Background
As Jewish refugees, Anne Frank's family fled to Amsterdam from the state-sponsored antisemitism of Germany in February 1934, after Adolf Hitler's succession to Chancellor. Although anti-Jewish decrees followed the Nazi invasion of The Netherlands in 1940, the Franks remained relatively safe until Margot received a deportation order in July 1942. Her father, Otto Frank immediately sequestered the family in the hiding place he had already prepared in the sealed-off upper rooms of the annex of his office building at Prinsengracht 263 in the city centre. He and his wife Edith, with Margot and Anne, were joined within the month by Otto Frank's colleague Hermann van Pels, his wife Auguste and their son Peter and then four months later by another German Jewish refugee, Fritz Pfeffer.
The eight fugitives were successfully hidden for just over two years by their small group of friends who worked in the building. These helpers concealed the hiding place and provided its occupants with black market food and clothing. Although the threat of discovery was ever-present, the sudden arrival of the SD (German: Sicherheitsdienst or "Security Service") and Dutch policemen on 4 August 1944 took everyone involved by surprise.
Read more about this topic: Betrayal Of Anne Frank
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