Anne Frank died from the epidemic

A typhus outbreak that swept the camp in the early months of 1945 claimed 17,000 lives of inmates. There were other more illnesses, including typhoid fever. There was indications that Anne died from the pandemic, but it was impossible to pinpoint the precise cause of her death because of the tumultuous circumstances. An inmate at Bergen Belsen named Gena Turgel knew Anne Frank there. She was crazy, horrible, and burning up when she was on Turgel's bed, the British tabloid The Sun said in 2015. Turgel also stated that she had brought Frank water to bathe. The typhus outbreak at the camp, according to Turgel, who worked in the camp hospital, had a catastrophic impact on the inmates: "The people were dying like flies—in the hundreds. Reports used to come in—500 people who died. Three hundred? We said, 'Thank God, only 300.'"

Later, witnesses stated that Margot was frail when she fell off her bunk and was killed by the shock. Margot passed away a day after Anne. It is unknown exactly when Margot and Anne passed away. Long believed to have passed away within a few weeks prior to the camp's liberation by British troops on April 15, 1945. Studies conducted in 2015 suggested they may have passed away as early as February. Witnesses testified that the Franks had typhus symptoms by 7 February, and Dutch health officials noted that the majority of untreated typhus sufferers perished within 12 days after the onset of their initial symptoms.