Experts find out who told the Gestapo where Anne Frank and her family were hiding.
The team of 30 experts now believes, after five years of research, that it has discovered who handed Anne Frank and her family over to the Gestapo in August 1944. According to Dutch media, it is thought that the Jewish-Dutch notary, Arnold van den Bergh, gave them German invaders a list of where Jews hid in Amsterdam to save his family’s life. Among them was the address of the secret apartment in Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, where Anne Frank was hiding.
An anonymous letter with important information
The main proof is the copy of an anonymous letter that Anna’s father, Otto Frank, received in 1946. It mentioned the name of the notary, Arnold van den Bergh, who was a member of the Jewish Council and had many contacts.
The Diary of Anne Frank
Initially the contacts protected him from exile, but in 1944 they ceased to function and that is why he is said to have betrayed the places where some Jewish families were hiding – in the hope that this could save his wife, three daughters and himself.
With a probability of more than 85 percent
According to former FBI investigator Vince Pankoke, who played a key role in the investigation in question 77 years after the end of the war there can be no absolute certainty. “But our theory has a probability of more than 85 percent,” he said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. The purpose of the investigation was not to raise charges against anyone, but to unravel the historical mystery of who handed over the Frank family to the Gestapo./DW