I think he got the information from Ahlers," Lee said. 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. 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. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { Please try again or choose an option below. My aunt Willy [Nellys sister] was furious until she died in 2015, just before the publication, he said. The German-born Frank, who moved to Holland in 1933, ran a spice-trading company that sold goods to the Wehrmacht, the German army. The Amsterdam home where she and her family hid is today a museum known as the Anne Frank House. That report, written by senior historian Gertjan Broek, argued that the German Security Service might have simply stumbled upon the eight Jews while raiding the premises to search for fraudulent food-ration cards. 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. Bruce Springsteen on "Nebraska," and the emergence of Springsteen the poet Michael J. 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. Born in 1949, Van Wijk remembers a childhood shrouded in mystery about what Nelly did during the war. He was the warehouse manager as well as the father of Bep, who worked in the office and was one of the helpers. And, during a 1994 lecture, Secret Annex helper Miep Gies let slip that the informant died prior to 1960. display: block; When they returned to the Annex, they found the pages of Anne's diary strewn across the floor, and the duo decided to preserve it for posterity. On a warm summer day in 1944, four German and Dutch security police pulled up to the warehouse at 263 Prinsengracht and asked the employee, Willem Van Maaren, where the Jews were hiding. A long-held theory proposed that a new employee at her father's business, Willem van Maaren, tipped off the Nazis. Did Willem van Maaren betray Anne Frank? 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. Dutch police launched two separate investigations focusing on van Maaren, but did not uncover any conclusive evidence. Voskuijls father, Johan, was also in on the secret of the Jews in hiding. 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. Brigit Katz is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. "On face value, you would think, okay, we found the guy," Pankoke said. The second theory, put forward by Austrian writer Melissa Mller, has a cleaning lady in the warehouse, Lena Hartog, as the traitor. The groups hideout was located inside a warehouse he had once owned, and they were aided by several of his employees as well as other Dutch sympathizers. Historians have proposed competing hypotheses without definitive proof . The diary was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. A Dutch newspaper, Het Parool, printed a story about Anne's diary which aroused the interest of a publishing house. Her writing created a trail to judicial documents from other parts of the Netherlands, resulting in the latest theory. Three days after Frank wrote these wordsthe final entry in her beloved diarySS officers raided her Amsterdam hiding place and arrested its eight inhabitants. [Otto Frank] might have done this out of loyalty for my mother, wrote Van Wijk. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism, Bruce Springsteen on "Nebraska," and the emergence of Springsteen the poet, Michael J. 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. A long-held theory proposed that a new employee at her fathers business, Willem van Maaren, tipped off the Nazis. The burglars had ripped a panel out of the warehouses street door in order to get in. According to Pankoke, for Van den Bergh to have that level of protection, he must have had some leverage with the Nazis. Canadian author details surprising findings of cold-case investigation Rosemary Sullivan's new book documents the roughly five-year Dutch investigation into who. But all ofthe other people who were in hiding, and their collaborators, theyre just as important; theyre just not as famous.. The note came to authorities attention during a 1963 investigation into the betrayal but received little notice, with police instead focusing their efforts on suspects such as van Maaren. Maarten Kuiper was one of the major betrayers of Jews in hiding during that time.". For decades, historians have debated who betrayed Anne Frank and her family. 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. 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.. We had all stopped breathing audibly by then, 8 hearts were pounding, footsteps on our stairs, then a rattling on the bookcase door.' For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members. These are two of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to Anne Frank. Despite two investigations into his . But Barnouw said Lee's case sounded credible enough for the institute to reopen its investigation into the betrayal. Magazines, Digital 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. 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. Nelly knew that Bep and her father were helping Jews. Among other theories the Anne Frank House investigated was a 2016reportthat suggests no one was, in fact, responsible for leaking to the Nazis. Sign me up , CNMN Collection 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. The Pankoke team's story was featured in a segment on 60 Minutes earlier this week (see the video at end of this post) and is covered in detail in a new book by Rosemary Sullivan: The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation. 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. Left unsigned, the message named van den Bergh as the person who'd reported the Franks' hiding place to the Nazis. Previously, Voskuijl and others had placed suspicion on a disgruntled male warehouse employee, Willem van Maaren. 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. Advertising Notice 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.. Johan was important to them because he could keep an eye on the other warehouse workers to see if they noticed anything. | READ MORE. 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. The proof is not final. These include Lena Hartog, the wife of one of the warehouse employees; and Nelly Voskuijl, the sister of one of the Franks helpers. display: none; ", 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. 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. Stockroom manager Willem van Maaren was suspected of the betrayal for many years, although he never sided with the Nazis. 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. Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox. Do you rely on The Times of Israel for accurate and insightful news on Israel and the Jewish world? However, the investigation did not prove his guilt. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. 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. After the war, Frank removed content from Annes diary regarding Nellys collaboration. It made sense that two people who were constantly in each others vicinity and shared the role of helper of Jews, grew closer, he wrote. 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. Around the time of the investigation into the SS officer, Voskuijl ceased granting interviews, wrote Van Wijk. | 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. 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. Meilan Solly My mother had lots of troubles with Nelly during the war and after the war, Van Wijk told The Times of Israel. He vehemently denied any involvement and said that Victor Kugler had known about the pieces of wood and other things. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. All Rights Reserved. But two police investigations - one immediately after the. 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. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Those hiding in the annex were wary of Van Maaren, and Anne Frank documented their suspicion in her diary. Jewish Councils were set up in Nazi-controlled cities and pitted members of the Jewish community against one another. There are no indications that Willem, or the other warehouse workers, knew that there were people in hiding in the building. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine It was edited by Will Croxton. Only one of the people in hiding, Franks father, Otto, survived World War II. Fox on Parkinson's: "Every day it gets tougher" And who among us, if our families were on the line and heading to extermination camps, wouldnt do what we could? 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. Kugler was a married man, and he never shared the secret of the hidden Jews with his wife, wrote Van Wijk. The case. 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. We dont have 100 percent certainty. Gies and Voskuijl were questioned but not detained. However, the two new theories, painstakingly researched by a British and an Austrian author, and presented in separate books, have raised hopes once again and the NIWD is about to discover whether either of the scenarios stands up to close scrutiny. In 1963, the SS officer who conducted the annex raid told investigators a young woman made the betrayal call. Apparently, the burglars were still about. Apparently, the police were called next, because a little while later, they came inside to take a look around. Scholars and the public alike have long debated the identity of the individual (or individuals) who betrayed Frank, her family and the other residents of the so-called Secret Annex. Ed Sheeran plays guitar in court in bid to show he didn't steal Marvin Gaye song
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