it was written explicitly in the Diary? No. I'm saying this because if you are interested in Peter and have studied him well enough, you'll realize something. If a person has always been put down, made fun of or not received the enough ecouragment in his/her early years that only means one thing. That his/her problems come from very way back in his/her past. In this case Peter's past. We don't know how his childhood was like. We don't know wether he received enough ecouragment from his fellow superiors to do something. We can assume it and then come to the conclusion that this was one of Peter's biggest problems.

If you notice, when Anne starts talking to Peter and assuring him that he's good enough to do whatever he wants to do his confidence grows, and his love for her does as well (Because I really do think he loved her). If you have been ecouraged all of your life then this shouldn't be a big deal to you anymore. Yes, you'd appreciate it, but you wouldn't tresure it as if it were gold. Anne's (And probably Otto's too) words of ecouragment were probably the only ones Peter had heard all of his life.

This can drive you into not being confident enough, which drives you into the commonly term known as 'Shy'. Which is, at the end, the word that's used to describe Peter most of the time.

Au contraire (A little bit of French to make this classier) to what people thought, Peter was actually very good at some stuff. Geography and languages were some of his streght points. He likes to focus his time on those things, and he's even smarter than Anne when it comes to them. The thing is that he, like most people, always focused more on what he wasn't good at instead of what he was good at. I'm sure he used to look at Anne and Margot, who were good at pretty much everything they did, and then there was him. Any kind of person would feel useless if they were in this situation. It just take one or two people that are better at things you're not to make you feel depressed. This doesn't mean you're a nazi, I mean, brainless bastard, sorry. I usually get those terms confused, they're very much alike. But the point is that Peter never saw the good that was inside him because he kept comparing himself to something he wasn't. Probably mentally trying to be like Anne or Margot but obviously never reaching it because, as well all know, you can't ever be the exact copy of someone else. But of course Peter never had anyone to tell that either.

I also want to point something out. Peter wasn't always a sad teenage boy. He had his fun times in the Annex too. He usually made their fellow Annex mates laugh, and even liked to dress up as someone else, imitating them or not, just to make the others have a good time. He was a boy that was full of love to give, but this wasn't very well welcomed by others, not even by him. He usually tried to repress this feeling inside him. Or maybe let it out on the one and single being that would love him back, his cat, Mouschi. Let's be honest, we all have had a special pet that has won our hearts, and we all know that that pet was sometimes the only real friend we ever had. Well, this was pretty much what went trough Peter's mind too. 

At last I'd like to focus on one really important matter. Something that's never discussed and that people usually ignore. Peter's braveness. 

Let's admit it, not most people thought Peter was capable of being brave. Even Anne doesn't really think Peter has that bravery in him. I don't even know how people can't just ignore what it's really there. Peter was brave. Braver than what most people might think. 

You can't come here and tell me that going down to chase thief's in the middle of the night, the nazi persecution and a war isn't bravery. People, I don't even dare going down to chase a mouse in the middle of the night inside my own house, and I'm sure most people don't dare either. 

Let's see. If you still don't believe me let's go all the way to his life at the Camps. Peter was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau along with Otto and his father Hermann. After a couple of weeks his father wasn't capable of doing any heavy work anymore, so he was taken to the Gas Chamber. 

'I will never forget that moment when the 17-year-old Peter van Pels and I saw a group of selected men. Peter’s father was among the group. They were marched away. Two hours later a cart with their clothes on it went by.' - Otto Frank. 

Any person who saw their dad being taken to a Chamber to be killed, and then seeing just his clothes come back, wouldn't have enough strenght to go on. I don't think I would. That's the kind of stuff that can kill a person. We are not talking about someone we don't know. Just a mate, or even a friend. We're talking about a father. Your own blood. Wether he has or hasn't been there with you through your life it doesn't take out the fact that he's your real father. Peter's dad hadn't been there for him, but that's no reason to assure that he didn't feel sad, or even cried. 

But even after this, Peter kept going. He was strong and he was brave. He didn't do it just for him, he also did it for Otto Frank. While Hermann wasn't a real father to him, I'm sure Otto was. He pictured him as the supportive dad he never had, and that's why I think Otto was one of his reasons to keep going. To help him. I'm sure that one of the words that were shared among them were 'We're going to make it through this together'. 

‘Peter was lucky to get a job at the post office in the camp which was established for the SS soldiers and the non-Jewish prisoners who got mail and parcels.’ - Otto Frank‘Peter acted like a son to help me. Every day he brought me extra food. . . He never could stay long...' - Otto FrankPeter received better food, because he was in charge of the mail. He ran from place to place throughout the whole camp to deliver letters to the nazis. He was better fed than other prisoners. He was better fed than Otto Frank. But Peter didn't keep all of his food for him. Peter's love and bravery has always been inside him, he just never realized they were there. But the best of us always comes out at the most difficult moments, specially if a friend...or a father is in danger. Peter never wanted anything else than taking care of himself and taking care of his other father, Otto Frank.At the end, there was a selection. People who could still walk were going to be sent to the Death March. Otto urged Peter not to join the March and to stay hidden with him, but Peter thought he'd have a better chance to survived if he did. Now, most people question his choice, but I think it was a very fair one. Number one, Peter was strong. He wasn't in perfect conditions, but he thought he was well enough to endure the whole march from Poland to Austria. Number two, it was a forced march. He had already been chosen to go in it, and if he refused, hid with the help of Otto and was discovered, he would have been shot on the spot. These are thoughts that go through your mind before making a difficult choice. Imagine if it was a 'Die or Live' kind of choice. I also think that there was a psycological reason behind this. Peter might have been tired of hiding. Of running away. Maybe by going to this march and surviving it could prove something to him. It could prove that he's strong. That he's brave. That he isn't useless. That he didn't succeed at something in life. Most importantly, that he survived all on his own to a death march from Poland to Austria. And guess what? He did.Peter Van Pels was registred into Mauthausen on 25 January 1945. He was asigned to do heavy work on the outdoors. Four months later (Yes he managed to survive for four months, doing heavy work in Mauthausen), on  11 April 1945, Peter is sent to the sick barracks. One month later (Aproximately) Peter Van Pels dies of exhaustion, three days before the camp was liberated. Peter has always been one of my main inspiration. I think his story is very relatable. His person is very relatable. No one can be as popular as Anne Frank was. Peter is the real image of an insecure teenage boy or girl. He is the real image of how anyone can have so much potential, but doesn't shine because of their own barriers. He is the real image of how very deep inside everyone's hearts there's love and bravery. He is the real image of how everyone can prove something to themselves and survive their own battles. To arrive safe and sound to whatever they set their mind on. He is the real image of a hero. So today, in his birthday, I honor him.Happy birthday my dear Peter. You're inside our minds for ever and always.