The idea arose when filmmaker Thijs Bayens walked past the Anne Frank House and saw the long queue of visitors. A cross-section of society, ordinary people in an ordinary neighbourhood, just like the Jewish Frank family in the Amsterdam Jordaan during the war years, with friends and acquaintances and colleagues and classmates. Until the proliferation of fascism put pressure on relationships and people came to stand against each other, willing to betray others, even acquaintances.
It has been almost eighty years since Anne Frank was betrayed. Who tipped off the Nazis about her hiding place? An investigation team says it has now found the likely traitor.
Who do we stand up for in times of oppression? Who are we dropping? These questions, Bayens realized, are topical again 77 years after the Second World War. ‘I worry about what I see happening around me, the exclusion of groups, the lack of tolerance.’ The story about Anne Frank’s betrayal seemed to him to be the best way to draw attention to this. In August 1944, who had informed the German Sicherheitsdienst that Jews were hidden on Prinsengracht, house number 263, and why? Those questions were never clarified.
His idea led to the creation of a cold case team of dozens of experts, led by former FBI agent Vince Pankoke and journalist Pieter van Twisk. Now, six years later, there is a book that reports on their years of research. The most likely scenario, the team concludes, is a painful one: the treason would have been committed by the Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh. Among other things, the team discovered a copy of a note that Otto Frank had received after the war, in which the notary is mentioned as the traitor.
Your conclusions must be terrible for the Van den Bergh family. How is their reaction?
‘Arnold van den Bergh’s granddaughter paid a visit to the office of the cold case team, Vince showed her the note there. If her grandfather did indeed give the address, she told us, he could have had only one reason: to save his family. I have been in contact with her all this time and I am deeply impressed by her attitude. It took her a while to process the message on that note. This is very hard on me, she told me, but I understand it is a story that needs to be told to the world. I think it’s great that you can say that, it shows so much inner civilization.
‘We have investigated more betrayal scenarios and we have also had a lot of cooperation from relatives of other potential traitors. I was struck by that. They all saw the importance, especially in this day and age.’
Have you ever considered not disclosing the results because they are so sensitive?
‘A lot has been said about this, also with prominent people from the Jewish community. The general view was that we could not conceal the conclusions. When you start such an extensive study, you also have to publish the results. But I did wake up. I realize that this news will stir up a lot of emotions and I very much hope that they will not derail. I find the revival of anti-Semitism very worrying.’
Are you proud of the end result?
‘No, I wouldn’t want to use that word. For me, the research was not so much a whodunit as a whydunit. When are you willing to betray the other out of an existential fear? How do you stay morally balanced when deportation is a constant threat? This notary was one of many. Thousands of others were forced into the same position during the war, you would want to read all their stories to understand what horrible dilemma people can get into.
‘The key question might be: what would I have done? Of course you don’t know until it happens to you. But it is valuable to think about these kinds of moral dilemmas. I’ve asked myself that question many times, all the team members have, and that’s really humbled me as a person. What matters is that we learn something from this, only when that has happened I might be proud.’
Do you also have a personal involvement with the war?
‘My father was traumatized by the war, he couldn’t talk about what he had been through. My mother told me that he often had nightmares about it. I never knew my grandparents, only recently did I discover that their house was a transit house for Jewish people in hiding during the war. There were always four or five of them, waiting for a permanent address elsewhere. They lived next to a Wehrmacht building, where they sometimes went to steal coal at night. When I started this project, I spoke to one of those people in hiding. He told me that my grandparents took huge risks. My father, still a young boy, must have lived in permanent terror. By delving into the war years I have come to understand him better.’
Julie speaking about ‘the most likely scenario’. How strong is the evidence?
“There’s no smoking gun. Betrayal is as fleeting as alcohol in the air. It’s about one statement, one phone call. Our story is well substantiated, but no one can ever be one hundred percent sure. At the same time, we have never been closer than we are now.’