A cold case team combs through evidence. This group has been at it for five years. The investigators want to unravel one of World War II’s enduring mysteries. Team members reached what they call the “most likely scenario.” But some other experts question their work. The hard reality may be that world may never know the truth of an even harder reality: Who betrayed beloved child diarist Anne Frank?
Most know Anne’s story: In an Amsterdam shop, the Frank family and four other Jews hid in rooms behind a bookcase from July 1942 until their discovery in August 1944. Nazis sent all eight to concentration camps. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived. Fifteen-year-old Anne and her sister died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Otto Frank published Anne’s diary after the war. Read by millions, the book became a symbol of hope and resilience under the most difficult and horrific of circumstances.
Despite numerous investigations over the years, the person who revealed the location of the Franks’ hiding place remained unknown.
Filmmaker Thijs Bayens hoped to solve the mystery. He gathered a team led by retired U.S. FBI agent Vincent Pankoke. “We have investigated over 30 suspects in 20 different scenarios,” Bayens says.
The team’s findings suggest that Otto Frank received a note after the war. It disclosed the possible involvement of Arnold van den Bergh, a member of Amsterdam’s Jewish community and the city’s Jewish Council. A typed copy of the note was an overlooked part of a decades-old Amsterdam police investigation.
The team speculates that to save his own family, Van den Bergh may have given the Nazis a list of addresses where Jews were hiding.
But Bayens quickly adds, “We don’t have 100% certainty.”
Not everyone admires the investigation’s finding. John Goldsmith from the Anne Frank Fund calls it “a conspiracy theory” and “full of errors.”
Several experts insist Van den Bergh’s family was in hiding at the time of the betrayal. Therefore, he would not have risked emerging to give his enemies a list.
Historian Annemiek Gringold is curator at the Dutch National Holocaust Museum. “The very notion that the Jewish Council had lists of hiding addresses is not proven, known, or shown,” she says. “All experts I heard until now confirm this is not true.” She continues, “[Implicating Arnold Van den Bergh] is taking it even one step further.”
The Anne Frank House museum welcomes the new research but says it leaves questions unanswered. Director Ronald Leopold says, “I don’t think we can say that a mystery has been solved.”
To date, only one thing is certain: Guilt for the deaths of Anne Frank and more than 100,000 other Dutch Jews (and 6,000,000 Jews of all nationalities) lies with the Nazis.
Why? Human treachery contrasts sharply with God’s character. He values truth and loyalty—and never deals in deception, conspiracies, or betrayal. Yet in His great mercy, He offers grace to all sinners who trust in His perfect righteousness and provision in Christ.
1st Comment EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the story of Anne Frank! It's funny they don't know who the betrayer was!
2nd comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i agree @Belwyn R
SADNESS
I feel really sad and i wish that the nazis would have thought before the acted, and they didnt even care that the killed CHILDREN they just did it which is devastating. Like but yourself in Annas shoes, lived in hiding kidnapped the starved to death it really sad. P.S. sorry i wrote two comments
Cool
This is an interesting article.
Huh.
Huh.
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huh
I don't know about the story of Anne Frank OK
That sucks.
Jews shouldn't tell on other Jews, especially during World War two. They shouldn't worry about their lives if they believe in Jesus.
This is Mylee
I love her story. It's sad she was betrayed
@Above
I haven't actually read her diary, but I would like to. I have heard about her though. It really is an interesting mystery. We may never know who actually did it. I find WWII stuff so intriguing.
Super sad
My sister is reading a juvenile version of the Anne Frank Diary and loves the WWII era, if these people ever find out who betrayed her, her Family, and Friends it will surely be something worth remembering.
Surprisingly,
Surprisingly, Hitler was part Jew, so why would he want to kill other Jews like poor Anne Frank? Especially children. That is sooo wrong.
Autumn Z
love Anne Franks story! the pic of the bookshelf is super cool!
