After massive criticism
Publisher discontinues controversial book “The Betrayal of Anne Frank”.
Between 1942 and 1944, Anne Frank hid with her family in a rear building in Amsterdam. Her diary from this time is world famous.
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It should have been a sensation: Anne Frank – betrayed by a notary, who was also Jewish. But after massive criticism, the publisher has now stopped printing the controversial book and apologized for the publication.
Under what circumstances were Anne Frank and her family discovered and arrested in their hiding place in Amsterdam in 1944? Researchers suddenly seemed to have an answer to this question: the team examined 30 theories about the Anne Frank case. Her result made waves. Accordingly, it is most likely that a Jewish notary betrayed the family.
“The Betrayal of Anne Frank”: No reprint until authors have answered critical questions
That would have been a sensation. Accordingly, the attention to the theory was great. But after days of criticism because of allegedly unclean research, the Dutch publisher “ambo anthos” is now distancing itself from its authors for the time being and will initially stop printing the controversial book “Het verraad van Anne Frank” (The Betrayal of Anne Frank) until the researchers have commented on some critical issues. This is reported by several Dutch media.
Accordingly, the publisher said in a letter: “We are very sorry that the content has caused such a reaction. We sincerely apologize to anyone who feels offended by the book.”
The publishing house is aware that the international publication has caused it to skid and that a more critical attitude would have been possible. “We are awaiting the research team’s responses to the questions raised and are postponing the decision on a reprint for the time being.”
The book was published on January 18th. In it, the research team led by author Rosemary Sullivan presented the thesis that the Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh had betrayed Anne Frank and her family, who hid from Nazi persecution in a rear building in Amsterdam between 1942 and 1944. the star reported.
Accordingly, Van den Bergh passed on a whole list of hidden Jews to the National Socialists in order to protect himself and his family from arrest and deportation. The research team of historians, criminologists and ex-FBI agent Vince Pankoke said the thesis had a probability of 85 percent.
Researcher: Theory “slanderous nonsense”
Media around the world also reported on the release with this figure. But soon experts criticized the book. As the “Spiegel” reports, the Dutch historian Bart Wallett described the theory as “shaky as a house of cards”. His colleague Bart van der Boom called it “slanderous nonsense”.
The researcher David Barnouw also classified the results to the broadcaster “NOS” as pure speculation.
The “Anne Frank Fund”, owner of the rights to Anne Frank’s diary, also questioned the research results. “We were hoping for serious and fact-based research,” John D. Goldsmith, President of the Anne Frank Fund, told the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick. “But the way the ‘research’ was done disappointed us.”
Goldsmith criticized that the research project was not open-ended and not purely academic. The evidence would be lacking for the claims made. “Now the core statement is: A Jew betrays Jews. That sticks in people’s minds and is worrying.”
Sources: now.nl, nrc.nl, tzum.info, The mirror, with material from DPA