A week after the Frank family went into hiding, Hermann and Auguste van Pels, and their son Peter, joined them in the hiding place. The Van Pels family were given two rooms on the second floor of the Secret Annex to use. They had little privacy. The room of Hermann and Auguste was also used as a kitchen and dining room. Peter’s room had stairs to the attic, where the people in hiding stored their food.
The Van Pels family goes into hiding
July 13, 1942 Amsterdam
Hermann and Otto had prepared the hiding place together with their colleagues Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman. Hermann and Auguste's room had been a laboratory for trying out recipes. The equipment and other things had been moved to the office kitchen below Anne's and Margot's room.
Peter had brought his bike and hung it from the ceiling of his room.