Summer of 1933. . Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including NYmag.com, Flavorwire and Tina Brown Media's Women in the World. For more than seven decades, investigators, researchers and journalists have been trying to shed light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the arrest of Anne Frank, who famously captured the rise of Nazism in her poignant, posthumously published diary. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They didn't flee quite far enough: the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands began in May 1940 and eventually forced the Franks (and many other Jews) into hiding. Investigators Are Turning to Big Data to Find Who Betrayed Anne Frank. Pankoke's team wondered: Did the suspected betrayer know the location of the secret annex? According to Pankoke, Van Dijk had betrayed the family of Otto Frank's second wife. Meilan Solly Lena had already lost her son in the war, the theory goes, and her husband worked for Otto's food preservatives firm. The people in hiding slept through the first one, in July 1943. In 1947, Otto Frank and the helpers filed a complaint against him with the political police on suspicion of betrayal. The case. Johannes Kleiman (on the left) and Victor Kugler in front of Prinsengracht 263, 1954. (Amsterdam: NIOD, 2003). His name was Anton Ahlers. First published in English in 1952 as "The Diary of a Young Girl" and later as a stage play and film, her story made her a symbol both of the Holocaust and of Dutch bravery. According to Gerald Kremer's The Backyard of the Secret Annex, the Guardian reports, the Franks were betrayed by Anna "Ans" van Dijk, a Jewish woman executed in 1948 for her collaboration in. Anne and her family hid for 25 months in a canal-side warehouse in central Amsterdam, where the teen-ager wrote her thoughts, yearnings and descriptions of life in the cramped annex into notebooks. They also believe their work in solving this decades-old cold case resonates today. Anne Frank Study Guide: Deaths, Dates, Betrayal, and History - Quizlet The initial police investigation occurred in 1947, when Otto and the Helpers' repeated complaints to the political police accusing Van Maaren finally prompted an investigation. Who betrayed Anne Frank? The helpers worked in the office above the warehouse. A detailed picture of the interior of the warehouse, reconstruction (1999). He was the warehouse manager as well as the father of Bep, who worked in the office and was one of the helpers. Jennifer Ouellette | READ MORE. "Sometimes you can go through the same material with fresh eyes. The first police investigation: Was WILLEM VAN MAAREN the betrayer? Not even the arresting officer questioned after the war by Simon Wiesenthal, the Austrian Nazi hunter, could say who the caller was and investigators are convinced that no written record of the caller's identity exists. Only the father, Otto Frank, survived. Records discovered in the Dutch national archives by journalist Pieter van Twisk, co-founder of the research project, seemingly corroborated the claim, suggesting that a member of Amsterdams Jewish Council turned over lists of addresses where Jews were hiding. It was an anonymous phone call in the hot summer of 1944 which led the Gestapo and Dutch security police to the concealed annexe in a canalside house where Anne Frank and her family had hidden for almost two years. Michael J. The eight people in hiding did not trust him, and often felt suspicious of him. Michael J. Among other theories the Anne Frank House investigated was a 2016reportthat suggests no one was, in fact, responsible for leaking to the Nazis. Suspicion for being the betrayer In several investigations after the war, Van Maaren was the prime suspect for the betrayal of Anne Frank; however Van Maaren publicly denied he was responsible. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members. Investigating who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis Only when he began research for the book in 2010 was the long-time marketing professional able to locate documents that contradict the family backstory on Nelly. "There was a lot of information that pointed to Tonny Ahlers as being a potential suspect," Pankoke said. The Germans were paying a bounty of 40 guilders per head, which was "a large amount in those days," she said. Two Dutch police inquiries and countless historians have come up with theories, but no firm conclusion. Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox. That same week, the Franks were arrestedwhile Van Dijk was away in the Hague. Just three days later, German police led by SS officers stormed the Annex, arresting the Franks and the Van Pels family and transferring them to the Westerbork transit camp after interrogation. Fox on Parkinson's: "Every day it gets tougher" Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew where the Franks (and later, the Van Pels family) were hiding. On Aug. 4, 1944, they went to investigate 263 Prinsengrachtthe same building where Anne and her family were hidingafter receiving tips of fraudulent food-ration cards and illegal employment happening there. Anne Frank HouseWestermarkt 201016 DK Amsterdam, Ronald Leopold, Executive Director of the Anne Frank House. Lee says among the four men who raided the Prinsengracht warehouse on Aug. 4, 1944, was Maarten Kuiper, a Dutch policeman who was a friend of Ahlers. