The arrest of Anne Frank
On 4 August 1944, Anne Frank and the other people in hiding were arrested in a raid by the SD in the Secret Annex. Helpers Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler were also arrested.
On 4 August 1944, an arrest team of Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst, (Sipo-SD) raided Prinsengracht 263 and the Secret Annex. All eight people in hiding and two helpers, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler, were arrested. It has never been fully clarified how the SD tracked down the hiders.[1]
We know little about Anne Frank's experiences during the raid and arrest. According to Otto Frank's 1963 statement, he saw Anne, Margot and Edith in his bedroom when he came downstairs from Peter's room.[2] This statement also reveals that Anne and the others, after questioning at the SD station on Adama van Scheltemaplein, were taken to the Detention Centre on Weteringschans.[2]
Fear of arrest
We know little about Anne Frank during the raid and arrest, but through the diary we do know a little more about Anne's fear of arrest. She describes that fear from the start.
- After about three-and-a-half weeks in the Secret Annex, Anne wrote: "Not being able to go outside upsets me more than I can say, and I'm terrified our hiding place will be discovered and that we'll be shot. That, of course, is a fairly dismal prospect."[3]
- After about three months: "I was terrified and thought our final hour had come. In my mind, I could already see us in a concentration camp or against the wall, getting shot."[4]
- After 20 months: "I know I am not safe, I am afraid of cells and concentration camps (...)"[5]
- The break-in in April 1944 brought the danger close to home. Anne wrote: "This and the police rattling on the bookcase were the moments when I was most afraid. Oh, not my diary, if my diary goes, I go too!"[6]
Footnotes
- ^ Zie ook: Gertjan Broek, Onderzoeksverslag inzake verraad en arrestatie van de onderduikers in het Achterhuis, Anne Frank Stichting (december 2016).
- a, b Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Centraal Archief Bijzondere Rechtspleging, inv. nr. 23892 (dossier van Maaren: Verklaring Otto Frank, p.v.b. 86/1963 v.H., p. 1-5.
- ^ Anne Frank, Version A, 1 August 1942, in: The Collected Works; [transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty; transl. from the German language by Kirsten Warner and transl. from the Dutch language by Nancy Forest-Flier]. London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019. ISBN 978-1-4729-6491-5.
- ^ Anne Frank, Version A, 15 October 1942, in: The Collected Works.
- ^ Anne Frank, Version A, 12 March 1944, in: The Collected Works.
- ^ Anne Frank, Version A, 9 April 1944, in: The Collected Works.