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"id": 396124654,
"image": null,
"url": "https://research.annefrank.org/en/onderwerpen/2abdc9fe-b0e6-493d-a6cd-a8fd85baabd7/",
"published": true,
"uuid": "2abdc9fe-b0e6-493d-a6cd-a8fd85baabd7",
"name": "Arrest and betrayal",
"name_nl": "Arrestatie en verraad",
"name_en": "Arrest and betrayal",
"description": "<p>One of the most frequently asked questions about the history of Anne Frank and the inhabitants of the Secret Annex is: Who actually betrayed them? This question continues to intrigue people. The Anne Frank House (AFH) still regularly receives suggestions, usually singling out specific individuals. These suggestions are always taken seriously but so far have not provided useful leads. And, of course, here at the Anne Frank House this question is always present in the background. In recent years, the AFH has made more of a commitment to focus on conducting its own research, so this matter is now part of the Knowledge Centre’s research program.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Premise and Background</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>This investigative report is based on the premise that only one thing can be agreed on with certainty: on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>, members of the <em>Sicherheitsdienst</em> or SD (German Security Service) raided the building at 263 Prinsengracht and arrested ten people. It is an assumption – granted a sound one – that this was not a chance occurrence. Obviously, the building had been selected for a reason. Yet, on what information that raid was based and how the SD got that information is still completely unclear. Whether this was a matter of betrayal, committed deliberately or not, is also an assumption. It remains to be seen if an analysis of the available data convincingly supports this decade-old theory. Shortly after the liberation, Otto Frank and the helpers took steps to identify those who might have been responsible for the betrayal. The question of whether betrayal had taken place was not under discussion at that moment. In <strong>1963</strong>, after the Austrian “Nazi-hunter” Simon Wiesenthal tracked down the former SS Officer Karl Joseph Silberbauer, the man who had led the raid on the Secret Annex, the assumption of betrayal seemed to be confirmed. Consequently, until now the literature on this subject has always focused on the question of who? It has long been assumed that a betrayer was out there who needed to be found. However, the sobering reality is that to date this avenue of thinking has yielded nothing conclusive.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Research Question and Sources</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>Considering the above, there is sufficient reason to be receptive to new perspectives and not to exclude other theories. Given what was just presented in the last paragraph, the proposed research question is: Based on what information did the SD raid 263 Prinsengracht on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>, and how did it acquire this information? Both existing and previously unknown sources have been consulted to address this question. Earlier studies generally relied on source material from the files of the Centraal Archief van de Bijzondere Rechtspleging or CABR (Central Archives for Special Criminal Jurisdiction). Despite extensive research, no definitive leads have ever been found there, but information in these files can still be very helpful. Therefore, during this study, a lot of data was scrutinized again and compared with previously unknown or untapped sources. This material included police reports from Amsterdam, Zwolle, and Haarlem, as well as records from the judicial authorities in the latter two cities. In addition, the increasing digitization of data from municipal population registers has made it easier to access information and identify how people might be connected. The ongoing historical research done by the Anne Frank House in recent years has provided more understanding as well. These insights have also been applied while re-examining earlier ideas and theories. Of course, in the analysis of all the related data, existing publications were also consulted. Over the years, several books have been released about the betrayal of people in hiding during the wartime occupation and how they were hunted down.<sup data-footnote-id=\"sa59d\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup> Biographies about both Anne and Otto Frank also present different theories about the events leading up to the raid on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>.<sup data-footnote-id=\"1qfz0\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup> Nonetheless, as the 2003 evaluation conducted by researchers David Barnouw and Gerrold van der Stroom of the NIOD (Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, previously the Dutch Institute for War Documentation) concludes, these theories do not stand up to scrutiny.