Annexed

📘 About This Book

Everyone knows about Anne Frank and her life hidden in the secret annex – but what about the boy who was also trapped there with her? In this powerful and gripping novel, Sharon Dogar explores what this might have been like from Peter’s point of view. What was it like to be forced into hiding with Anne Frank, first to hate her and then to find yourself falling in love with her? Especially with your parents and her parents all watching almost everything you do together. To know you’re being written about in Anne’s diary, day after day? What’s it like to start questioning your religion, wondering why simply being Jewish inspires such hatred and persecution? Or to just sit and wait and watch while others die, and wish you were fighting. As Peter and Anne become closer and closer in their confined quarters, how can they make sense of what they see happening around them? Anne’s diary ends on August 4, 1944, but Peter’s story takes us on, beyond their betrayal and into the Nazi death camps. He details with accuracy, clarity and compassion the reality of day to day survival in Auschwitz – and ultimately the horrific fates of the Annex’s occupants.

📖 Summary

Annexed by Sharon Dogar is a powerful and gripping young adult novel published in 2010 that reimagines one of the most well-known historical accounts of the twentieth century. While history and literature have extensively documented the life of Anne Frank and her time spent hidden in the secret annex, this narrative shifts the perspective to Peter van Pels, the teenage boy who was trapped in those same cramped quarters alongside her. Spanning 357 pages, the book dives deeply into Peter's inner world, exploring what it must have actually been like to be forced into such claustrophobic hiding. Through Peter's eyes, readers witness the complex transition from initially finding Anne annoying to eventually developing romantic feelings for her. This budding teenage romance unfolds under the most impossible conditions, constantly monitored by their parents and the other inhabitants of the annex, adding an intense layer of adolescent vulnerability and pressure to an already terrifying existence. Beyond the interpersonal dynamics and the fluttering confusion of first love, the novel confronts profound existential and spiritual crises. Peter finds himself questioning his religion, struggling to comprehend why simply being Jewish has made him and his family targets of such violent hatred and systemic persecution by the Nazi regime. Furthermore, the story captures the profound psychological toll of the waiting game. Trapped in the secret annex, Peter experiences the agonizing frustration of sitting quietly while others suffer and die on the outside, longing for the agency to fight back rather than merely survive. The narrative also grapples with the surreal reality of knowing that he is being written about in Anne's famous diary day after day, turning his private adolescent struggles into a permanent historical record. By centering on Peter's point of view, Sharon Dogar breathes fresh emotional life into a familiar historical setting, offering young adult readers a deeply human, immersive, and heartbreaking look at identity, trauma, confinement, and resilience during the Holocaust.

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