Regardless of whether van den Bergh was the person who informed on the Franks, the ones ultimately responsible for their deathsand those of the more than 100,000 Dutch Jews murdered during the Holocaustwere the Nazis. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. And probably wasn't capable of betrayal, because had he betrayed the annex, he knew that he would end up losing his job.". In theory, as Cleve R. Wootson Jr. notes in the Washington Post, the betrayer of the Frank family shouldnt be hard to find; Nazis kept detailed records of all arrests and informants. But two police investigations - one immediately after the. Anne Frank Study Guide: Deaths, Dates, Betrayal, and History - Quizlet There are no indications that Willem, or the other warehouse workers, knew that there were people in hiding in the building. Nelly didnt just engage in an adolescent relationship with a soldier it went far beyond that, wrote Van Wijk. Anne Frank May Not Have Been Betrayed - Smithsonian Magazine Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. ), Anne Frank HouseWestermarkt 201016 DK Amsterdam. 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. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but she and her family fled the country and settled in Amsterdam after Adolf Hitler came to power. We dont have 100 percent certainty. In 1963, the National Police Internal Investigation Department investigated the raid. "He was a Dutch Nazi, a well-known traitor and an anti-semite and was very anti-Jewish. And, during a 1994 lecture, Secret Annex helper Miep Gies let slip that the informant died prior to 1960. Van Maaren fought the accusations and rejected a settlement. It is my contribution to peace, understanding, respect, and above all loyalty to every human being.. However, the investigation did not prove his guilt. For as little as $6/month, you will: Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. After spending two years eluding Nazi capture while in hiding in Amsterdam, the Frank family was discovered on. Trending News "There's no doubt he did it," Anton Ahlers Jr. told the Volkskrant newspaper. The Germans were paying a bounty of 40 guilders per head, which was "a large amount in those days," she said. Fifteen-year-old Anne, her sister Margot and her mother Edith died in Nazi concentration camps. Who betrayed Anne Frank? (11 April 1944.) It probably never will be. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Part One : r/UnresolvedMysteries - Reddit Victor Kugler believed he placed small pieces of wood and other items in the warehouse, in such a way that in the morning he could see if anyone had been there. Evidence of his involvement was never found. The people in hiding shared their suspicion, without knowing him or even having seen him. But Barnouw said Lee's case sounded credible enough for the institute to reopen its investigation into the betrayal. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Those hiding in the annex were wary of Van Maaren, and Anne Frank documented their suspicion in her diary. This theory holds that Nellywho returned to Amsterdam in 1943 when her romance souredmay have been the anonymous female caller who (allegedly) tipped off the SS about the Secret Annex, per the testimony of SS officer Karl Josef Silberbauer, who made the arrests. Anne was especially sorry about the latter, because it would be difficult to replace that many coupons. A six-year investigation posits that Arnold van den Bergh disclosed the diarists hiding place to protect his family from deportation, On August 1, 1944, 15-year-old Anne Frank penned a journal entry describing herself as a bundle of contradictions. Reflecting on the warring sides of her personality, the Jewish diarist wrote, Im guided by the pure Anne within, but on the outside Im nothing but a frolicsome little goat tugging at its tether. She concluded with a pledge to keep trying to find a way to become what Id like to be and what I could be if if only there were no other people in the world.. warehouse employee named Willem van Maaren, who had sparked concerns among the Franks and the people who helped them hide . A petty thief and unsavory braggart, Van Maaren was investigated shortly after the war, but nothing was proved. You couldn't just do that.". For decades, historians have debated who betrayed Anne Frank and her family. ", By Arthur Max The evidence that led Pankoke's investigators to their conclusion pointed to the alleged betrayer as much as it ruled out other suspects including some who had previously been the subject of speculation. "On face value, you would think, okay, we found the guy," Pankoke said. Historians made no further headway. The burglars managed to take two cash boxes containing forty guilders, blank giro and bank cheques, and coupons for 150 kilograms of sugar. 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. The time will come when we will be people again and not just Jews! "We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information Please try again or choose an option below. 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. Investigating who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis Wertheim spoke with Vince Pankoke, a retired FBI agent. On August 4, 1944, police in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam raided a warehouse and arrested eight Jews who were hiding in an annex disguised behind a bookcase. Despite two investigations into his . Suddenly, a passer-by used a flashlight to take a look inside. More recent research by the Anne Frank House highlights and substantiates the possibility that the reasons for the raid may have been completely different. In both cases, the findings were inconclusive. For decades suspicion centred on a man called Willem Van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Franks' hiding place. Please enter valid email address to continue. "There's no smoking gun, and the theory has too many loose ends," he said. Did a Jewish Collaborator Betray Anne Frank to the Nazis? - History And who among us, if our families were on the line and heading to extermination camps, wouldnt do what we could? Although he published his mothers most intimate secrets, Van Wijk believes his book would eventually have gained her approval, because she greatly upheld the truth, he said. 