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. A New Study Suggests Nobody Did. Throughout the course of the hiding, Bep and Kugler had fallen in love, as Bep later confessed to her sister Diny with red cheeks, wrote Van Wijk. A family's darkest secret sheds light on an enduring mystery, Were really pleased that youve read, Please use the following structure: example@domain.com, Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition. We question several elements of the investigation: read our statement. Despite two investigations into his . Brigit Katz is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Van Maaren was suspicious and would set "traps" to . Johannes Kleiman (on the left) and Victor Kugler in front of Prinsengracht 263, 1954. 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. 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. Years later, after Anne Frank became famous for her diary, readers wondered what had gone wrong. Willem van Maaren was the traitor. 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. The team hopes to reveal the results of its investigation on August 4, 2019the 75th anniversary of Anne Franks arrest. 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). I take both of these theories seriously enough to put them on paper but that is different from actually saying what happened. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. It is still early days for the investigation, but Pankoke told Wootson Jr. of the Post that the team has already produced some interesting information. "There's no smoking gun, and the theory has too many loose ends," he said. It's possible, Brock suggested, that there was no betrayal, and the SS raid was really part of ongoing attempts to track down purveyors of illegal goods. 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. At one point, Kugler was prepared to end his marriage in order to move to South America with Voskuijl, but she did not want to wreck their marriage. 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. }. For instance, the Anne Frank House in 2016 reinvestigated the raid, and in 2017 a former FBI officer announced that he would be looking for the possible traitor of the people in hiding with the help of an international cold case team and new technology. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. Only one of the people in hiding, Franks father, Otto, survived World War II. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews - 70 percent of the community - were deported to concentration camps in Germany. Summer of 1933. . Johan was important to them because he could keep an eye on the other warehouse workers to see if they noticed anything. The Subdistrict Court dismissed the . Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. It's been such a long time, and most of the people who knew are dead.". The key to the mystery proved to be a note sent to Otto Frank shortly after his return to Amsterdam in June 1945. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Ars Technica Addendum (effective 8/21/2018). 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. 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. Anne Frank's betrayal: Investigating other suspects We dont have 100 percent certainty. Anne was especially sorry about the latter, because it would be difficult to replace that many coupons. 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. Cookie Settings, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. In 1963, the National Police Internal Investigation Department investigated the raid. He strongly suspected a warehouse employee named Willem van Maaren, who had sparked concerns among the Franks and the people who helped them hide. ", Dutch historians investigate new claims to identity of person who revealed hiding place of Jewish family, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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. For decades suspicion centred on a man called Willem Van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Franks' hiding place. Did a Jewish Notary Betray Anne Frank to the Nazis? This theory holds that the officers just happened to stumble upon the Jewish families hiding in the attic. And, during a 1994 lecture, Secret Annex helper Miep Gies let slip that the informant died prior to 1960. 2023 Cond Nast. Advertising Notice 'My aunt might have betrayed Anne Frank,' writes son of Secret Annex First Republic Bank seized by regulators, then sold to JPMorgan Chase, Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end", Louisiana's health care deserts put women, babies at risk, doctors say, Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan, ISIS chief killed by Turkey's intelligence agency, Erdogan says, How a tall Texan became an unlikely Australian rules football star, General Mills issues Gold Medal flour recall over salmonella concerns, Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West Yeezy deal, Shaquil Barrett's 2-year-old daughter dies in drowning accident, Anne Franks betrayal: Investigating other suspects, Louisiana doctors detail unintended consequences of state's abortion ban, Scaling up carbon capture to make an impact. 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. Pankoke and his team eliminated her as a suspect for a few reasons. Many experts believe that someone alerted Nazi authorities to the hiding place, but the identity of the culprit has never been conclusively determined. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Part One : r/UnresolvedMysteries - Reddit Titled Anne Frank: A Cold Case Diary, the investigative project was initiated by filmmaker Thijs Bayens and supported through crowd funding. 