Althouse: "A Dutch publisher has dropped a controversial new book that claims a Jewish notary may have betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis."

February 3, 2022

"A Dutch publisher has dropped a controversial new book that claims a Jewish notary may have betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis."

"Published last month, Rosemary Sullivan’s The Betrayal Of Anne Frank identifies Arnold van den Bergh as the possible informant. He is said to have handed over addresses of Jews hiding in Amsterdam to the Nazis to save his own skin.... Previous research suggested the hideout was possibly found by chance during a raid over ration fraud."

The Jewish Chronicle reports.

45 comments:

rhhardin said...: It seems like ordinary self-serving human weakness to me.; 2/3/22, 8:48 AM
rhhardin said...: So it wasn't the drum set she got for Bat Mitzvah after all.

- comedy sketch; 2/3/22, 8:50 AM
gilbar said...: Do we know that Arnold van den Bergh was Actually a Jew?
Or did he just take on that name to help his career ?; 2/3/22, 8:55 AM
tim in vermont said...: The investigation managed to authenticate an anonymous postwar note sent to Anne’s father Otto claiming Mr van den Bergh had access to information through his role within Amsterdam’s Jewish Council.

So new evidence was presented, but people were offended by it.

But John Goldsmith, president of the Anne Frank Fund, told Swiss newspaper Blick am Sonntag that the book does not help uncover the truth and “is full of errors”.

That "full of errors" is a very useful rhetorical construct, because it avoids confronting the essence of the argument, while muddying the waters. "Helpful" is another red flag word, since it implies an unstated agenda that those who should know, know about, "the truth" as they have decided to present it.

As I mentioned here recently, my mother lived through the occupation of Holland, and told me stories as a child, and who really knows how they would act when confronted by Nazis who had the legal power of imprisonment, torture, and starvation, even if you were not Jewish, to be visited on whomever they pleased. My mother, as a teenager, sat on the roof of her garage and watched aerial battles unfold, though she said that watching American planes get shot down was heart rending. She described one plane with its side blown open, and she could see the crew as it slowly crashed. We can all sympathize with the people put in this situation, but lying about history is poor policy, and it would seem that there is more evidence for this theory than the previous one. "Let sleeping dogs lie" is not good history.

Write a review cataloguing the errors. Of course, if an FBI agent is involved, it could well be full of lies.; 2/3/22, 9:02 AM
Bilwick said...: And now over to Whoopi Goldberg for her commentary. . .; 2/3/22, 9:04 AM
Howard said...: They "proved" the man's "guilt" with an AI algorithm.; 2/3/22, 9:07 AM
tim in vermont said...: "Shut up," they explained.; 2/3/22, 9:40 AM
Achilles said...: ""A Dutch publisher has dropped a controversial new book that claims a Jewish notary may have betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis.""

They better have some actual proof for that claim if they mean to publish it.

If that notary is not famous or powerful enough to deal with such an accusation there better be something rock solid behind it.; 2/3/22, 9:53 AM
Big Mike said...: Even if Arnold van den Bergh was innocent with respect to the Frank family, he was a member of the Jewish Council and the Jewish Councils were set up by the Nazis to enlist Jews to help round up other Jews (the “let me be in the last cattle car mentality”). And certainly there were other Dutch Jews who collaborated with the Gestapo in helping to round up other Jews in hiding. Ans van Dijk is the most famous example, but there were surely others.; 2/3/22, 10:33 AM
rcocean said...: Yes, Arnold van den Bergh was Jew. Like Ann Frank's father he survived the holocaust and unlike Ann frank didn't die of typhus in a labor camp.

This is one reason why the ADL wants schools to teach MAUS - a vulgar comic book - and not Anne Frank's diary. When you deal with real people, you have complexity. Better to just make up a comic book story where you can make everything white/black with no shades of gray.

Plus Maus is "Shocker material" with graphic violence, rape, sexual content, and foul language. It makes more of an impact and also makes the Polish People look bad (they're Portrayed as Pigs). Ann Frank's diary is simply reality. Which is often mild.; 2/3/22, 10:35 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: My knee jerk reaction was to side with the book's authors but after reading a former FBI agent was involved I know believe this is spot on:

"But Dutch historian Erik Somers told Reuters that the research team “seem to work from the point of view that he was guilty and found a motive to fit that”. "; 2/3/22, 10:52 AM
Christopher B said...: They "proved" the man's "guilt" with an AI algorithm.

Interestingly, people only seem to object to the work algorithms do when they find things that make them uncomfortable.; 2/3/22, 10:56 AM
MayBee said...: The word "drops" is especially unhelpful. Drops like when a new record drops? Or drops like a hot potato?; 2/3/22, 11:05 AM
narciso said...: it doesn't follow that because he was the head of the jewish council, he would know who are the hiders; 2/3/22, 11:10 AM
Big Mike said...: I had forgotten. In 2018 a book was published that blamed Ans van Dijk for turning over the Frank family. No one will ever know for certain.; 2/3/22, 11:13 AM
tcrosse said...: Al Franken had a gag about somebody giving Anne a set of drums for Chanukah.; 2/3/22, 11:17 AM
Readering said...: I guess when 30 experts are assembled to tackle a conundrum, some answer must be found, written up, and published. No cause of action for slandering the dead.

Meanwhile, something about both racism and man's inhumanity to man applies to Frank's capture and death.; 2/3/22, 11:21 AM
tommyesq said...: Arnold van den Bergh as the possible informant. He is said to have handed over addresses of Jews hiding in Amsterdam to the Nazis to save his own skin....

