We only know about the fate of Anne Frank, apart from the fact that she died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945, from witness accounts. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was the only one of the eight people in hiding in the Secret Annex to survive the horrors of the war.
Betrayal?
How were Anne Frank and the seven other people in hiding discovered? This question is still unanswered, and still occupies people’s minds. Otto Frank and his helpers, who also survived the war, suspected betrayal, although they had no concrete evidence. A court case against a former warehouse worker therefore came to nothing. Otto Frank wrote about this in a letter in 1975: “Since there is no evidence, our former warehouse employee could not be pursued either. I did hear, however, that the man suffered for years under suspicion because his neighbours shunned him. Of course I would have liked to see the traitor punished, but without evidence I could not take any further action.”
Research into the arrest
The warehouse clerk was just one of the people linked to Anne Frank’s arrest. Other people and circumstances followed. There was always talk of betrayal. This assumption should come as no surprise, as Jews were betrayed on a large scale. Research by the Anne Frank House from 2016 shows that for a case of ‘everyday’ betrayal, this story includes several unusual features. The research shows that there was more going on in the business premises at Prinsengracht 263 than hiding people. There was illegal labour and voucher trading. The research provides a new angle: the Nazi ‘security police’, the Sicherheitsdienst, may have searched the building because of illegal labour and voucher fraud, and in the process the officers came across Anne Frank and the seven other people in hiding in the Secret Annex by chance.
Famous writer
Will we ever find out the answer to the question of how Anne Frank and the other people in hiding were discovered? What we do know is that on 4 August 1944 a 15-year-old Jewish girl was arrested after 25 months in hiding, leaving her diary papers behind in her hiding place. A girl with ambitions and dreams, with a desire to become a journalist and a famous writer. A girl who continues to inspire people worldwide with her life story and words.