<sup data-footnote-id=\"cz28w\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup> An overview of the source material used for this investigation – published as well as unpublished – is included at the end of this report</p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"sa59d\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Sytze van der Zee, <em>Vogelvrij: de jacht op de Joodse onderduiker</em>, Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2010; Koos Groen, <em>Een prooi wordt jager: de zaak van de Joodse verraadster Ans van Dijk</em>, herz. ed., Meppel: Just Publishers, 2016; Gerard Kremer, <em>Anne Frank betrayed: the mystery unravelled after 75 years</em>, Ede: De Lantaarn, 2020; Rosemary Sullivan, <em>The betrayal of Anne Frank: a cold case investigation</em>, New York, NY: Harper, 2022 (upd. ed. with a new afterword 2023); Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl & Jeroen De Bruyn, <em>The last secret of the Secret Annex : the untold story of Anne Frank, her silent protector, and a family betrayal</em>, London: Simon & Schuster, 2023.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"1qfz0\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Carol Ann Lee, <em>The hidden life of Otto Frank</em>, London: Viking, 2002; Melissa Müller, <em>Anne Frank: the biography, u</em>pd. and exp. ed., London: Bloomsbury, 2013.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"cz28w\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>David Barnouw & Gerrold van der Stroom, <a href=\"https://www.niod.nl/nl/publicaties/who-betrayed-anne-frank\"><em>Who betrayed Anne Frank?</em></a>, Amsterdam: NIOD, 2003. For an updated version, see: David Barnouw, <em>Anne Frank en het verraad: een overzicht</em>, Amsterdam: Boom, 2023.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"description_nl": "<p>Een van de meest gestelde vragen over de geschiedenis van Anne Frank en het Achterhuis is wel: 'Wie heeft ze nu eigenlijk verraden?' Die kwestie houdt zeer veel mensen bezig. Er komen bij de Anne Frank Stichting (AFS) met zekere regelmaat nog suggesties binnen, doorgaans duidelijk gericht naar individuen. Die suggesties worden altijd serieus bekeken maar leverden tot dusverre geen bruikbare gezichtspunten op. Ook binnen de AFS is het vraagstuk uiteraard altijd sterk aanwezig. Nu de AFS zich de laatste jaren sterker dan voorheen op eigen onderzoek is gaan richten, is deze kwestie in het onderzoeksprogramma opgenomen.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Opzet en achtergrond</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>Het onderzoek is opgezet vanuit de gedachte dat er maar één ding vaststaat: er is op <strong>4 augustus 1944</strong> een inval van leden van de <em>Sicherheitsdienst</em> (SD) in het pand Prinsengracht 263 geweest, en daarbij zijn tien personen gearresteerd. Het is een aanname – hoewel een veilige – dat dit geen toevalstreffer was. Men had het wel degelijk op dit pand gemunt. Op grond van welke kennis de inval gebeurde, en hoe de SD daaraan kwam is echter volstrekt onduidelijk. Dat het een kwestie was van verraad, al dan niet welbewust en doelgericht gepleegd, is eveneens een aanname. Het zal moeten blijken in hoeverre analyse van de beschikbare gegevens deze overtuigend steunt. Kort na de bevrijding zetten Otto Frank en de helpers stappen om de opsporing te bevorderen van degene die voor het verraad verantwoordelijk zou zijn. De vraag of er wel werkelijk verraad plaatsvond stond niet merkbaar ter discussie. Nadat ‘nazi-jager’ Simon Wiesenthal in <strong>1963</strong> de ex-SS’er Karl Joseph Silberbauer opspoorde, de man die de inval in het Achterhuis leidde, leek de aanname van verraad bevestigd. In de literatuur over het onderwerp tot nu toe was de vraagstelling dan ook steeds gericht op ‘wie?’ Dat er gezocht moest worden naar een daadwerkelijke verrader stond daarbij op voorhand vast. De ontnuchterende conclusie is dat die aanpak tot op heden geen betrouwbare resultaten opleverde.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Vraagstelling en bronnen</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>Het voorgaande geeft voldoende aanleiding om het blikveld te verruimen en andere mogelijkheden niet bij voorbaat uit te sluiten. Uitgaande van wat in de vorige paragraaf naar voren is gebracht luidt daarom de vraagstelling: op grond van welke informatie viel de SD het pand Prinsengracht 263 op <strong>4 augustus 1944</strong> binnen, en hoe kwamen ze daaraan? Om deze vraag te beantwoorden is gebruik gemaakt van bekend en tot dusver onbekend materiaal. Oudere onderzoeken baseerden zich doorgaans op bronnen die zich bevinden in de dossiers van het Centraal Archief van de Bijzondere Rechtspleging (CABR). Ondanks zeer uitvoerig onderzoek zijn hier nooit duidelijke aanwijzingen aangetroffen. Desondanks zijn gegevens uit deze dossiers uiteraard van groot belang. In dit onderzoek zijn veel gegevens daarom opnieuw bekeken en vergeleken met voorheen onbekende of onbenutte bronnen. Hiertoe behoren rapporten van de politiekorpsen van Amsterdam, Zwolle en Haarlem, en stukken van justitiële autoriteiten in de laatste twee steden. Met behulp van steeds vaker gedigitaliseerde gegevens uit de bevolkingsadministratie konden bovendien netwerken beter in kaart worden gebracht. Het lopend historisch onderzoek van de Anne Frank Stichting leverde de afgelopen jaren scherpere inzichten op. Deze zijn gebruikt om oudere denkbeelden en theorieën tegen het licht te houden. Bij het analyseren van alle gegevens is vanzelfsprekend ook gebruik gemaakt van de bestaande literatuur. Over verraad van onderduikers en andere vormen van mensenjacht verschenen in de loop van de tijd verschillende boeken.