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? - CBS News His aunts past as a Nazi collaborator, as well as her whereabouts during a key part of the hiding period, had been covered up by the family. Later, when father Johan Voskuijl and sister Bep were involved in hiding Jews on the Prinsengracht, Nelly was working for the Nazis across town. For more than 20 years, employee Van Maaren was the main suspect. Please enter valid email address to continue. "We are interested, that's for sure," said David Barnouw, a researcher and spokesman of the government-financed historical institute. Prior to that, Frank always said he did not want to know who betrayed his family. While his mother referred to as Elli Vossen in The Diary of Anne Frank risked her life to hide eight Jews, his aunt had behaved shamefully during the occupation of the Netherlands, it was whispered. The case was reopened in 1963 after Austrian Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal located Silberbauer in the Vienna police force. The case. All rights reserved. Ed Sheeran plays guitar in court in bid to show he didn't steal Marvin Gaye song This theory holds that the officers just happened to stumble upon the Jewish families hiding in the attic. After tracking down Hulsman for the book, Van Wijk learned of a heated conversation between Nelly and other members of the Voskuijl family during the hiding period. One day during his youth, Van Wijk heard his mother sobbing in the bathroom. Two other plausible suspects emerged over the years: Lena van Bladeren-Hartog (died 1963) and Tonny Ahlers (1917 - 2000). Meanwhile, in 2018, a book claimed to offer evidence that Anne Frankand her family were betrayed by a Jewish woman who was executed after World War II for collaborating with the Nazis. And probably wasn't capable of betrayal, because had he betrayed the annex, he knew that he would end up losing his job." The most believable suspect was Arnold van den Bergh, a prominent Jewish businessman in the city who lived a lavish life during the holocaust. Pankoke and his team are compiling a huge database of other documents that may contain information relevant to the Frank case: lists of Nazi informants, lists of Jews who were turned over to the authorities, names of Gestapo agents who lived in Amsterdam, police records and so on. On a warm August morning in 1944, SS officers stormed into an Amsterdam warehouse and arrested Anne Frank, her parents, her sister and four other Jews who had been hiding in a secret annex at the back of the building. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Two other plausible suspects emerged over the years: Lena van Bladeren-Hartog (died 1963) and Tonny Ahlers (1917 - 2000). A 2015 biography of Bep Voskuijl (co-authored by her son Joop) suggested that one of Bep's sisters, Nelly, may have snitched on the Franks. It is believed, however, that documents pertaining to Anne Frank and other residents of the annex were destroyed in a 1940s bombing. Privacy Statement (modern). Her political leanings had estranged her so much from her family that she left their house. "We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. WIRED Media Group Trending News In Van Wijks assessment, there is no doubt Nelly knew about the Jews in hiding. Hours earlier, Karl Josef Silberbauer, the Austrian commander of the squad, received a phone call from the head of the Amsterdam security police who said eight Jews were hiding in the warehouse. Anne was especially sorry about the latter, because it would be difficult to replace that many coupons. [T]he list of people who were accused of being involved in the case is too long to include in its entirety, notes the Anne Frank House on its website. Photo collection: Nationaal Archief/ Anefo, access number 2.24.01.04, item number 919-6449. Nevertheless, researchers do not rule out the potential that Frank and the others were the victims of a betrayal. Did a Jewish Notary Betray Anne Frank to the Nazis? Multiple people have been suspected of informing the Nazis of the Franks' hiding place, while one theory suggests it may have simply been bad luck. The authors suspicions were deepened during interviews he conducted for the biography. For example, it is certain that two representatives from whom the helpers bought illegal coupons were arrested for black marketeering. Bep Voskuijl was only 18 when she started working for the spice and jam company owned by Otto Frank. Click the link in that email to complete registration so you can comment. In her diary, Anne Frank wrote about Nelly on several occasions. Speaking with Marsha Lederman of the Globe and Mail, Sullivan says the researchers characterize the notary as a tragic figure, not as some kind of villain. Bayens tells the AP that [w]e went looking for a perpetrator and we found a victim., Van den Bergh gave that list as a way of keeping him and his family out of the extermination camps, Sullivan says. Please try again or choose an option below. . "But whenever you actually dig into all the evidence, you find out that he wasn't antisemitic. The encounter ended with Nelly shouting, Just go to your Jews!. According to the researchers, the German Sicherheitsdienst police who discovered the family usually investigated cases involving cash and securities, not Jews in hiding. Scholars and the public alike have long debated the identity of the individual (or individuals) who betrayed Frank, her family and the other residents of the so-called Secret Annex. