For decades, historians have debated who betrayed Anne Frank and her family. 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. Only one of the people in hiding, Franks father, Otto, survived World War II. 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. For as little as $6/month, you will: Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. 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. 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. 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. How were the people in hiding discovered? The house where she and her family hid in a sealed-off room at Prinsengracht 263 in central Amsterdam was turned into a museum in 1960 and receives almost a million visits a year, mainly from the US. In the end, the list of people who were accused of being involved in the case is too long to include in its entirety. Potential informants ruled out by the group ranged from Willem van Maaren, an oft-cited suspect who worked in the warehouse where the Franks were hiding, to Nelly Voskuijl, a Nazi sympathizer and the sister of Secret Annex helper Bep Vokuijl, to Ans van Dijk, a Jewish collaborator whose actions led to the arrest of some 145 people. Shortly after World War II ended, Otto Frank suggested that the culprit was Willem van Maaren, a warehouse employee who was not in on the secret. Nevertheless, Lee's book "is interesting because it takes a more balanced view of Otto Frank," Barnouw said. But the evidence against Van Maaren was again inconclusive, and he died in 1971 professing his innocence. Suddenly, a passer-by used a flashlight to take a look inside. The Germans were paying a bounty of 40 guilders per head, which was "a large amount in those days," she 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. But soon, it proved she was unable to resolve things that way.. Willem van Maaren began working as the warehouse manager in 1943, one year before the secret annex was raided by police. 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. And then they heard the footsteps leave again. 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.. | 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. 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. Per BBC, he wasn't deported and had lost his Jewish identity during the war. Bruce Springsteen on "Nebraska," and the emergence of Springsteen the poet Suddenly, a passer-by used a flashlight to take a look inside. 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. See: Barnouw, David & Stroom, Gerrold van der, Who betrayed Anne Frank? The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. (11 April 1944.) When the arrest of Anne Frank and the people who hid with her took place, Van Maaren worked as the manager of the warehouse of Opekta and Gies & Co, in whose buildings the Secret Annex was situated. 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. In Joop van Wijks psychological diagnosis of his late mother Bep Voskuijl, she spent her post-war life being her own therapist in a kind of conversation with her alter ego. Lages answered that the credibility of the tip-off would have been checked first, unless it came from an informant who had proved to be reliable before. 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. 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. 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). 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. | READ MORE. 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. Michael J. Ahlers own son endorsed the theory that his father was the culprit, but a subsequent investigation by Dutch authorities found no hard evidence of his involvement. 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. 2002 The Associated Press. It was clear that Tonny Ahlers had no knowledge that Otto Frank and the others were hiding in the annex.". And the people in hiding had to be very careful as well. In Anne's diary it becomes clear that the Annex occupants also did not trust him. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The second major burglary in the night of 9 to 10 April 1944 was much more serious. 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. It was edited by Will Croxton. "Van den Bergh wasn't deported," said Pieter van Twisk, a veteran Dutch journalist who co-founded the investigative project and led the research team. For more than 20 years, employee Van Maaren was the main suspect. For decades, historians have debated who betrayed Anne Frank and her family. Now, about 72 years later, the world may have an answer to the mystery: Maybe nobody betrayed them at all. The proof is not final. Immediately after the war, Willem van Maaren was the only suspect in the investigation into the raid of the Secret Annex by the Sicherheitsdienst. Updated: March 29, 2023 | Original: November 1, 2017. To discover the traitor, Pankoke assembled his own crack team of dogged investigators. He stole goods and was generally considered dishonest. Registering also lets you comment on articles and helps us improve your experience. Magazines, Digital Willem van Maaren was the traitor. Among other investigative strategies, they used artificial intelligence to sift through reams of data and original documents. This theory continues on an assumption that in itself is insufficiently proven, that is that betrayal by telephone led to the raid. 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. 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. According to Pankoke, Van Dijk had betrayed the family of Otto Frank's second wife. 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. As fast as they could, they all fled back to the hiding place. Maarten Kuiper was one of the major betrayers of Jews in hiding during that time.". Another book posited that the suspect might be a Jewish woman. Most were gassed with brutal assembly-line efficiency. These are two of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to Anne Frank. Nevertheless, researchers do not rule out the potential that Frank and the others were the victims of a betrayal. It has been translated into 70 languages and inspired a theatrical play and subsequent Oscar-winning 1959 film, featuring Millie Perkins in the title role. They were successful, and the burglars ran off. It was only accessible via a door on the landing, kept hidden by a bookcase. 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. In 1963, the National Police Internal Investigation Department investigated the raid. ", By Arthur Max Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including NYmag.com, Flavorwire and Tina Brown Media's Women in the World. Johan was important to them because he could keep an eye on the other warehouse workers to see if they noticed anything. After discovering some of the family's long-held secrets, Van Wijk now believes there is an unsettling reason behind his mother's relative "anonymity" among the helpers. "Otto Frank was of no more use to him in that sense, so he betrayed them," Lee said in the television interview. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism, Bruce Springsteen on "Nebraska," and the emergence of Springsteen the poet, Michael J. My mother had lots of troubles with Nelly during the war and after the war, Van Wijk told The Times of Israel. Anne died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen in the spring of 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated. [Otto Frank] might have done this out of loyalty for my mother, wrote Van Wijk. Anne often wrote about good-natured Bep in her diary, including happenings in the large Voskuijl family of eight siblings. All rights reserved. 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.". "I think he actually made the call. One of the reasons his aunt has been overlooked by past investigators, believes Van Wijk, involves his familys darkest secret. He strongly suspected a warehouse employee named Willem van Maaren, who had sparked concerns among the Franks and the people who helped them hide. Ad Choices, Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images. 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. 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.