Well a good place to start to
Well a good place to start to find the betrayer is if any of the helpers had any problems with the Jews in the annex. They could have been found by accident. A office worker might have heard something and called the gastopo.
Bad spelling
I spelled the last word wrong sry.
Bad spelling
I spelled the last word wrong sry.
Bad spelling
I spelled the last word wrong sry.
@ Elizabeth
that is a very interesting question that i think i might be able to answer. so here is my theory ( Ive talked with my dad about it and he is a pastor and he thinks this is really what happened. just so you know.) God says in the end times that after the saved people are in Heaven the devil will set up a anti-Christ well since the devil doesnt know when Jesus is coming back he has set up semi anti- Christs thought out history. the is actually reasonable evidence that Hitler was demon possessed. so i believe Hitler was appionted by the devil. also Hitler claimed to be Catholic and thought out history most people that i believe were appointed by the devil were Catholic or at least claimed to be so i also believe the anti-Christ in the end will come out of the Catholic church. You can take it or leave it but that is my theory.
Also
i have no clue who anne frank is. but i love WW2 books so i will probably read it soon. i recently did a report about Hitler for school if you want a good website for info about him search Hitler facts and click on " History; Adolf Hitler; Rise to Power, Impact, & Death." also good books to read on WW2 if you like reading about prisoners are; Making Bombs for Hitler, Stolen Girl, Prisoners B-3087, and ( By Corrie Ten Boom) The Hiding Place. Also if you guys know who Corrie Ten Boom is here is a interesting fact My great grandparents actually housed her at one point after the war. also my great grandparents were Jewish and my great grandpa fought in the war. just a interestng fact. : )
20th Comment
What kind of person would even think of betraying the family? That was an awful thing to do. I hope they find out for sure who the betrayer was, even if they aren't alive.
wow!!!
I have heard of her and I know that she died in a camp but I never imagined that she was betrayed!!!
@Elizabeth W & Lydia P
I have your answer. I JUST finished reading the book "Hitler" by Albert Marrin for school. It is a really neat book, at least if you are interested in WWII and Hitler. It shows parts of Hitler and parts of his life that I had never really seen before. It also shows why he wanted to kill all the Jews. It boils down to one simple word: Hate. You see, he wanted to become and artist. But twice, he was turned down from the school in Paris. This made him very mad, and he simply wanted someone to blame. He was walking around in Paris when he saw a Jew, and thought that they would be great to blame and to pour out his hate on. Through the years, he began building up his hatred and anger, and eventually, he got a lot of the German people stir up as well, for he told them to blame the Jews for losing the war and for causing the depression and poverty that Germany was in. So of course they did. Because when something goes wrong for anyone, we just want to blame someone else. And so began Hitler's terrible war against Jews. It started with being turned down from an art school, and hate began.
Some other interesting (and almost weird) things I learned about Hitler in this book were: He was a vegetarian after his niece was killed; His favorite movies (other than watching films of people being tortured by the Gestapo) were Snow White and King Kong; he liked to play on the floor with blocks, building cities with them and then destroying them with toy cannons and toy soldiers, and lots of other things.
@ RILEY D
You are right about the hate but i am 100% convinced he was possessed and thats why he was evil. ive studied it out and so has my dad so i think it was because of his hate that the devil started to control him.
Oof
I like a good mystery but that's Wwwicked.
I think this is very interesting
I agree with you EW, I do think it was wrong what Hitler did. And I forgot he was part Jew. I think that it is very sad that she went through all that and never got to see her family again in peace. I wonder if she would have wanted her diary published like that or, if she would have rather her father kept it to himself. I think that living under the conditions that she was under would have broken my spirit. Corrie Ten Boom was another great story and I love how God worked through her and her hard life. I am also Dutch and my great grandfather was in the war too. He told us first hand stories and I think the best history lesson you can get is from the person who went through it. (That book sounds interesting RD, I never thought about it that way. I want to read that. I guess everything he did, did start with hate.) :( but it is all very sad and I wish things like this did not happen!