<sup data-footnote-id=\"1xj0u\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup> In biografieën over zowel Anne als Otto Frank zijn eveneens verschillende theorieën ontvouwd over het voortraject van de inval van <strong>4 augustus</strong>.<sup data-footnote-id=\"9zinm\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup> Deze bleven evenwel onbewezen, zoals een evaluatie van de onderzoekers David Barnouw en Gerrold van der Stroom van het NIOD (destijds Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie) uit 2003 aantoont.<sup data-footnote-id=\"ivelj\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup> Een overzicht van al het gebruikte materiaal, gepubliceerd en ongepubliceerd, is aan dit verslag toegevoegd.</p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"1xj0u\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Sytze van der Zee, <em>Vogelvrij: de jacht op de Joodse onderduiker</em>, Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2010; Jeroen De Bruyn & Joop van Wijk, <em>Bep Voskuijl, het zwijgen voorbij: een biografie van de jongste helper van het Achterhuis</em>, Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2015; Koos Groen, <em>Een prooi wordt jager: de zaak van de joodse verraadster Ans van Dijk, </em>herz. ed., Meppel: Just Publishers, 2016; Gerard Kremer, <em>De achtertuin van het Achterhuis</em>, Ede: De Lantaarn, 2018, Rosemary Sullivan, <em>Het verraad van Anne Frank: het baanbrekende onderzoek van een internationaal coldcaseteam in Nederland</em>, Amsterdam: Ambo Anthos, 2022.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"9zinm\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Melissa Müller, <em>Anne Frank: de biografie</em>, 5e, geheel herz. dr., Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2013; Carol Ann Lee, <em>Het verborgen leven van Otto Frank: de biografie</em>, Amsterdam: Balans, 2002.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"ivelj\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>David Barnouw & Gerrold van der Stroom, <em>Wie verraadde Anne Frank?</em>, Amsterdam: Boom / NIOD, 2003. Voor een geactualiseerde versie, zie: David Barnouw, <em>Anne Frank en het verraad: een overzicht</em>, Amsterdam: Boom, 2023.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"description_en": "<p>One of the most frequently asked questions about the history of Anne Frank and the inhabitants of the Secret Annex is: Who actually betrayed them? This question continues to intrigue people. The Anne Frank House (AFH) still regularly receives suggestions, usually singling out specific individuals. These suggestions are always taken seriously but so far have not provided useful leads. And, of course, here at the Anne Frank House this question is always present in the background. In recent years, the AFH has made more of a commitment to focus on conducting its own research, so this matter is now part of the Knowledge Centre’s research program.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Premise and Background</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>This investigative report is based on the premise that only one thing can be agreed on with certainty: on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>, members of the <em>Sicherheitsdienst</em> or SD (German Security Service) raided the building at 263 Prinsengracht and arrested ten people. It is an assumption – granted a sound one – that this was not a chance occurrence. Obviously, the building had been selected for a reason. Yet, on what information that raid was based and how the SD got that information is still completely unclear. Whether this was a matter of betrayal, committed deliberately or not, is also an assumption. It remains to be seen if an analysis of the available data convincingly supports this decade-old theory. Shortly after the liberation, Otto Frank and the helpers took steps to identify those who might have been responsible for the betrayal. The question of whether betrayal had taken place was not under discussion at that moment. In <strong>1963</strong>, after the Austrian “Nazi-hunter” Simon Wiesenthal tracked down the former SS Officer Karl Joseph Silberbauer, the man who had led the raid on the Secret Annex, the assumption of betrayal seemed to be confirmed. Consequently, until now the literature on this subject has always focused on the question of who? It has long been assumed that a betrayer was out there who needed to be found. However, the sobering reality is that to date this avenue of thinking has yielded nothing conclusive.