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Part One : r/UnresolvedMysteries - Reddit 'My aunt might have betrayed Anne Frank,' writes son of Secret Annex There was another important reason Pankoke crossed Van Dijk off the list of suspects. War diary of life in hiding became world bestseller The Diary of Anne Frank, first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl, is one of the most widely read books in the world. Ahlers had so much information on Otto Frank. It is believed that an anonymous tip helped guide the Nazis to the secret annex, yet despite decades of investigations, the identity of the informant has never been proven. Dutch police launched two separate investigations focusing on van Maaren, but did not uncover any conclusive evidence. There is no smoking gun because betrayal is circumstantial.. Who betrayed the Frank family and why? 2002 The Associated Press. When they returned to the Annex, they found the pages of Anne's diary strewn across the floor, and the duo decided to preserve it for posterity. So now we have a request. Warehouse worker Lammert Hartog did undeclared work, and director Victor Kugler kept part of the company income out of the books. In a 2018 book,The Backyard of the Secret Annex,Gerard Kremer, the son of a member of the Dutch resistance of the same name, argues that a Jewish woman,Ans van Dijk, was responsible for the Franks' capture. In both cases, the findings were inconclusive. And the people in hiding had to be very careful as well. The men went down with whatever they could use as weapons and Hermann van Pels shouted Police. Advertising Notice As the whole world now knows, 15-year-old Anne Frank died (likely of typhoid fever) a day after her older sister, Margot, at the Bergen-Belsen death camp between February and April 1945. Then, the team considered the motive. That was quite a feat. Who betrayed the Franks and why? - Sage-Advices Within five years, she was illegally buying bread and milk for her Jewish friends in hiding and just as important giving them her sought-after company. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? - History Van Maaren was later the subject of multiple investigations related to the betrayalincluding one by famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthalbut he always maintained his innocence, and none of the cases ever produced any evidence against him. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. For decades suspicion centred on a man called Willem Van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Franks' hiding place. To discover the traitor, Pankoke assembled his own crack team of dogged investigators. January 16, 2022 / 8:09 PM Certainly, Maarten Kuiper received money for the betrayals he made.". A petty thief and unsavory braggart, Van Maaren was investigated shortly after the war, but nothing was proved. ", By Arthur Max | In 2022, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation which details the findings of Pankoke's investigationcited Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish businessman and member of the. In other words: If a call was actually made that morning, and the response was immediate, then one may conclude that the informant was known and reliable, according to Lages. According to Pankoke, for Van den Bergh to have that level of protection, he must have had some leverage with the Nazis. This is highly significant and even if they don't find who the traitor was, the scope to find out exactly what did happen is enormous.". warehouse employee named Willem van Maaren, who had sparked concerns among the Franks and the people who helped them hide . ", Patricia Bosboom, of the Anne Frank Foundation which maintains the house where Anne hid, said Lee's theory was plausible, "but it's still only a theory. Barnouw, the historian, said the blackmail supposition is thin. During the day we always have to walk quietly and speak softly, the people in the warehouse mustnt hear us, Anne wrote in her diary (11 July 1942). The Subdistrict Court dismissed the . However, Pankoke told 60 Minutes he trusts the evidence shows those hiding in the annex were betrayed and that the Nazi discovery and arrest wasn't merely a coincidence. Then, in 2016, a team of investigators, led by a veteran FBI agent, decided to bring modern. But then we'll want to be. After spending two years eluding Nazi capture while in hiding in Amsterdam, the Frank family was discovered on Aug. 4, 1944, and promptly deported from the Netherlands to concentration camps. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, the researchers who published the authoritative version the diary and the caretaker of the Frank papers, said Ahlers had not been a suspect until Lee started probing his background for her book, "The Hidden Life of Otto Frank," published in March. