Question

Character sketch of mr. Voskuijl

Answer 1

Bep (Elisabeth) Voskuijl was born on July 5, 1919. She was

often referred to by her nickname Elli and was the oldest in a family

of eight children. The Voskuijl family was Nederlands Hervormd (Dutch

Reformed) and the children attended Christian schools. According to her

three-year-younger sister Willy van der Vennen-Voskuijl: “After

finishing elementary school, Bep worked at different sorts of jobs. She

worked as a servant, in a restaurant, and in workshop sewing. But she

didn’t like any of these jobs, so she studied nights to better herself

and to become a qualified office clerk.”

From the age of eighteen until the age of twenty-eight Bep

works for Otto Frank’s firm. She hardly notices preparations being made

to go into hiding. She sees that furniture is being piled up in the

annex of the office building but does not know why, until Otto Frank

tells her the reason sometime around the end of June 1942.