A sad and painful discovery in the story of Anne Frank

I’ve read widely around this subject and you’re absolutely correct ramblingrose about the Nazis using Jewish people to do much of the ‘dirty’ work. Initially they and their families were protected from deportation but eventually they found they were treated in exactly the same way as everyone else.

From early on, the Nazis "persuaded" Jews to betray other Jews to save themselves, but they never intended to save the Jews who betrayed others. Some of these Jews were the "Jewish Policemen".

Once the Jewish Policemen had given them all the information they wanted (usually about who the rabbi was and addresses of other Jews) they treated those people just like all the other Jews, or worse.

For example, in one Polish town I know of, they rounded up all the Jews in the town square in the summer of 1942 prior to selecting those to transport to Belzec, an extermination camp. Then they asked the Jewish policemen to come forward and hanged them in front of everyone present. This was a common pattern all over Poland.

I realise that many approached in this way were very frightened and must have been desperate to save themselves and their own families. In most cases, they were not saving themselves - only fooling themselves that they would be saved.

So the betrayal of Jewish families and their whereabouts as in the case of Anne Frank was a common method used by the Nazis to find all the Jews in an area and remove them from their homes to a ghetto. In Anne's case, her family were sent to a temporary camp and then to Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen where she, her sister and mother all died.

The Dutch publisher of the book says that it has decided to suspend further prints of "The Betrayal of Anne Frank". I can't say I am surprised, apparently more work needs to be done around the claims that the informant had a list of Jews in hiding in Amsterdam.
There was some form of an apology to "people who may have been offended" by the book, so we must assume this to have have been the accused's family or the Jewish community. Understandably.
However, I might still hang onto my copy because a lot of the 6 year investigation and detail contains a wealth of historical information.

Josieann

OnwardandUpward

That's shockin Josieann. Do you think the person benefitted financially or otherwise for the exchange of information or that they were tortured for it?

I cannot think of a reason why a Jew would betray another Jew, but the times of covid have shown us that people have turned against people, divided over things like views about injections and masks, sadly.

I don't know OnwardandUpward but I assume he was saving himself and his family from the gas chamber. There is a book out about the investigation which I might read. What I want to know is why he revealed the hiding place at the very last minute when he would have known about it for years?

That's so sad Josieann and yet relatable.

I also think that the man and his family may have gone to the ovens anyway, despite sharing that information. I doubt the Nazi's were people of integrity.

I'm only a few chapters in, but as yet there has been no mention of accusing anyone, more the painstaking lengths they had to go to in order to even set up the investigation. Apparently betrayal is a a non forensic crime so the case team needed to work with cutting edge methods of information gathering. I am amazed at the number of experts on the team from so many different counties.

Evidence is circumstantial, I feel sorry for his family, as there is no proof.

They were very clear in the interview I heard annie that it wasnt a case of blame, that it was simply saying what they think happened without laying blame because of the issues we have discussed.

But they have assigned blame Galaxy

My understanding is that he gave a list of addresses of hiding places but did not necessarily know the people who lived there, or even if they were still there. I listened to an interview with the researchers of the project and they were very clear that this wasnt a case of assigning blame. And yes it was in order to save his own family.

I can understand why a father would try to save his own children's lives by betraying others.

I am not saying I approve, but honest to God I could be afraid I would have made the same choice in his place. Most of us grew up believing that our first duty was to our own family, especially our own children,

Does anyone know if he suceeded in rescuing his own family?

My knowledge of the SS leads me to believe that they may well have rounded the traitor and his family up the week after Anne Franck and her family.

Yes, it is horrible that others were blamed for this betrayal, but at least they knew they were not guilty of it.

I agree with others it was a very difficult time and some people did what they had to do to survive.
It is is also not the first time that they to identify the mole and new candidates keep coming up

Such a tragedy for all involved

My book arrives today. I guess you could say it is just one writer's story about the recent extensive research and findings, so unless it went to court there is no real proof. Three other people have been implicated and named over the years. I think this guy might be different due to some letter at the time? I read somewhere he had 3 daughters, one the same age as Anne, so they might even have been friends.

No need to name him

I cannot judge him but I do wonder why he needs to be named? If he has surviving descendants how will they feel? It is such a famous betrayal.

How will we be judged in 80 years time - for what is happening today. That we either condone, or close our eyes to. And no-one is holding a gun to our head.

I can’t judge this man. I would have done whatever was required of me to save my own family. I think most would do the same.

I saw a programme about the Nazi occupation of Jersey. A soldier siezed hold of a woman with a small child, and asked her where a certain person was. She told him she didn't know; he pointed the gun at her little boy and said either she tell him or he would shoot the child. What would you do? I read that the man's family were threatened with death if he didn't betray the Franks. He has had to carry that for the rest of his life - I cannot imagine how he felt, or how he suffered. It's ok being brave on your own behalf, but who could see their child shot?

Agreed.

But we can judge the now, what we do now, or what we accept being done around us, and on our behalf.

None of us are in a position to judge as we have no idea how we would feel how it was at that time and how we would feel to betray another family to save our own. This is the awful choice that Jewish people had to make and we can only hope they have all been forgiven for whatever decision they made.

We know the choices some are making now, and without threat to their own families. How will those choices be judged in 80 years time?

It is very sad but as maddy and others have said none of us know what choices we would have made in the same situation.

How very sad Josiann. I felt very sad when I visited Ann Frank's house, especially her bedroom, couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Callistemon21

^the idea of expecting our Royal Navy to risk the lives of asylum seekers, rather than save them is disgusting and shameful.^

That goes against Maritime Law

Did you watch the Documentary about Afghanistan. Parents ready to give their children away to save, them, sell them indeed, in desperation.

And many here support Priti Patel's plant.

What hideous choices you are considering. Do any of us know how we would behave in extremis?
Possibly, given that when we are fighting for breath, we can think only of ourselves and our next gasp for air, I fear there would be no choice.

Didn't Otto Frank survive the Holocaust? How awful to survive when your family perished.

There is a duty pursuant to international law for a ship to attempt the rescue of persons at danger at sea. ... All states recognize this duty. One implication of this rule is that a state cannot legally prohibit its vessels from rescuing persons at sea: states must accept that their vessels engage in rescue operations.
Oxford Law Faculty