</p>\r\n\r\n<h1><strong>Research Question and Sources</strong></h1>\r\n\r\n<p>Considering the above, there is sufficient reason to be receptive to new perspectives and not to exclude other theories. Given what was just presented in the last paragraph, the proposed research question is: Based on what information did the SD raid 263 Prinsengracht on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>, and how did it acquire this information? Both existing and previously unknown sources have been consulted to address this question. Earlier studies generally relied on source material from the files of the Centraal Archief van de Bijzondere Rechtspleging or CABR (Central Archives for Special Criminal Jurisdiction). Despite extensive research, no definitive leads have ever been found there, but information in these files can still be very helpful. Therefore, during this study, a lot of data was scrutinized again and compared with previously unknown or untapped sources. This material included police reports from Amsterdam, Zwolle, and Haarlem, as well as records from the judicial authorities in the latter two cities. In addition, the increasing digitization of data from municipal population registers has made it easier to access information and identify how people might be connected. The ongoing historical research done by the Anne Frank House in recent years has provided more understanding as well. These insights have also been applied while re-examining earlier ideas and theories. Of course, in the analysis of all the related data, existing publications were also consulted. Over the years, several books have been released about the betrayal of people in hiding during the wartime occupation and how they were hunted down.<sup data-footnote-id=\"sa59d\"><a href=\"#footnote-1\" id=\"footnote-marker-1-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[1]</a></sup> Biographies about both Anne and Otto Frank also present different theories about the events leading up to the raid on <strong>4 August 1944</strong>.<sup data-footnote-id=\"1qfz0\"><a href=\"#footnote-2\" id=\"footnote-marker-2-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[2]</a></sup> Nonetheless, as the 2003 evaluation conducted by researchers David Barnouw and Gerrold van der Stroom of the NIOD (Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, previously the Dutch Institute for War Documentation) concludes, these theories do not stand up to scrutiny.<sup data-footnote-id=\"cz28w\"><a href=\"#footnote-3\" id=\"footnote-marker-3-1\" rel=\"footnote\">[3]</a></sup> An overview of the source material used for this investigation – published as well as unpublished – is included at the end of this report</p>\r\n\r\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\r\n<header>\r\n<h2>Footnotes</h2>\r\n</header>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"sa59d\" id=\"footnote-1\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-1-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Sytze van der Zee, <em>Vogelvrij: de jacht op de Joodse onderduiker</em>, Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 2010; Koos Groen, <em>Een prooi wordt jager: de zaak van de Joodse verraadster Ans van Dijk</em>, herz. ed., Meppel: Just Publishers, 2016; Gerard Kremer, <em>Anne Frank betrayed: the mystery unravelled after 75 years</em>, Ede: De Lantaarn, 2020; Rosemary Sullivan, <em>The betrayal of Anne Frank: a cold case investigation</em>, New York, NY: Harper, 2022 (upd. ed. with a new afterword 2023); Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl & Jeroen De Bruyn, <em>The last secret of the Secret Annex : the untold story of Anne Frank, her silent protector, and a family betrayal</em>, London: Simon & Schuster, 2023.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"1qfz0\" id=\"footnote-2\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-2-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>Carol Ann Lee, <em>The hidden life of Otto Frank</em>, London: Viking, 2002; Melissa Müller, <em>Anne Frank: the biography, u</em>pd. and exp. ed., London: Bloomsbury, 2013.</cite></li>\r\n\t<li data-footnote-id=\"cz28w\" id=\"footnote-3\"><sup><a href=\"#footnote-marker-3-1\">^</a> </sup><cite>David Barnouw & Gerrold van der Stroom, <a href=\"https://www.niod.nl/nl/publicaties/who-betrayed-anne-frank\"><em>Who betrayed Anne Frank?</em></a>, Amsterdam: NIOD, 2003. For an updated version, see: David Barnouw, <em>Anne Frank en het verraad: een overzicht</em>, Amsterdam: Boom, 2023.</cite></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n</section>",
"summary": "Extensive research into the arrest and possible betrayal of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex was carried out by the Anne Frank House in 2016. Read the introduction here and download the entire report ´Research report on betrayal and arrest of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex´ here.",
"summary_nl": "Naar de arrestatie en het mogelijke verraad van de onderduikers in het Achterhuis is in 2016 door de Anne Frank Stichting uitgebreid onderzoek gedaan. Lees hier de inleiding en download het gehele verslag ´Onderzoeksverslag inzake verraad en arrestatie van de onderduikers in het Achterhuis´",
"summary_en": "Extensive research into the arrest and possible betrayal of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex was carried out by the Anne Frank House in 2016. Read the introduction here and download the entire report ´Research report on betrayal and arrest of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex´ here.",
"same_as": null,
"parent": 396124388,
"files": [
916,
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}