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. And probably wasn't capable of betrayal, because had he betrayed the annex, he knew that he would end up losing his job.". For instance, Melissa Muller's 1998 biography of Anne Frank concluded that a woman named Lena Hartog, wife of the company's assistant warehouse manager, betrayed the family. Anne Frank is a symbol of the youth and what the people who were in hiding went through, Pankoke said. And it really matters to me, and I think it mattered to the group, that that was an anonymous list of addressesthere were no names. The involvement of Van Dijk, who was executed in 1948 after admitting to collaborating in the capture of 145 people, had been previously claimed. A long-held theory proposed that a new employee at her father's business, Willem van Maaren, tipped off the Nazis. 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. The second thing was there was nothing that actually tied her to information that would have led her to know that people were in the annex.". We have investigated over 30 suspects in 20 different scenarios, leaving one scenario we like to refer to as the most likely scenario, filmmaker and team member Thijs Bayens tells Mike Corder of the Associated Press (AP). 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. January 16, 2022 / 8:09 PM (Amsterdam: NIOD, 2003). 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. Apparently, the police were called next, because a little while later, they came inside to take a look around. God truly protected us ,Anne wrote in her diary, much relieved. Two other plausible suspects emerged over the years: Lena van Bladeren-Hartog (died 1963) and Tonny Ahlers (1917 - 2000). Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The time will come when we will be people again and not just Jews! believe the most likely culprit is a local Jewish leader named Arnold van den Bergh. He referred them to the first floor, where the office staff was. All Rights Reserved. Van Maaren fought the accusations and rejected a settlement. My mother had lots of troubles with Nelly during the war and after the war, Van Wijk told The Times of Israel. Bep Voskuijl was only 18 when she started working for the spice and jam company owned by Otto Frank. Then, the team considered the motive. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. The warehouse | Anne Frank House This is not the first time that hopes of unlocking the mystery have been raised. "He was a Dutch Nazi, a well-known traitor and an anti-semite and was very anti-Jewish. Incorrect password. 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. [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. Searching for Anne Frank's betrayer, 80 years on - The Times Now, reports Jon Wertheim for CBS News 60 Minutes, a six-year investigation spearheaded by retired FBI agent Vince Pankoke has pinpointed the likely informant: Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish notary who may have revealed the Franks hiding place to the Nazis to protect his own family from deportation. } The eight people in hiding did not trust him, and often felt suspicious of him. 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. "Otto Frank was of no more use to him in that sense, so he betrayed them," Lee said in the television interview. The note came to authorities' attention during a 1963 investigation into the. That evening, Peter heard sounds from the warehouse. He needed the money and he needed the authorities' protection because his own business had gone bankrupt. | Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. They will also scrutinise the letters of Anne's father, Otto, for clues and examine police transcripts of interviews dating back to the 1940s. 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. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. Kremer's father was an acquaintance ofVan Dijk in Amsterdam and Kremer writes that in early August 1944, his father overheardVan Dijkspeaking about Prinsengracht, where the Franks were hiding, in Nazi offices. Investigators Are Turning to Big Data to Find Who Betrayed Anne Frank. And who among us, if our families were on the line and heading to extermination camps, wouldnt do what we could? Although Miep Gies is the best-remembered of the Dutch helpers, Voskuijl was the closest to Anne in age and temperament. More recent research by the Anne Frank House highlights and substantiates the possibility that the reasons for the raid may have been completely different. Reconstruction: the arrest of the people in hiding | Anne Frank House There's no evidence to indicate that he knew who was hiding at any of these addresses, Pankoke tells 60 Minutes. [But] when van den Bergh lost all his series of protections exempting him from having to go to the camps, he had to provide something valuable to the Nazis that he's had contact with to let him and his wife at that time stay safe.. Suddenly, a passer-by used a flashlight to take a look inside. Pankoke and his colleagues, including an investigative psychologist, a war crimes investigator, historians, criminologists and archivists, approached the historical mystery like a criminal cold case. Three days after Frank wrote these wordsthe final entry in her beloved diarySS officers raided her Amsterdam hiding place and arrested its eight inhabitants. Historians made no further headway. 