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. Though the Nazis dissolved the council in September 1943, sending most of its members to concentration and death camps, van den Bergh and his family managed to escape deportationan exemption indicating that the notary had some kind of leverage, according to Pankoke. But a few years after the war, reports Hanneloes Pen for Dutch newspaper Het Parool, he told a journalist that his family had been betrayed by a member of the Jewish community. First, fingers were pointed at Willem van Maaren, who worked in a warehouse below where the Jews were hidden by coworkers of Otto Frank, Anne's father. He found Voskuijl in a desperate state with a mouthful of sleeping pills. She made him keep the episode their secret, he wrote. Nevertheless, researchers do not rule out the potential that Frank and the others were the victims of a betrayal. The Anne Frank House has opened its archives to Pankoke and his team, and, according to Boffey of the Guardian, welcomes the new research initiative. The case. The business continued to operate while the Franks were in hiding, although it apparently was no longer trading with the Germans. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Among Voskuijls other secrets that her son came to know, the clandestine affection shared by his mother and Victor Kugler, one of the other Secret Annex helpers, fills a page of the book. Updated: March 29, 2023 | Original: November 1, 2017. Since then, several independent investigations have identified different possible suspects. 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. In that statement we indicated the need for further research. The first police investigation: Was WILLEM VAN MAAREN the betrayer? Historians have proposed competing hypotheses without definitive proof . 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. The Subdistrict Court dismissed the . The people in hiding in the Secret Annex were terrified when someone broke into the business premises. The research is based on Franks diary entries from March 1944entries that researchers say have not been used as a source until now. Although Miep Gies is the best-remembered of the Dutch helpers, Voskuijl was the closest to Anne in age and temperament. He needed the money and he needed the authorities' protection because his own business had gone bankrupt. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. The Subdistrict Court dismissed the . The involvement of Van Dijk, who was executed in 1948 after admitting to collaborating in the capture of 145 people, had been previously claimed. 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. Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. "But whenever you actually dig into all the evidence, you find out that he wasn't antisemitic. Two other plausible suspects emerged over the years: Lena van Bladeren-Hartog (died 1963) and Tonny Ahlers (1917 - 2000). It was only accessible via a door on the landing, kept hidden by a bookcase. Lee says Ahlers not only turned in the Frank family, but may have blackmailed Otto Frank for years after the war, receiving payment for his silence about Frank's business with Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. Per BBC, he wasn't deported and had lost his Jewish identity during the war. 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. The encounter ended with Nelly shouting, Just go to your Jews!. . In 1947, Otto Frank and the helpers filed a complaint against him with the political police on suspicion of betrayal. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? - History The authors suspicions were deepened during interviews he conducted for the biography. Ahlers was among the suspects Pankoke and his team investigated and ultimately ruled out. The helpers and people in hiding did not trust him. You have reached your limit of free articles. / CBS News. These are two of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to Anne Frank. WIRED Media Group On July 6, the Frank family began their lives in the Secret Annex attached to the office building at Prinsengracht263,where Otto Frank had worked. This went well until Johan fell ill in 1943 and was replaced by Willem van Maaren. The men went down with whatever they could use as weapons and Hermann van Pels shouted Police. "There was a lot of information that pointed to Tonny Ahlers as being a potential suspect," Pankoke said. According to the researchers, the German Sicherheitsdienst police who discovered the family usually investigated cases involving cash and securities, not Jews in hiding. Anne often wrote about good-natured Bep in her diary, including happenings in the large Voskuijl family of eight siblings. Van Maaren was suspicious and would set "traps" to . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. All rights reserved. Another book posited that the suspect might be a Jewish woman. But soon, it proved she was unable to resolve things that way.. In June 1947 1,500 copies of the Dutch edition of the diary were produced. Kugler and Kleiman were also arrested and held at a penal camp for "enemies of the regime.". 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. In the years since Anne Franks diary was published, investigators and historians have proposed several other potential informants. 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. 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