Cold Case Team Shines New Light on Betrayal of Anne Frank

ABC News ^ | January 17, 2022 | Mike Corder

[nickcarraway]

A cold case team that combed through evidence for five years in a bid to unravel one of World War II’s enduring mysteries has reached what it calls the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family

A cold case team that combed through evidence for five years in a bid to unravel one of World War II's enduring mysteries has reached what it calls the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family.

Their answer, outlined in a new book called “The Betrayal of Anne Frank A Cold Case Investigation,” by Canadian academic and author Rosemary Sullivan, is that it could have been a prominent Jewish notary called Arnold van den Bergh, who disclosed the secret annex hiding place of the Frank family to German occupiers to save his own family from deportation and murder in Nazi concentration camps.

“We have investigated over 30 suspects in 20 different scenarios, leaving one scenario we like to refer to as the most likely scenario,” said film maker Thijs Bayens, who had the idea to put together the cold case team, that was led by retired FBI agent Vincent Pankoke, to forensically examine the evidence. Bayens was quick to add that, "we don’t have 100% certainty.” “There is no smoking gun because betrayal is circumstantial,” Bayens told The Associated Press on Monday.

[kearnyirish2]

If they don’t have proof, mentioning a Jewish guy as the most likely suspect seems stupid.

[nickcarraway]

He didn't say they don't have proof, just not enough to obtain a conviction. On 60 Minutes last night, they had a Dutch Rabbi who said the story should be told.

Otto Frank got an anonymous message right after the war that said this person was responsible.

[PGR88]

The article was all hype

Summary: “could have been some guy named Van den Bergh, but we can’t know for sure”

[JennysCool]

"we don’t have 100% certainty.” “There is no smoking gun because betrayal is circumstantial,”

So, um ... Really they don't actually know anything, but they managed to get on 60 Minutes.

[kearnyirish2]

I’m not Jewish or German or Dutch; I just think the wrong people could use such an unsubstantiated allegation in the wrong way (similar to people posting - accurately - that blacks were sold to Europeans by other blacks).

[CatHerd]

I visited the Ann Frank House when I was 13, the same age she was when she began her diary. I had read her diary a couple of years before that.

The most striking thing was the *complete silence*. All those visitors slowly shuffling through, and all you could hear were their muffled footsteps. No one spoke a word. I will never forget it.

[CatHerd]

It does highlight how hideous the Nazi tactics were, though. Betray this other family, or we send *your* wife and children to the death camp. Who can say with certainty he would sacrifice his own family to keep from betraying another?

[nickcarraway]

People will use whatever for their own purposes. People say Africans were sold to Europeans by other blacks. Some people may draw unfortunate conclusions from that, but it doesn’t seem like it’s developed into a problem. The number of people who might think slavery is bad because black people participated in it seems infinitesimal. If you get a chance, listen to what the Rabbi said.

[nickcarraway]

has revealed that the manuscript could not have been written before 1951, six years after the end of the war

It was published in June 1947. If it wasn't written until 1951, how do you explain that it was published and widely read in 1947? A substantial number of people read it earlier than that.

How do you explain that without a time machine. [Otto Frank translated it into German earlier. Which manuscript did they test?]

[Renfrew]

Are we blithely swallowing the ooze put out by neo-Nazis now?

The diary has been authenticated repeatedly:

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/authenticity-diary-anne-frank/

[CatHerd]

Oh good cow.

---

The conspiracy theory about the ballpoint myth originated as far back as the 1980s, when the Neo- Nazi groups claimed that ballpoint corrections were made to the diary using black, blue and green inks, which did not exist until 1951. The origin of the “ballpoint myth” is the four-page report that the Federal Criminal Police Office (the Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) published in 1980. In this investigation into the types of paper and ink used in the diary of Anne Frank it is stated that “ballpoint corrections” had been made on some loose sheets. It was not the BKA’s task to cast doubt on the authenticity of Anne Frank’s diary, but rather to report on all the texts found among the diaries, and therefore also on the annotations that were made in Anne’s manuscripts after the war. The “ballpoint myth” is based on the simple fact that, around 1960, two annotation sheets with ballpoint writing were inserted between the original pages. These texts were written by a graphological researcher, and are not included in any edition of the diary. In July 2006, the BKA found it necessary to state in a press release that the 1980 investigation in no way challenged the authenticity of the diary and the myth was largely driven by misinterpretations picked up by Neo-Nazi groups.

Link: https://www.mythdetector.ge/en/myth/who-casts-doubt-authenticity-anne-franks-diary

[CatHerd]

Typical for this person:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4025788/posts

[Gay State Conservative]

During the 1930s and 1940s Europe was one huge betrayal.Focusing on Schindler's List,a film loosely based on real people and real events,one can think back to the scene were an inmate at a camp had a bucket full of gold teeth dumped on his desk.

Those teeth would represent 50...75...100 or more betrayals of one sort or another.

I've never read The Diary Of Anne Frank but I know I should. As for who betrayed her? It could have been anyone from a secretly rabid Nazi neighbor to someone wanting to make a few Reichmarks to someone who was facing the ovens unless he/she gave the Gestapo some useful bit of gossip.

[dfwgator]

And in Poland anyone harboring a Jew, would have been killed, along with their entire family, yet many Poles did risk their lives to do so.

None other than Irena Sendler.

[TalBlack]

The diary Anne wrote while in hiding was published after the war and became a symbol of hope and resilience that has been translated into dozens of languages and read by millions.

My 11 year old sons class is studying wwll. One of the books he was assigned was the story of a fifteen year old Jewish girl and her family hiding from the occupying Germans. It was a FICTIONAL girl and her FICTIONAL family.They have a REAL girl and her REAL family to draw upon and they go with a work of fiction. Unreal.

[dfwgator]

That’s the problem I have with movies like “The Boy In the Striped Pajamas”, all those real stories and they had to go this one that had more plot holes than Swiss Cheese.

[Mean Daddy]

We’ve been to the Holocaust museum in DC twice now. One pre and one post COVID. The post trip was nicer in that limited amount of people were let in and the tone was more quiet, respectful. The pre trip was just wall to wall people and you couldn’t stop to read and appreciate the content.

[Gay State Conservative]

Of course there were many,many,*many* acts of bravery that occurred during those years. Oskar Schindler's are simply among some the best known. I also recall having read about a Swedish diplomat named Raul Wallenberg who,IIRC,arranged for many,many Jews to be given phony Swedish passports which allowed them to flee to safety.