The guilt of a Jewish notary, affirmed by the book “who betrayed Anne Frank”, published in mid-January, had been quickly questioned.
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Thundering stroke in the world of publishing and new episode in the history of the denunciation of Anne Frank and his loved ones: Tanja Hendriks, director of Ambo Anthos, the publisher of the Dutch version of the book Who betrayed Anne Frank?, Released simultaneously in several countries on January 19, decided on Monday 31 January, to suspend the impression of the work.
The final thesis of the book, referring to the arrest of the eight occupants of the Annex, to Amsterdam, August 4, 1944, as a result of information delivered to the Nazi occupant by a Jewish notary, Arnold van den Bergh , was quickly questioned in the Netherlands. The publishing house, she, esteemed she should have been “more critical”. She apologized to her authors.
The publication of the book, written by the Canadian historian Rosemary Sullivan, was very awaited. And for good reason: The Betrayal of Anne Frank, edited by Harpercollins, had to prove that at the end of five years of investigations carried out by Vince Pankoke, a former FBI officer assisted by thirty experts, the mystery of the Denunciation was finally elucidated. The team of investigators asserted, “with a degree of probability of 85%”, that the notary van den Bergh, protected from the deportation by his relations with the occupier, had delivered the Frank and their friends. All died in deportation, except Otto Frank, Anne’s father, whose intimate newspaper was found after the war and translated into 60 languages. The notary is, he died in 1950.
“Castle of cards”
Researchers, including the Historian Erik Somers, from the Dutch Institute of War Studies, Holocaust and Genocide (NID), had quickly criticized the work. Bart van der Boom, a professor in Amsterdam and Leyde, as well as the notary could have access to a secret list of the hidden Jews in Amsterdam: the Jewish Council, established by the Nazis and of which Van den Bergh was part of, did not have a Such a document, confirmed this specialist.
As early as January 18, Bart Wallet, a historian of the University of Amsterdam, described the demonstration of “Castle of Cards” in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The following week, the weekly questioned other experts about the Jewish Council, confronted at the time at a terrible dilemma, since he was trying to save lives through cooperation, while being forced to participate in Deportations.
These specialists also felt that it was unlikely that such Jewish hiding lists were existed. David Barnouw, a long time researcher at the NIID, author in 1986 of the first scientific edition of Anne Frank’s newspaper, thus affirmed the magazine that “no one has ever seen such lists”.
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