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. However, because Anne wrote about Nellys collaboration with the Nazis in the original version of her her diary, the authors proved that Nelly returned to Amsterdam in 1943. Who betrayed Anne Frank? Artificial intelligence could finally solve Already a member? If Frank had known that Van Dijk had also betrayed his family, Pankoke reasoned, he would have had no incentive to keep the information quiet. The helpers did not trust warehouse worker Willem van Maaren. Terms of Use Although Joop van Wijks book follows the course of his mothers life, the suspense swirls around his late aunt Nelly, Voskuijls sister. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. He long suspected his family was turned in by Willem van Maaren, a recently hired employee who was not in on the secret behind the bookcase. The diary Frank kept during her confinement is now considered one of the most important accounts of the Holocaust, but the circumstances of her arrest have always been cloaked in mystery. On 17 January 2022 the cold case teampresentedtheir findings. Apparently, the burglars were still about. Wertheim spoke with Vince Pankoke, a retired FBI agent. She was 15 at the time of her death. As for opportunity, the team examined whether the suspect was in Amsterdam at the time of the August 1944 raid or might have any opportunity to betray the hiding place. After discovering some of the familys long-held secrets, Van Wijk now believes there is an unsettling reason behind his mothers relative anonymity among the helpers. Cookie Policy All Rights Reserved. "After the play and the book, Otto Frank was kind of like a saint. And probably wasn't capable of betrayal, because had he betrayed the annex, he knew that he would end up losing his job.". Vince Pankoke, who tracked Colombian drug traffickers in recentyears atthe FBI, will lead a multidisciplinary team of experts, among them historians, psychological profilers and police detectives. Since 2017, Van Wijk has been interviewed several times by members of an international forensics team looking into the cold case of the betrayal, he told The Times of Israel. First published on January 16, 2022 / 8:09 PM. Anne Franks father Ottothe only member of the family to survive their subsequent deportation to the concentration campswas among the first to assert that a betrayal had led to their capture. "I think he actually made the call. The team looked at dozens of potential suspects before arriving at the person they believe likely gave up the Franks' location: Arnold van den Bergh. ), Anne Frank HouseWestermarkt 201016 DK Amsterdam. | READ MORE. The German-born Frank, who moved to Holland in 1933, ran a spice-trading company that sold goods to the Wehrmacht, the German army. The note came to authorities attention during a 1963 investigation into the betrayal but received little notice, with police instead focusing their efforts on suspects such as van Maaren. Incorrect password. But the most innovative aspect of the investigation is its use of big data analysisa technology that has only emerged within the past decadeto comb through reams of documents relevant to the case. As The New York Timesreported, they hoped to bring new technology, including forensic accounting, computer modeling and even crowd sourcing research, to examine existing evidence such as Anne Franks diary and the Amsterdam building where the Franks hid. How were the people in hiding discovered? We dont have 100 percent certainty. In 2002, author Carol Ann Lee argued the informant was Tonny Ahlers, a Dutch Nazi sympathizer who had previously been a business associate of Otto Frank. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. Voskuijls father, Johan, was also in on the secret of the Jews in hiding. The subject is still being researched. Downstairs they think it is too risky. Privacy Statement He had previously asked questions about the Annex and tried in many ways to see if there was anyone who had entered the building after closing hours. Were they betrayed? "However, after Otto Frank went into hiding, Tonny Ahlers was out doing other things in different parts of the city. There was one sister, however, who took a different path, Van Wijk was told growing up. Almost everyone involved with the case is dead and many historians believe that it is simply impossible to identify the culprit who betrayed the young girl whose poignant diary subsequently sold more than 31 million copies and made her one of the Holocaust's most famous victims. #inline-recirc-item--id-a4ef05fe-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { Willem van Maaren was one of the warehouse staff. Nelly didnt just engage in an adolescent relationship with a soldier it went far beyond that, wrote Van Wijk. All Rights Reserved. Fox on Parkinson's and how he finds "optimism is sustainable" The team hopes to reveal the results of its investigation on August 4, 2019the 75th anniversary of Anne Franks arrest. But two police investigations - one immediately after the war and another in the 1960s - turned up nothing and Van Maaren died in 1971 professing his innocence. That evening, Peter heard sounds from the warehouse. The trove of information is so large that a human in their lifetime might not be able to review it, Pankoke tells Stephanie van den Berg andAnthony Deutsch of Reuters. