Anne Frank Research Paper

Almost everyone has heard the tragic story of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl that died in a concentration camp during World War II, but how did her brave, widely spread story come to an end. Anne Frank and her family lived in a “Secret Annex” in the building of her father’s, Otto Frank’s, work building. The Franks along with the van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer, lived in hiding for a little over two years together until they were found and arrested by the German Gestapo. The Gestapo otherwise known as Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police arrested the group of Jewish people on August 4, 1944. They were taken to Westerbork(a transit camp), the three women were then sent to Auschwitz and later to Bergen-Belsen. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was the only member from the “Secret Annex” to

survive both the Holocaust and the war. After the war, Otto Frank believed someone had tipped off the Nazis of their location. Otto strongly believed Anton Ahlers betrayed his family, but still after 74 years no one knows what actually happened. In the case of Anne Frank’s betrayal, the group of people living in hiding were arrested, and scientists may now be able to find out who betrayed them using new technology. We may not know exactly what happened or who betrayed him, but we do know Nazi papers were destroyed in a fire, all suspects are dead, and all investigations held were inconclusive. Some theories of who betrayed them are Willem van Maaren, Lena Hartog, and Anton Ahlers.

First of all, many Nazi papers were destroyed in a 1946 bombing. Even though Nazis kept meticulous records, the records that could have held the family’s betrayer were destroyed in a 1946 bombing. This means that the records of who may have made the call to the Gestapo could have possibly been in the destroyed records. The answer may have not been in the records if they never existed though. A prominent Dutch Nazi Anton Ahlers was a Nazi that may have been the betrayer of the Franks. Ahlers is known to be a dangerous person, and therefore he constantly turned in many Jewish families in hiding. Obviously, since Ahlers was a Nazi, he was not fond of Jewish people, and he was powerful enough to find or turn in anyone he wanted. He was also present at the Franks and van Pel's arrest, which probably means he turned them in because when a Nazi turned someone in they were generally present during the arrest. Finally, Ahlers’ own son endorsed the idea that his father turned in the Franks. Anton Ahlers’ son, Anton Ahlers, claims his father would go around saying he was the one who turned the Franks into the Gestapo. It would make no sense for Anton to make this up as he probably doesn’t want to be known as a cruel man’s son. There is nothing good that comes from claiming his father did it, especially since it would make many people very angry.

Second, many investigations were stopped after the suspect died.

To many people, it didn’t make sense to continue to investigate a dead person. This means that anyone who died while being investigated could really be the betrayer. If the judges just stopped the investigation, they would never find the verdict of the suspect. One example of this happening is Willem van Maaren. Van Maaren had been the head warehouseman of the company and was not in on the secret, but he had his suspicions. This shows that since Willem van Maaren was a very nosy person in general, and he even set traps to find the truth, he could have been the betrayer. He may have discovered the families living there and was scared for his life and job. Lastly, after he died his investigation no longer continued. Shortly after the war, van Maaren was investigated for betrayal because of his sneaking around, but no evidence was found, and the investigation later reopened in 1963. Furthermore, after his death in 1971, historians no longer continued their investigations on him. In other words, van Maaren could have easily been the betrayer, but once historians stopped investigating they got rid of another possible

suspect.

Finally, all investigations and cases regarding the betrayal of Anne Frank have been inconclusive. This is one of the main reasons we still don’t have an answer. Moreover, either investigators or historians have dropped the cases because of death or that they had no real evidence. This means that there is no hard evidence to prove who really did it and now they are all just theories. One example of an inconclusive investigation is the case of Lena Hartog Van Bladeren. Hartog was the office cleaner that claimed she knew that Jews were hiding in the company’s warehouse. Also, she even told Anna Genot, one of her clients, she feared for her husband’s life and job because Jews were hidden at the Prinsengracht. This shows that if Lena had thought her husband was in real danger she may have felt it absolutely essential to turn the Franks in. Third, Lena Hartog’s investigation was ruled inconclusive leaving her no longer a suspect. This illustrates Hartog’s investigation did not have an answer in the end. Many historians are looking into continuing the investigation on Lena to find if she is really guilty or innocent.

Altogether, many people may think it doesn’t matter who betrayed the Franks and van Pels because it happened almost 75 years ago, but after the war ended Nazis and Jewish betrayers were punished for their cruelties. It is only fair for the person who betrayed these families to be found, so everyone will know who did it. Most researchers have come up with mostly the same three suspects Lena Hartog, Willem van Maaren, and Anton Ahlers. All three of these people have evidence that supports the fact that they betrayed them and that they may have not. Will we ever really know who betrayed Anne Frank?