Jewish notary granddaughter Anne Frank feels ‘cheated’ by research team

The grandson of the man, who was identified in a controversial investigation as the main suspect in Anne Frank’s betrayal, said she felt “cheated” by the investigators, she told Trouw.

Investigators of Peter van Twisk’s cold case team say it is “probable” that the Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh handed over the address of the secret annex of the Nazis outside of self-protection. Other experts strongly disagreed with this conclusion, but the researchers stuck to their conclusions.

Van den Bergh’s grandson, Mirjam de Gorter, repeatedly spoke to detectives about his grandfather, but shortly before publication it was rumored that his grandfather had been identified as the most likely suspect of treason.

counter argument

De Gorter says he has made quite a few counterarguments in his contacts with researchers. He felt “satisfied by the researchers that there was always more than one scenario.” “They weren’t suggesting it could be a little more boring than you might think. It’s ground zero altogether.”

Researcher Pieter van Twisk told Trouw that his team could not tell De Gorter in advance what the outcome was, because it was “obliged to secrecy”. He also says that it is not the first time that Arnold van den Bergh’s name has appeared in investigations. “It was already in several publications.”

publication Anne Frank’s Betrayal It received so much criticism that publisher Ambo Anthos decided to postpone the publication of the book. The publisher apologized and said it needed to take a “more critical” stance. Abroad, the book is published by HarperCollins. De Gorter wants the American publisher to take the book off the market immediately.

new report

De Gorter now wanted to tell his story to Trouw because several Dutch historians will publish a report on Tuesday in which Arnold van den Bergh’s theory of betrayal is discussed. The grandson of the notary says he feels supported in this.

A major criticism of Van Twisk’s team’s research was that the researchers based their conclusions on a note sent anonymously to Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, after the war. It had Van den Bergh’s name on it. The investigation team thought the allegation must be true, as Anne Frank was not world famous at the time.

This conclusion is contested by other experts, who argue that the memorandum may also have been written by, for example, someone who wanted to put Van den Bergh in a bad light.

Source: NOS

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