Researchers say they may have figured out who betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis

More than 75 years after Anne Frank's family was betrayed to the Nazis, a team of investigators say they have identified the person they think may have revealed the address of their hiding place in Amsterdam.
The researchers named Arnold van den Bergh, who worked as a notary and served on the Jewish council the Nazis set up to carry out policies in the community. They believe he provided information on Jewish individuals in hiding in exchange for protection, as he spent the last years of the war not in a concentration camp, but living openly in Amsterdam. Van den Bergh died in 1950.
The Frank family — Anne, her father Otto, her mother Edith, and her sister Margot — went into hiding in 1942, living in an annex behind Otto's warehouse with four other Jewish people. They were found on Aug. 4, 1944, and sent to concentration camps; Anne was 15 when she died at Bergen-Belsen in February 1945. Otto is the only person from the annex who survived, and in 1947, he published his daughter's diary, which had been tucked away by one of the Dutch workers who helped them while in hiding.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In 2016, a documentary filmmaker brought together a team of investigators, including former FBI agent Vince Pankoke, to see if they could once and for all determine who betrayed the Franks. The team revealed what they learned in their research on 60 Minutes Sunday.
There were two police investigations into who gave away the hiding place, conducted in 1947 and 1963, and the team said they uncovered a report from the second probe that stated Otto Frank received an anonymous note shortly after the war ended that said van den Bergh had betrayed him. The son of the detective who wrote the report found the piece of paper in his father's records and shared it with the team.
Pankoke told 60 Minutes there's no evidence van den Bergh knew if there were still people hiding at the addresses he gave the Nazis, and it's not entirely clear why Otto Frank didn't go public with the information he received in the anonymous note. Pankoke said since van den Bergh was Jewish, Otto Frank might have thought it would "only stoke the fires further." A book about the probe, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, is out Tuesday. Read more at CBS News.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The genetic secrets of South Korea's female free-divers
Under The Radar Unique physiology of 'real-life mermaid' haenyeo women could help treat chronic diseases
-
Democrats: How to rebuild a damaged brand
Feature Trump's approval rating is sinking, but so is the Democratic brand
-
Unraveling autism
Feature RFK Jr. has vowed to find the root cause of the 'autism epidemic' in months. Scientists have doubts.
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitely
speed read Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is 'on the eve of a forceful entry'
-
Putin talks nukes as Kyiv slated for US air defenses
speed read 'I hope they will not be required,' Putin said of nuclear weapons on Russian state TV
-
US, Ukraine sign joint minerals deal
speed read The Trump administration signed a deal with Ukraine giving the US access to its mineral wealth
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Israel launches air strike on Beirut suburbs
Speed Read The attack targeting Hezbollah was Israel's third on the Lebanese capital since November's ceasefire