From Prinsengracht to Bergen-Belsen

[Amaurote]

http://www.sunynassau.edu/collegerel/nexus/achives/mar99/images/anne%20frank%20photo.JPG

I've just finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank, and, not surprisingly, it's one of the most affecting, miserable stories I've ever encountered; many of you will have read it years ago, of course, and I'm ashamed that it's taken me 27 years to actually find the time to read it.

The real horror of the story, to my surprise, lay not so much in the depiction of the Gestapo - who never appear, save on one notable occasion where Anne Frank spies a party of Jews being beaten and manhandled along the street outside her house - as in the normality, optimism, and then the terrible, almost obscene finality of the concluding diary entry. It took only one telephone call and the entire Frank family, along with the van Daans and Dr Fritz Pfeffer, were arrested.

This is precisely what bothers me, and precisely what I hope the learned people of NoChickTrix can help me with: who tipped the Gestapo off? D-Day was over a month old by the time the Frank family were hauled out to Westerborg and the death-camps, and a few more days would have seen them safely to freedom. The Franks had 6 or 7 dutious friends who kindly hid them, aided them and offered them succour during the two years; but someone tipped the Gestapo off, after all. Who was it? Several of the people in the Diary sought legal injunctions to prevent their names from being mentioned - and, as a result of this, even the definitive edition of the diaries uses random initials in their stead.

These amendations are no doubt a result of the forthright, occasionally acrimonious descriptions that Anne, in the midst of her growing pains, chose to use; but it made me uneasy, to say the least. I'd be grateful if anyone could provide any information on the background leading up to the tip-off, and possible informants. I append the Westerborg transit camp inventory, which includes all of the members of the Frank family from the Secret Annex; from Westborg they were dispersed to a series of death-camps, including Auschwitz and, in Anne's case, Belsen, where she died in March 1945.

http://www.nochicktrix.com/fun/oth/vb/am/lijst.jpg

[berly]

Hey Am.

I don't know if I can be of any assistance on this, but I will check around in some of the databases I have access to. One never knows until she checks it out, right?

[Amaurote]

Many thanks, Berly; you're the legal eagle around here, so your assistance would be invaluable.

Addendum: not only was the informant depraved, he/she was also cheap; the Gestapo apparently payed informants the princely sum of $1.40 for every Jew arrested. Astonishing.

[Diva]

Hi hon. This is what I have found so far. The only reference as to who tipped off the police although never proven was:


Van Maaren, W. G.
The new head warehouseman, replacing Bep Voskuijl's father when he went to the hospital ill, in the spring of 1943. This man was probably stealing from the start. He was also curious about the back part of the building and deduced that other people were in the warehouse at night. Always denied he tipped off the authorities and no real evidence that he was the one who did. Died in 1971.

Hartog, Mrs.
Was the house help of a Mrs. Genot, who she told (in late June 1944) about the rumor of Jews in the Gies & Co. building. Anne Frank: the Biography strongly suggests it was she who betrayed the hiding place. She died on 10 June 1963.

Here are the real names of the characters:
Anne Frank Diary Reference (http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/afdiary/)

[Diva]

"We're much too young to deal with these problems, but they keep thrusting themselves on us until, finally, we're forced to think up a solution, though most of the time our solutions crumble when faced with the facts. It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.

"...And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!
– From Anne's diary, July 15, 1944

[Amaurote]

Many thanks, Di:

Yes, as I recall, van Maaren is regarded with some suspicion by the van Daans and the Franks, and they react with considerable trepidation to the news that he - and his dog - will be patrolling the warehouse at night. On the other hand, there were a number of others who entertained suspicions about the second floor of the warehouse, like van Hoeven, the black market trader who brought the Kleiman sacks of illegally-acquired foodstuffs - and van Hoeven, after all, actually stepped up his efforts at helping them, and was himself arrested for hiding two Jews in his own house.

There are a couple of occasions when the family inadvertently alert the outside world to their presence, most notably when Peter van Daan failed to unbolt the front door of the warehouse, and preventing the workers from entering the lower floor. The second possibility is that someone saw smoke from the chimney, because they began lighting the stove two hours later than usual on Sunday mornings. I have no idea who Mrs Hartog is, but rumours of the Secret Annex must have escaped in the two years that the families were present. Do you know if there's any evidence for her involvement? Gestapo papers left behind in the wake of the Allied liberation, NSDAP papers, local reports etc?

We'll probably never know; but van Maaren and Mrs Hartog sound as good a pair of suspects as any.