Ellen Feldman, Picador, 2005,
£12.99
hb, 264pp, 0330-43966-9
Peter van Pels has made a
good life for himself in the USA after the Second World War. He owns a company,
has a lovely wife, and three adorable children. But something is very wrong.
After losing his voice and being physically investigated to no avail, he is
finally advised to go and see a psychiatrist. Peter speaks, but still says
nothing about what happened to him in the war. In 1944, he told Anne Frank that
should he survive the war he would reinvent himself, so that no one would know
who or what he was. So neither his family, nor doctors, know who he really is.
It is the world’s the growing awareness of Anne Frank and her diaries that
resurrect Peter’s memories and deep fears.
The book is written in first
person, so that the narrative is very immediate. Peter’s motivations for
keeping quiet are expertly explored. Anti-Semitism is still rife, even
immediately after the end of the War, but Peter now knows how to work the
system. Denying he is Jewish helps him make the life he wants, but it comes at
a price. Eventually the past catches up with him
The author wrote this book after being inspired by a visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The tour guide told her that only the fate of Peter van Pels was unknown. It turned out that this was inaccurate and that he is recorded as died in Mauthausen concentration camp. But by the time Feldman found out, it was too late and the idea of Peter’s post war life was firmly set in her imagination. The result is a rewarding study of silence, fear and the inevitable effects of the past.
287 words