Johan was important to them because he could keep an eye on the other warehouse workers to see if they noticed anything. "And we went into the city archive and found proof that actually he was 'Aryanized,' so he lost his Jewish identity during the war. Anne received the famous diary on June 12, 1942, for her 13th birthday, around the time the Gestapo began deporting Jews in Amsterdam. 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. Now, a biographer of Anne Frank has published a new theory which has intrigued the nation and revived a dark chapter in Dutch history - the failure to protect Jewish citizens from the genocidal Nazis. } Who betrayed Anne Frank? display: none; Although he heard about Nellys romantic liaisons with Germans while growing up, Van Wijk was never told about his aunts role as a Nazi collaborator. It claims that Ahlers - then a 26-year- old petty thief - had fallen on hard times by 1944 and desperately needed the bounty paid to Dutch civilians who exposed Jews in their midst. As Pankoke tells 60 Minutes, the team managed to track down a copy of the note after reaching out to the son of one of the 1963 investigators. Only the father, Otto Frank, survived. Tellingly, the books title in Dutch was, Silent No More., The biography is my mission, said Van Wijk, who dedicated the book to Dutch resisters against Nazism. Since then, several independent investigations have identified different possible suspects. Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. Who betrayed the Frank family and why? Former FBI special agent Vincent Pankoke was looking forward to a relaxing retirement hanging out at the beach when he left the agency. 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. They asked SD chief Willy Lages whether it was common for his former service to jump to action upon receiving a telephone tip-off about people in hiding. Ahlers himself was jailed for collaboration after the war and bizarrely Otto wrote letters to the authorities pleading for his release. Per BBC, he wasn't deported and had lost his Jewish identity during the war. 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. You must not mark someone down in history as the betrayer of Anne Frank if you dont have conclusive evidence for this., the Anne Frank House in 2016 reinvestigated the raid, People in hiding in the occupied Netherlands. Willem van Maaren was the traitor. This deterioration took place around the period in which a call was made to Gestapo headquarters by a young woman it was later claimed to inform on the Frank familys hiding place. Ahlers was a member of the Dutch Nazi NSB movement, appeared in Nazi propaganda films and was thrown out of his lodgings after his landlady discovered a swastika flag on the wall and a uniform bearing SS insignia hanging in his wardrobe. This theory holds that the officers just happened to stumble upon the Jewish families hiding in the attic. When did the Van Pels (Van . Barnouw, the historian, said the blackmail supposition is thin. 'My aunt might have betrayed Anne Frank,' writes son of Secret Annex Left unsigned, the message named van den Bergh as the person whod reported the Franks hiding place to the Nazis. A long-held theory proposed that a new employee at her father's business, Willem van Maaren, tipped off the Nazis. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. 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 family. 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. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine "He may have got money for it. Not only did he build the famous swinging bookcase to conceal the hiding place, but he served as an unofficial watchman over the annex through his employment in the warehouse below. That, Ms Lee suggests, is more likely to have been a man called Maarten Kuiper, who made a living from the betrayal of Jews and who moved into Ahlers' flat with him the day before the raid. "I looked at his files in The Hague because after the war he was convicted of betraying people and he was jailed," Lee said in an interview for a Dutch television documentary. My sister and my oldest brother are still angry with me about the content of the book, Van Wijk told The Times of Israel. We dont have 100 percent certainty. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Who betrayed the Franks and why? - Sage-Advices For decades, historians have debated who betrayed Anne Frank and her family. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Although Joop van Wijks book follows the course of his mothers life, the suspense swirls around his late aunt Nelly, Voskuijls sister. First published on January 16, 2022 / 8:09 PM. The people in hiding decided not to wait but to take action. He was the warehouse manager as well as the father of Bep, who worked in the office and was one of the helpers. A new book suggests the informant may have been a business associate of Anne's father, the only family member to survive World War II. Was Anne Frank betrayed? | Anne Frank House Annes relationship with her sister Margot was standoffish, and Voskuijl helped fill some of the gap between them. 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. Lena had already lost her son in the war, the theory goes, and her husband worked for Otto's food preservatives firm. More than three decades after Elisabeth Bep Voskuijls death, her son co-authored a biography of the least-known among the Dutch resisters who hid Anne Frank and other Jews during the Holocaust. Pankoke and his team eliminated her as a suspect for a few reasons. 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. According to the author, he has mostly been met by cold shoulders. Ed Sheeran plays guitar in court in bid to show he didn't steal Marvin Gaye song [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. Do you rely on The Times of Israel for accurate and insightful news on Israel and the Jewish world? 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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). Another book posited that the suspect might be a Jewish woman. There is no smoking gun because betrayal is circumstantial.. However, the investigation did not prove his guilt. 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. She was 15 at the time of her death. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. 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. For as little as $6/month, you will: Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. Your Privacy Rights Still, Ronald Leopold, executive director of the museum, notesthat the new investigation did not refute the possibility that the people in hiding were betrayed, but instead illustrated that other scenarios should also be considered.. Historians made no further headway. Michael J. Apparently, the police were called next, because a little while later, they came inside to take a look around. Daniel Finkelstein reflects on the tragedy of the Frank family as a new book, published this week, delves into the riddle of who revealed their . After Lee's book was published, Ahlers' son was quoted as saying he was convinced her theory is true. Recently translated into English, Van Wijks family account adds what he calls a remarkable name to the list of people suspected of betraying the Secret Annex nearly 75 years ago: his mothers sister. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { Last week, the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam released a study that suggests that Anne Frank and the seven others hiding with her were discovered by chance. It has been translated into around 67 languages and has sold over 31 million copies. But, the Anne Frank House museum and research center were unable to confirm Van Dijk's involvement after its own investigation. And the people in hiding had to be very careful as well. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, https://www.history.com/news/who-betrayed-anne-frank. Stockroom manager Willem van Maaren was suspected of the betrayal for many years, although he never sided with the Nazis. Van Maaren pointed up the stairs, but the police already seemed to know exactly where to go. Reconstruction: the arrest of the people in hiding | Anne Frank House 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.

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