The Subdistrict Court dismissed the . Van Maaren was suspicious and would set "traps" to . Already a member? 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. See: Barnouw, David & Stroom, Gerrold van der, Who betrayed Anne Frank? It is my contribution to peace, understanding, respect, and above all loyalty to every human being.. There are no indications that Willem, or the other warehouse workers, knew that there were people in hiding in the building. A petty thief and unsavory braggart, Van Maaren was investigated shortly after the war, but nothing was proved. In that statement we indicated the need for further research. 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 book by Carol Ann Lee, a British author living in Amsterdam, says the likely informant was a former business associate of Otto Frank, Anne's father. Who betrayed Anne Frank? The first police investigation: Was WILLEM VAN MAAREN the betrayer? Warehouse worker Lammert Hartog did undeclared work, and director Victor Kugler kept part of the company income out of the books. Among those captured was Anne Frank, a 15-year-old schoolgirl who had spent over two years living in the cramped safehouse with her parents and older sister. Around the time of the investigation into the SS officer, Voskuijl ceased granting interviews, wrote Van Wijk. He referred them to the first floor, where the office staff was. Annes relationship with her sister Margot was standoffish, and Voskuijl helped fill some of the gap between them. Investigators Are Turning to Big Data to Find Who Betrayed Anne 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. Willem van Maaren was the traitor. 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. For decades suspicion centred on a man called Willem Van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Franks' hiding place. In 1947, Otto Frank and the helpers filed a complaint against him with the political police on suspicion of betrayal. The new investigation does not refute the possibility that the people in hiding were betrayed, but illustrates that other scenarios should also be considered.. We dont have 100 percent certainty. He stole goods and was generally considered dishonest. Canadian author details surprising findings of cold-case investigation Rosemary Sullivan's new book documents the roughly five-year Dutch investigation into who. Anne chronicled their lives in the Annex in her diary for the next two years, making her final entry on August 1, 1944. The diary was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. 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. There was another important reason Pankoke crossed Van Dijk off the list of suspects. SD big shot Willy Lages knew that the callerwas a well-known informant. In a 2002 biography of Anne Frank's father, Otto, author Carol Ann Lee suggested the betrayer might be Tonny Ahlers, a Dutch National Socialist. 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. 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. 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. | Later, when father Johan Voskuijl and sister Bep were involved in hiding Jews on the Prinsengracht, Nelly was working for the Nazis across town. 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. The research is based on Franks diary entries from March 1944entries that researchers say have not been used as a source until now. The second major burglary in the night of 9 to 10 April 1944 was much more serious. Three days after Frank wrote these wordsthe final entry in her beloved diarySS officers raided her Amsterdam hiding place and arrested its eight inhabitants. Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. Advertising Notice Click the link in that email to complete registration so you can comment. 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. 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. "After the play and the book, Otto Frank was kind of like a saint. "She was out of town working not close to Amsterdam. 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. 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. 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. In June 1947 1,500 copies of the Dutch edition of the diary were produced. 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. My aunt Willy [Nellys sister] was furious until she died in 2015, just before the publication, he said. 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. 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. Ahlers had discovered, says Lee, that Otto's herb and food preservative business had supplied the Wehrmacht throughout the war and that, she suggests, would have been enough to see Otto branded a collaborator. 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. Two other plausible suspects emerged over the years: Lena van Bladeren-Hartog (died 1963) and Tonny Ahlers (1917 - 2000). Many experts believe that someone alerted Nazi authorities to the hiding place, but the identity of the culprit has never been conclusively determined. Additionally, believes Van Wijk, Otto Frank either suspected or knew of Nelly Voskuijls role in the betrayal. She was 15 at the time of her death. There were two separate official investigations into who may have betrayed the family: one in 1947-1948 and the second (conducted by the Dutch police) in 1963-1964. 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. As fast as they could, they all fled back to the hiding place. Nelly did it with krauts, the authors father slipped at the table from time to time. According to Pankoke, Van Dijk had betrayed the family of Otto Frank's second wife. Left unsigned, the message named van den Bergh as the person whod reported the Franks hiding place to the Nazis. It was only accessible via a door on the landing, kept hidden by a bookcase. Preview: Michael J. Who betrayed the Frank family and why? Two Dutch police inquiries and countless historians have come up with theories, but no firm conclusion. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. 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. 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. I think that nobody can judge van den Bergh who has not been in his position, Sullivan tells the Globe and Mail. 2023 Cond Nast. But despite suspicions, there was no conclusive evidence van Maaren betrayed the family. A 20-person team for theAnne Frank House was led, in part, by two retired FBI officials; former special agent Vince Pankoke, and behavioral scientist Roger Depue. 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. Thats obvious, said Bertus Hulsman, who was the wartime boyfriend of Voskuijl and sometimes mentioned in the diary. warehouse employee named Willem van Maaren, who had sparked concerns among the Franks and the people who helped them hide . It takes just a few seconds. Writer Rosemary Sullivan chronicled the painstaking process in a new book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation. 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. Bep Voskuijl was only 18 when she started working for the spice and jam company owned by Otto Frank. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The researchers also investigated the theory, first raised by scholars at the Anne Frank House in 2016, that the SS discovered the hiding place by chance while searching the warehouse for evidence of illegal work and ration coupon fraud. 