Dutch government historians are reopening the case of the
betrayal of Anne Frank and her family 58 years after an anonymous
telephone call tipped off Nazis to the presence of Jews at
Prinsengracht 263.
The call led to the deportation of the family from Amsterdam to Auschwitz, from where only Anne's father Otto returned. Although police investigated the betrayal immediately after the war and again in the 1960s, no culprit was found.
Suspicion centred on Willem van Maaren, who worked in the warehouse attached to the Frank's concealed living quarters. With the recent release of a book probing the betrayal, however, the spotlight has shifted away from van Maaren towards a business associate of Otto Frank named Anton Ahlers.
Compelling
The book's theory and evidence are so
compelling the government-funded Institute for War Documentation
(NIWD) has decided to conduct a thorough search of the relevant
historical documents.
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"We had already decided that the man who everyone thought was the one, we thought no, it's not possible. There had been an investigation twice by the Amsterdam police in this case and they said, no, there is not enough evidence. When we discussed it in the 80's we had the same idea, there was not enough evidence."
Treacherous Cleaner
In 1998, Austrian author Melissa
Muller published a book pointing the finger at Lena Hartog, a
cleaner whose husband worked for Mr Frank's food preserving
business. Ms Muller's theory was that Hartog betrayed the Franks in
order to protect her husband, who would surely have been deported
had he been found aiding Jews.
Then, this year, English author Carol Ann Lee
published "The Secret Life of Otto Frank". In it, Ms Lee develops
her theory that Anton Ahlers, a criminal and Nazi party member, is
the most likely betrayer. Ahlers, she says, knew where the Franks
were hiding, needed money, and hated Jews.
One of the most amazing claims in the book is that Otto Frank was being blackmailed by Ahlers both during and after the Second World War. The blackmail allegedly continued until Frank's death in 1980, and was based on his business dealings with the German army during the war.
Frank Pleading
According to this theory, the
information Ahlers was holding over Frank explains why the latter
wrote letters pleading Alhers' case when he was imprisoned for
collaboration after the war.
"We now have the problem that we have three names who may be responsible for the betrayal," Mr Barnouw says. "We have to do something about that."
The NIWD will wade through national historical archives to find evidence.
"First we are going to put on paper the three theories of who betrayed them. When you do that you find clues how the writers came to their theories. Then . . . we hope to have a fresh look in the archives. Then we want to interview some people."
Those
interviewed will, in most cases, be the children of the principle
parties. Mr Barnouw says the investigation is set to run for six
months, and is not expected to provide a definitive answer to the
question of who sold out the Franks. The case is important,
nevertheless, for what it has come to symbolise.
"With Anne Frank everything seems to be important. Last year,
900,000 tourists visited the place where she was hiding. More than
those 900,000 are interested in what happened in those last
weeks."
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Tags: Anne Frank, Carol Ann Lee, Netherlands Institute of War Documentation, NIWD, the betrayers, The Netherlands