Of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex, Fritz Pfeffer was the only one who was truly religious. Apart from Edith, the Frank family was not particularly devout, although Anne got to know God at some point. The Van Pels family did not show any affinity for religion.
Anne Frank's diaries are virtually the only source regarding this subject. As a result, the focus is naturally on how Anne herself experienced it. It should be noted here that the B-version sometimes reflects reality as Anne retrospectively interpreted or even constructed it. Thus, she may thus have effectively placed later religious insights 'back in time'.
The Frank family was not unanimously devout. Hanneli recounted years later how Margot and Edith regularly went to synagogue, while Otto and Anne stayed at home. [1] Otto Frank said in a 1977 interview that his family did not eat pork when their religious grandmother visited. According to her husband, Edith prayed in the Secret Annex every Friday, as did Fritz Pfeffer. [2] He remembered that when they were celebrating Jewish holidays or Pfeffer said the Friday evening prayers Anne did not show any special interest, but only stood silently by. [3] Otto and Anne's lukewarm attitude towards religion did not initially change much during the period in hiding.
In March 1944, however, Anne looked back on the previous years. She came to know God, she wrote, in the second half of 1943. This change is visible in her diary entries. In her first diary, God is hardly mentioned, if at all. Anne read a little in her mother's prayer book for form's sake. [4] In the second diary, on the other hand, God appears regularly. For Anne, God was a source from which she drew courage, she wrote on 12 March 1944. [5] She trusted Him and writes several times that she would like to trust God even more than she did. [6] She hoped for a miracle from God regarding Hanneli's fate and also regarding Mr Voskuijl's state of health. [7]
In December '43, the approach of Christmas led to some contemplation on Anne's part, which did not yet have very strong religious traits at this point. [8] A few days later, she did ask God to assist her and Hanneli, complaining that she was unable to trust him sufficiently. [9] Anne developed a form of spirituality with a somewhat Spinozan character. In March '44, she wrote that during 1943, after a period of "nameless sorrow", she came to know God. [10] Heaven, nature and God meant happiness and inner wealth in her experience, despite all the woes. [11] She also placed her grandmother, who died in early '42, next to her God, when she writes that these two sustained her. [12]
In the summer of '44, Anne mentioned as an important function of religion "upholding your own sense of honor and obeying your own conscience". She considered herself "not orthodox." [13] Following the accidental disappearance of her pen in the stove, Anne writes: "my fountain pen was cremated, just as I would like to be some day!" [14]
According to Anne's B version, her father wanted her to learn something about the New Testament, so he asked Johannes Kleiman to provide a children's Bible. Margot reportedly criticised her father for wanting to give Anne a Christian Bible for Hanukkah. [15]
Among the Van Pels family, there was no evidence of any affinity with belief. The same applies to the brothers, sisters and parents of both spouses. Of course, this does not mean that there were no religious feelings in these families, but it does mean that there are no sources to prove this. However, the family does appear in the records of the Synagogengemeinde in Osnabrück, the city where they lived before coming to the Netherlands. [16]
Peter occasionally talked to Anne about spiritual matters. In the last weeks before the arrest, however, Anne wrote that he had no religion, and how he cursed and mocked Jesus. [13] In early '44, Peter believed he would be better off becoming a Christian after the war, but mainly for practical reasons. [17]
From Anne's descriptions, Fritz Pfeffer emerges as a religious man. In one of her stories, she describes how she had to witness Pfeffer praying on Sunday mornings. [18] According to Otto Frank, Pfeffer said his prayers every Friday. [19] Furthermore, Pfeffer had divorced his first wife, [20] and entered into a new relationship with Roman Catholic Charlotte Kaletta. These circumstances do not indicate a very strict adherence to Jewish religious precepts.
There was no explicit enforcement of food laws during the hiding period. On the contrary: eel appeared on the table in the summer of 1942. [21] A few weeks later it was Yom Kippur, the most important holiday in the Jewish rite. Anne mentioned this day in passing, emphasising how peaceful and quiet it was. [22]
In December '43, St Nicholas, Christmas and Hanukkah were somewhat intermingled, and seem to have provided a particular opportunity to bake extra spice cake. [23] Furthermore, Anne makes a few more mentions of religious holidays. These brought about a certain togetherness within the Secret Annex.
Victor Kugler and Miep Gies both came from old Austria, a predominantly Catholic area. There are no signs of an emphatic religious life. When Kugler remarried after the death of his first wife, it was according to all the rules of Catholic faith. Kleiman's family came from a Reformed area, but his father had - as his daughter put it - "departed from the faith". [24] According to Miep, Jan Gies had never been religious, and never became so later. Bep Voskuijl's father was Reformed, her mother was Dutch Reformed. The children went to Christian schools. This is not reflected further in Anne's diaries.
Anne focused her religious reflections mainly on herself, and occasionally on the others in the Secret Annex. No philosophical issues were raised by the others.
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