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. In his 2018 book The Backyard of the Secret Annex author Gerard Kremer claimed that Ans van Dijk betrayed those hiding in the annex. In analyzing the person who might have tipped off police to the location, the investigators adapted a standard law enforcement axiom in assessing suspects and looked for "knowledge, motive, opportunity." We strive for accuracy and fairness. But the evidence against Van Maaren was again inconclusive, and he died in 1971 professing his innocence. Most were gassed with brutal assembly-line efficiency. According to the researchers, the German Sicherheitsdienst police who discovered the family usually investigated cases involving cash and securities, not Jews in hiding. Brigit Katz And if what we could do would be to offer anonymous addresses, I dont know that I know many people who could resist it.. 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. But two police investigations - one immediately after the. Privacy Statement That evening, Peter heard sounds from the warehouse. Ed Sheeran plays guitar in court in bid to show he didn't steal Marvin Gaye song 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. 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.. 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. 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. The helpers did not trust warehouse worker Willem van Maaren. Pankoke and his team eliminated her as a suspect for a few reasons. He needed the money and he needed the authorities' protection because his own business had gone bankrupt. 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. Pankoke and his team also spent hours looking for clues in the concealed rooms behind an Amsterdam warehouse, where the Frank family and four other Jews lived hidden away for more than two years. 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. For a long time, betrayal was considered to be the reason for the arrest of the people in hiding, but the focus is shifting, as there are several other options. 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. For more than 20 years, employee Van Maaren was the main suspect. But then we'll want to be. Among other activities, the Frank sisters took correspondence courses in Voskuijls name, and the administrative assistant put aside filing for the sisters to do at night. 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. Anne often wrote about good-natured Bep in her diary, including happenings in the large Voskuijl family of eight siblings. (Amsterdam: NIOD, 2003). All Rights Reserved. A New Study Suggests Nobody Did. Years later, after Anne Frank became famous for her diary, readers wondered what had gone wrong. Johan was important to them because he could keep an eye on the other warehouse workers to see if they noticed anything. After all, one of her sisters and her father joined the high-risk effort of hiding, feeding, and sustaining eight Jewish fugitives. Willem Gerardus van Maaren (August 10, 1895- November 28, 1971) was the person most often suggested as the betrayer of Anne Frank. 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. 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. 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. Did Willem van Maaren betray the Franks? 2002 The Associated Press. In her diary, Anne reported various attempted burglaries and actual burglaries. 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. 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, Michael J. When did the Van Pels (Van . 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. There was more going on in that building than just the hiding of Jews. Still, experts remain focused on the fate of the teenage diarist whose life was cut tragically short. (11 April 1944.) Cookie Policy "I think he actually made the call. Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel, 2023 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved, Anne Frank, aged 12, at her school desk in Amsterdam, 1941. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism The four supplied the families with food and other necessities, knowing full well that they could be condemned to death by the Nazis for aiding Jews. Hermann van Pels hit the ground with an axe, which finally drove them away. | READ MORE. Privacy Statement The people in hiding in the Secret Annex were terrified when someone broke into the business premises. Nobody knows for sure who betrayed the Franks, but after doing research, I believe that Tony Ahlers is guilty. Updated: March 29, 2023 | Original: November 1, 2017. Kugler and Kleiman were also arrested and held at a penal camp for "enemies of the regime.". Out of the seven others who hid with her, her father, Otto Frank, was the only one who survived the Holocaust. 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. In this book, he's much more flesh and blood. The first theory, forwarded by British author and Anne Frank expert Carol Anne Lee, in her book The Hidden Life of Otto Frank, seems to have aroused the most interest. Instead, the groups arrest could have been a tragic accident. 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. 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. 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. For more than 20 years, employee Van Maaren was the main suspect. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { Fox on Parkinson's: "Every day it gets tougher" If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews - 70 percent of the community - were deported to concentration camps in Germany. "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 could, for example, not flush the toilet too often, because the water discharge from the Secret Annex ran along the storeroom. Maarten Kuiper was one of the major betrayers of Jews in hiding during that time.". This went well until Johan fell ill in 1943 and was replaced by Willem van Maaren. In addition to Johan Voskuijls involvement, another of the Voskuijl sisters sewed clothes for the Jews in hiding, making the effort a family affair. 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. 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. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including NYmag.com, Flavorwire and Tina Brown Media's Women in the World. For decades suspicion centred on a man called Willem Van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Franks' hiding place. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism, Bruce Springsteen on "Nebraska," and the emergence of Springsteen the poet, Michael J. 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. 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. A petty thief and unsavory braggart, Van Maaren was investigated shortly after the war, but nothing was proved. Photo collection: Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam / photographer: Allard Bovenberg, All 8 of us were just pleased that we had slept so well that night and not heard a thing., We had all stopped breathing audibly by then., Reconstruction: the arrest of the people in hiding. See an Original 1941 Transcript of FDR's Pearl Harbor Speech, What America's Richest Ski Town's Handling of COVID-19 Shows. The key to the mystery proved to be a note sent to Otto Frank shortly after his return to Amsterdam in June 1945. I think he got the information from Ahlers," Lee said. Over the years, some 30 different suspects have been suggested as the possible culprit, from the wife of a warehouse employee, to the sister of Otto Franks typist, to Anton Ahlers, a business associate of Otto Frank who was active in the Dutch Nazi party. 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. A long-held theory proposed that a new employee at her father's business, Willem van Maaren, tipped off the Nazis. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 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