Hanneli Goslar - Early Life

Early Life

Hanneli Elizabeth Pick-Goslar was born in Berlin, Germany on 12 November, 1928, the eldest child of Hans Goslar and Ruth Judith Klee. Her father was deputy minister for domestic affairs in Germany until 1933 and her mother was a teacher. Both of her parents were observant Jews. Her mother died giving birth to her third child; the baby was stillborn. Her father and maternal grandparents all died of a sickness before the liberation. In 1933, after the election of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party to the Reichstag and Hitler's appointment as Chancellor, Hans Goslar was forced to resign his governmental job. After an abortive attempt to move to England, where Hans Goslar could not find work that would allow him to stay home on the Sabbath, the Goslars moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Hannah attended the Sixth Public Montessori school in Amsterdam, where she became best friends with Anne Frank. Anne and Hannah were also best and close friends with Susanne ''Sanne'' Ledermann, who lived in the same area but attended a different school, and later with Ilse Wagner and Jacqueline van Maarsen.