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. Ms Lee also claims that Ahlers was blackmailing Otto, first in 1941 by threatening to release a letter which would have led to his deportation, and astonishingly after the war too and even as recently as 1980 when Otto died. These include Lena Hartog, the wife of one of the warehouse employees; and Nelly Voskuijl, the sister of one of the Franks helpers. Did a Jewish Collaborator Betray Anne Frank to the Nazis? - History Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles, Who Betrayed Anne Frank? Out of all the warehouse staff, only Johan Voskuijl was aware of the presence of the people in hiding. But isn't it even riskier to leave things as they are?. Please enter valid email address to continue. 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. Willem van Maaren was the traitor. Previously, Voskuijl and others had placed suspicion on a disgruntled male warehouse employee, Willem van Maaren. Nelly fell in love with a young Austrian Nazi and had worked for a year on a German air base. 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. / CBS News. One year before his death in 1980, Frank told an interviewer he believed a woman made the call to the Gestapo. 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. 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. Within several years the book had been translated into German, French and English, and was made into a film in 1959. 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. Preview: Michael J. Wilhelm van Maaren Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 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. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter, Despite decades of research, betrayal as a point of departure has delivered nothing conclusive, Ronald Leopold, Executive Director of the Anne Frank House museum, said in statement. 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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! After all, one of her sisters and her father joined the high-risk effort of hiding, feeding, and sustaining eight Jewish fugitives. His name was Anton Ahlers. 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. All Rights Reserved. "Number one, that during the time period of the betrayal, she wasn't in town," Pankoke explained. When they came to raid the building, they unexpectedly discovered Anne and the others. Were they betrayed? All the more so because betrayal was never established beyond a doubt. During the next six months a team of experts from the Netherlands' Institute for War Documentation (NIWD) will pore over government records drawn up at the end of the war which detail the extent of Dutch collaboration with the Nazis. Last year, the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam floated a new theory: Nazi officers who were investigating illegal work and ration fraud at the warehouse accidentally stumbled upon the Jews hiding in the annex. So the team has enlisted the Amsterdam-based data company Xomnia to develop algorithms that will analyze the documents, andperhapsreveal connections that have never been noticed before. Pankoke's team discovered that Van den Bergh, a prominent Jewish businessman in Amsterdam with a wife and kids, lived an open life in the middle of Nazi-occupied Holland at a time when Jews were being deported to concentration camps. Anne, her sister and parents, were caught in the two-story annex with Hermann van Pels, who had worked in Frank's company, with van Pels' wife and teen-age son, and with Friedrich Pfeffer, a dentist. Prior to that, Frank always said he did not want to know who betrayed his family. Still, experts remain focused on the fate of the teenage diarist whose life was cut tragically short. Pankoke also showed Wertheim a note, which investigators say Otto Frank received after the war, that specifically names Van den Bergh as the betrayer. Was Anne Frank's family betrayed? After 72 years, historians have a new Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. I think he got the information from Ahlers," Lee said. He worked in the same building where the Franks were hiding.. "He may have got money for it. He and his team spent five years poring over every bit of pertinent material, setting up an extensive online database, and developing an AI program to help them sift through it all and find new connections. If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. He places books and bits of paper on the very edges of things in the warehouse so that if anyone walks by they fall off, Anne wrote in her diary in April of 1944. Associate of Anne Frank's Father Suspected of Betrayal The business continued to operate while the Franks were in hiding, although it apparently was no longer trading with the Germans. 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. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. "However, after Otto Frank went into hiding, Tonny Ahlers was out doing other things in different parts of the city. 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. 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. Even during the early days of the war, the Voskuijl family faced trouble with Nelly. Willem Gerardus van Maaren (August 10, 1895- November 28, 1971) was the person most often suggested as the betrayer of Anne Frank. 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. According to the researchers, the German Sicherheitsdienst police who discovered the family usually investigated cases involving cash and securities, not Jews in hiding. But despite suspicions, there was no conclusive evidence van Maaren betrayed the family. At the time of Bep Voskuijls death in 1983, she was the least known of the four Dutch resisters who helped hide Anne Frank. In 1963, the SS officer who conducted the annex raid told investigators a young woman made the betrayal call.
Marvel Collection Isaidub,
How To Reassure Your Boyfriend You Won't Leave,
Articles W
