Kugler Victor

Kugler, Victor In the autumn of 1941, when Jews could no longer own businesses, Otto Frank appointed his employee, Victor Kugler, managing director of his spice company in order to enable the firm to continue operating. Victor Kugler (Kraler in Anne Frank’s diary) was born in Hohenelbe, Austria, and had settled in the Netherlands at the age of 20 and subsequently received Dutch nationality. With the help of Victor and a few other employees, Otto had converted the upstairs storage rooms at the rear of his office, at Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, into a hiding place that was separated from the main section of the building by a stairwell hidden behind a revolving bookcase. In July 1942, Otto, his wife, their daughters Margot and Anne, and four other Jews moved into the hideout. Victor, who was one of the five people who cared for the fugitives, arranged to receive a bogus farewell letter, postmarked from a border town, which was intended to create the impression that the Franks had left the country. Subsequently, every day, for 25 months, Victor and the other helpers came to visit the Jews, sometimes before office hours, and sometimes at lunchtime when the other employees left the building. Each helper had a specific task. When the people in hiding were short of money, Victor was responsible for selling spices without registering the sales. Victor also brought magazines to Anne Frank, who had enrolled in a correspondence course to study Latin. On August 4, 1944, at 10:30 in the morning, Victor was sitting at his desk when there was a loud knock at his door. He opened it and saw four policemen standing there, three were Dutch and the fourth was a German. Victor was forced to take them on an extensive tour of the warehouse. He tried to maintain a calm facade, hoping that this was simply a routine search. However, the Germans made immediately for the bookcase, tore it loose from its hinges, and exposed the secret doorway. Victor realized that the Jewish fugitives hadbeen betrayed. The policemen drew their guns and motioned to him to lead the way up the stairs. After having protected the Jews for 25 months, Victor was now being forced to take the Nazis to them. Victor entered the living room and saw Mrs. Frank sitting there, motionless. “Gestapo,” was all he said. Victor was arrested along with all the hidden Jews. After spending ten months in the concentration camp at Amersfoort, Victor and a group of other prisoners were about to be transported to Germany when British Spitfires attacked their transport. In the confusion, Victor managed to escape and to return on foot to Hilversum, his hometown. He remained there until the final days of the war. On March 8, 1972, Yad Vashem recognized Victor Kugler as Righteous Among the Nations.