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? A New Study Suggests Nobody Did - Yahoo News A petty thief and unsavory braggart, Van Maaren was investigated shortly after the war, but nothing was proved. In the immediate aftermath of the war Otto, Anne's father, had trouble finding a publisher for the diary and was told that nobody wanted to read about the Holocaust. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine [My mother] often lived in the past after the war and mulled over the split she found herself in: the loss of her Jewish loved ones from the Annex on the one hand, and her loyalty to her sister [Nelly] who had proven her services to the occupier on the other hand, wrote Van Wijk. In her diary, Anne reported various attempted burglaries and actual burglaries. Co-authored by Belgian journalist Jeroen De Bruyn, Van Wijks book is called, Anne Frank: The Untold Story, with the subtitle, The hidden truth about Elli Vossen, the youngest helper of the Secret Annex. (As 15-year old Anne refined her diary with an eye toward eventual publication, Elli Vossen was the pseudonym she gave to Bep.). "There's no smoking gun but we are going to make a comparison of the two theories and see what we can rule out and in. They will also scrutinise the letters of Anne's father, Otto, for clues and examine police transcripts of interviews dating back to the 1940s. For as little as $6/month, you will: Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. Lee "has no proof, but I can imagine this was the case. Instead, he was drawn into solving a famous cold case: the question of who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis, leading to the Franks' arrest and deportation to a concentration camp. Annes relationship with her sister Margot was standoffish, and Voskuijl helped fill some of the gap between them. The case against Ahlers fell apart, Pankoke told Wertheim, when it came to knowledge. ", Photo of Ans van Dijk courtesy of Ben van Meerendonk/IISH. But Anne was not yet famous and staff were overworked. display: none; Was the betrayer antisemitic? Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation, The Diary of Anne Frank: the critical edition (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1989)., A-version 21 April 1944; B-version, 5 August 1943. Historians have proposed competing hypotheses without definitive proof . Lee said Ahlers probably decided to tip off the authorities after his own company slid into bankruptcy and he no longer needed to do business with Frank's company. Ad Choices, Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images. display: block; Magazines, Digital The people in hiding decided not to wait but to take action. Per the New York Times Alexandra Jacobs, the team drew on a combination of big data and artificial intelligence analysis, old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, interviews, and archival research to narrow down the pool of suspects. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. For almost 60 years, the identity of that informant, whose call had such tragic consequences, has remained a mystery to historians and the most dogged Nazi hunters. They were successful, and the burglars ran off. Searching for Anne Frank's betrayer, 80 years on - The Times After spending two years eluding Nazi capture while in hiding in Amsterdam, the Frank family was discovered on. But Barnouw said Lee's case sounded credible enough for the institute to reopen its investigation into the betrayal. Updated: March 29, 2023 | Original: November 1, 2017. In this book, he's much more flesh and blood. One of the people who has been most often scrutinized as the potential betrayer is Wilhelm van Maaren, a worker in the warehouse building where the Franks hid. Explanations for the discovery are mainly based on testimonies, because no documents about the raid on the Secret Annex have been preserved. "The NIWD has never tried to find out who betrayed the Franks but they have contacts which I don't have and know how archives in the Netherlands work. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. The new investigation does not refute the possibility that the people in hiding were betrayed, but illustrates that other scenarios should also be considered.. Her writing created a trail to judicial documents from other parts of the Netherlands, resulting in the latest theory. In his 2018 book The Backyard of the Secret Annex author Gerard Kremer claimed that Ans van Dijk betrayed those hiding in the annex. Van Maaren fought the accusations and rejected a settlement. Stockroom manager Willem van Maaren was another suspect, and since several possible culprits knew each other, there is also the possibility that more than one person betrayed the Frank. After Lee's book was published, Ahlers' son was quoted as saying he was convinced her theory is true. Cookie Policy In several investigations after the war, Van Maaren was the prime suspect for the betrayal of Anne Frank; however Van Maaren publicly denied he was responsible. "And maybe to the Holocaust survivors that are still out there, they understand that somebody still cares that these mysteries are solved.
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