Anne Frank: the coldest case cracked
Anne Frank was a Jewish child, originally from Germany, who fled to the Netherlands when the Holocaust began in 1941. As the Nazi’s reign spread across Europe, the available hideouts for persecuted Jewish people dwindled. But, as war raged on around them, Anne, 13 at the time, her older sister Margot, and her parents hid in the attic of an Amsterdam townhouse known as the Annex. According to History.com, Anne lived in the Annex with her family and two other families for two years until the hideout was searched.
In every conflict, there are people who serve as beacons of hope: whether it be a prolific soldier on the battlefield, or a young girl writing in her diary. When the Annex was found, its residents were sent to various concentration and extermination camps around Europe. Anne’s diary was left behind. Published posthumously by her father, the family’s only Holocaust survivor, Anne’s diary quickly became famous. It gave the world a glimpse into what this teenager, wise beyond her years, had to endure as a young Jewish person during the Holocaust. Additionally, the diary provided an opportunity for students to learn about the Holocaust from someone their age, who had firsthand experience.
illustration by eliot schlaack
In the last five years, one of the coldest cases in history was reopened by a team of investigators. Led by former FBI agent Vincent Pankoke, the team asked one simple question: who told the Nazis of the Frank family’s location? The world had always pictured the person who would commit such an act of hate as the ultimate villain—somebody who could sympathize with Nazi’s and hand over the lives of eight Jewish people in hiding. The case's result, however, is not quite as rewarding.
In 2017, an author, documentarian, and a team of researchers and investigators all came together to solve the case. Through countless hours of deliberation, artificial intelligence data analysis, and good old fashioned investigative work, the antagonist was uncovered: a generational mystery was solved, according to CBS.
The accused is a man named Arnold van den Bergh. Mr. Van den Bergh was a prominent lawyer in Amsterdam, noted for his social work and philanthropy as an Amsterdam highroller. But, most interestingly, he was Jewish.
A respected Jewish man, handing over the location of other Jews in hiding? Though seemingly unlikely, some context could be provided upon further research. According to CBS, Mr. Van den Bergh was a selected member of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, a commitee created by the Nazis, which feigned philanthropic public interest. In reality, the committee was used to help uncover and deport thousands of Jewish people to camps across Europe.
The research team speculated that in 1943, when the council was disbanded and its members were taken to camps, Mr. Van den Bergh used the information that he had—the location of illegal Jewish hideaways—to bargain for his life and freedom.
There was question among researchers as to whether or not this information should be released, as many worried it could spark antisemitism. In a 60 Minutes interview with Jon Wertheim, Thijs Buyens, the filmmaker and documentarian who started the project, wondered if what they uncovered would be “fodder for bigots and antisemites.” But ultimately, the reality is that the Nazi’s did not care if you were the richest Jewish person, or the poorest. Anne Frank and Arnold Ven den Bergh were both victims of the Holocaust and its brutality, like millions of others. And, more than 75 years later, the story that changed so many lives finally has an ending.