Tinkering and doing carpentry

Peter and his parents arrived at the hiding place on 13 July 1942, one week after the Frank family. His parents allowed him to bring Mouschi, his tomcat, to the annex.

Peter was the only one of the eight people in hiding to have his own room. A staircase in the middle of the room lead to the attic and loft of the Secret Annex, where Peter could often be found: tinkering, doing carpentry, and chopping wood for the stove.

Peter was rather quiet and withdrawn in the Secret Annex. According to Anne, he ‘flops lazily on his bed half the time, does a bit of carpentry and goes back for another snooze.’﻿ Otto Frank also remarked that at first, Peter was 'lazy and disinterested’, and that there was little contact between him and Margot and Anne. ‘But then, the girls’ zeal encouraged him to learn and he was embarrassed to fall behind.’﻿

This is confirmed by an entry in Anne's diary from May 1944, where she wrote down what Peter was studying: ‘English, French (written), Dutch shorthand, English shorthand, German shorthand, English commercial correspondence, woodwork, economics and some arithmetic. Reads little. Some geog.’﻿