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.
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.
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.
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Gaza ceasefire teeters as Netanyahu orders strikesSpeed Read Israel accused Hamas of firing on Israeli troops
-
Argentina’s Milei buoyed by regional election winsSpeed Read Argentine President Javier Milei is an ally of President Trump, receiving billions of dollars in backing from his administration
-
Proposed Trump-Putin talks in Budapest on holdSpeed Read Trump apparently has no concrete plans to meet with Putin for Ukraine peace talks
-
Bolivia elects centrist over far-right presidential rivalSpeed Read Relative political unknown Rodrigo Paz, a centrist senator, was elected president
-
Madagascar president in hiding, refuses to resignSpeed Read Andry Rajoelina fled the country amid Gen Z protests and unrest
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Israel, Hamas agree to first step of Trump peace planSpeed Read Israel’s military pulls back in Gaza amid prisoner exchange



