But many puzzle pieces remain.” (Quote by Ronald Leopold) The most special find is the copy of the note. A lot of new information has been found, sufficient reason to follow the trail of notary van den Bergh. “I have a great appreciation for the impressive work of the team, the research has been carefully carried out. Ronald Leopold, director of the Anne Frank House, praised the investigation but he also counseled against taking the findings as definitive: The most common belief among historians within this field is that there was a Jewish person who sold them and most probably someone from the Jewish Council who had been feeding information to the Nazis long before Frank’s family was found. There are more than a handful of historians who disagree that Arnold van den Bergh is the betrayer. This is “Less a mystery unsolved than a secret well kept” is the subtitle of the book. Maybe their friendship goes back many years and this was done knowing that Otto would have done the same thing to save his family. It should be assumed that by the time Otto made up his mind, Arnold had died. His family was already dead and showing the world that he had known all along would have only brought more death, the death of the van den Bergh as a Jewish betrayer. Taking into consideration Otto’s personality presented in Anne Frank’s Diary, he seemed like the sort of person to shut up about it as the act was consumed. Experts from the research team believe that anti-Semitism may have been the main reason. Curious is why hasn’t Otto ever spoken about this incident or made it public. More information that would clarify the situation is hard to get as Arnold van den Bergh died in 1950 from health complications. The only gain for him was to protect his as well as his family’s life. It was not for his gain, but for the Nazi’s gain. Once again, just like every Jewish person, he was probably pushed to make such business. He sold works of art to prominent Nazis such as Hermann Goring and other Nazi officials who had an interest in art. Taking into consideration that van den Bergh also survived the Holocaust, it makes it seem very plausible that his family was spared for selling the Franks to the Nazis.įrom the research, there have been accounts found that show Arnold van den Bergh had done business with the Nazis before. The experts assume based on the tactics used by the Nazis that it was either van den Bergh’s family or Franks. Arnold van den Bergh (Source: Wikimedia Commons)ĭue to the fact that van den Bergh was also Jewish, he was most likely forced by the Nazis to unveil Frank’s family location. It turns out that the note was from Arnold van den Bergh who was a Jewish notary well known by Otto, making Arnold van den Bergh the betrayer. Otto Frank was the only one from the Frank family as well as from the hideout who survived the Holocaust. Interestingly enough, the author says that from the files analyzed by the team, they had found anonymous notes sent to Otto Frank (Anne’s father) by the betrayer who tried to explain himself. The author presents new research done by a team made up of various historians and one ex-FBI agent which had spent the last six years trying to find out who the betrayer was. The book had received a lot of attention since its publication and yet there are many historians who despite the evidence, think otherwise. In a book that had been published on the 18th of January 2022 by Rosemary Sullivan, entitled “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation”, there is a sound explanation of whom may have sold out Anne Frank’s family and why. Ex-FBI agent on the case Cover of Book (Source: Good Reads) This is where Anne started writing her famous diary in which she writes her two years living in this secret annex and the last few months of her life within a concentration camp. Other historians chose to believe that it was someone within their circle of non-Jewish friends who sold them out.ĭuring World War II, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the 17th-century canal house, known as the Secret Annex. There have been many speculations that someone outside of the group of people who knew about their hideout had found out and sold them out. Ho exactly betrayed Anne Frank by telling the Nazis about her hideout has been a mystery for the last 80 years.
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