After the war, his father suggested he change his name to "Soros."; 2/3/22, 11:22 AM
wildswan said...: I don't see that the book made its case and it accused a dead man who cannot defend himself of terrible crime. It should not have been published. An algorithm may show that an individual had opportunity but that doesn't show he made use of it. Same for all the rest. The Jewish Council may have made questionable decisions; it may have cooperated with the Nazis; it may have had lists. That doesn't mean that this specific man on that Council actually committed the crime in question. It's still just as possible that some Nazi supporter found out by accident and carried out the malignant design in her heart by telling the Germans what she saw.; 2/3/22, 11:42 AM
Ann Althouse said...: “ This is one reason why the ADL wants schools to teach MAUS - a vulgar comic book - and not Anne Frank's diary. When you deal with real people, you have complexity. Better to just make up a comic book story where you can make everything white/black with no shades of gray.”

Ridiculous. Maus is the story of the artist’s own family. It’s presented as the true story. You might as well asset that Anne Frank made things up!; 2/3/22, 11:42 AM
rhhardin said...: Anne Frank was made a person of interest by the media. At the time she was nothing. So it's really all in the media's court now. How should we play this. They've got to keep you interested.

Arguing over nothing.; 2/3/22, 11:45 AM
rhhardin said...: The Exception (2016) has a Jew and a German soldier and is sort of nice, hatred of Jews in general here and there and a soldier who doesn't care "but don't tell anybody else."; 2/3/22, 11:50 AM
Loren W Laurent said...: Just something a white person did to another white person.

-- Loren; 2/3/22, 11:53 AM
doctrev said...: gilbar said...
Do we know that Arnold van den Bergh was Actually a Jew?
Or did he just take on that name to help his career ?

2/3/22, 8:55 AM

Hah! Now that is good kek. Possibly the top.

As for Professor Althouse's contention about Anne Frank: well, let's just say that at the time of the diary's publishing, Anne Frank was in no position to edit the manuscript. That was the reason the diary was so important, at least if you trust the work as published. By contrast, Gene Spiegelman has the temptation all authors have to take liberties with their work, whether consciously or unconsciously.; 2/3/22, 12:02 PM
tds said...: Since the thread turned touched the topic of the authenticity of the stories --

There is a movie 'Defiance' about Jewish brothers named Bielski and their adventures in fighting Nazis in occupied Poland. Weird thing about this movie is that it starts in June 1941. Weird, because preparations to fight Nazis started full force in Poland in 1938, and the actual fight in 1939. Of course, everybody with the minimal knowledge of the history of the region suspects why the period of 1939-1941 of Bielskis' adventures was not presented to the audience.

Also, maybe I'll refrain from ranting about 'the Painted Bird'; 2/3/22, 12:18 PM
rcocean said...: Huh? Its presented as the true story? what does that mean?

Maus is a comic book. It has animal characters. Its not real. Partly its made up from the authors memories of what his family members told him. 2nd hand. He's never asserted it was 100 percent true. Its fiction - Ann Frank is fact !

See, I can do exclaimation points too.; 2/3/22, 12:30 PM
rcocean said...: People don't need stories or comic books about the Holocaust. Teach Kids the real history when they're in HS. If you can only get kids interested by telling them with cartoons and fiction, than its too early.

We have documents, histories, personal first hand narratives. The Holocaust is history, its not a made-for-TV movie. Or an afterschool TV kids drama. Or a animal based cartoon like Goofey and Daffy Duck. History - that's what school kids should be given. History. Facts. Reality. When they can handle it, in HS.

Just my opinion.; 2/3/22, 12:35 PM
TaeJohnDo said...: "History. Facts. Reality. "

You want he truth!? You can't handle the truth!; 2/3/22, 1:21 PM
cubanbob said...: tds said...
Since the thread turned touched the topic of the authenticity of the stories --

There is a movie 'Defiance' about Jewish brothers named Bielski and their adventures in fighting Nazis in occupied Poland. Weird thing about this movie is that it starts in June 1941. Weird, because preparations to fight Nazis started full force in Poland in 1938, and the actual fight in 1939. Of course, everybody with the minimal knowledge of the history of the region suspects why the period of 1939-1941 of Bielskis' adventures was not presented to the audience.

Also, maybe I'll refrain from ranting about 'the Painted Bird'

2/3/22, 12:18 PM"

Why beat around the bush? Come out and say whatever it is you are implying.; 2/3/22, 2:20 PM
cubanbob said...: Too bad the names of all the people involved with the mass murders were never fully revealed and published and of course not punished.; 2/3/22, 2:26 PM
Lurker21 said...: The Bielski brothers were in eastern Poland in the lands which were occupied by the Soviets in 1939-1941, so the circumstances and timetable involved were different in those years than they were in the German zone of occupation. Today, where they were is part of Belarus, and there must have been access to swamps and thick forests that would make a natural hiding place, unavailable in other locations.

Arnold van den Bergh's cousin has an article in the Forward. I gather the case against van den Bergh hasn't been proved. Still, it must be hard to have rumors like this in one's own family.; 2/3/22, 2:44 PM
walter said...: "He is said to have handed over addresses of Jews hiding in Amsterdam to the Nazis to save his own skin"
Before it was preserved for him.; 2/3/22, 3:25 PM
Joanne Jacobs said...: Art Spiegelman's parents, Polish Jews, hid from the Nazis and were caught and sent to Auschwitz but survived. Their first child did not. His mother committed suicide when he was 20. He told their story in a graphic novel depicting Jews as mice, Nazis as cats (and Poles as pigs). "Maus" is not vulgar or sensationalized or ahistorical. It's brilliant.; 2/3/22, 3:48 PM
Biff said...: Who knows what to believe in 2022?

Historians bash ‘rubbish’ findings of investigation into Anne Frank betrayal. The Times of Israel. January 20, 2022.; 2/3/22, 4:39 PM
Richard Aubrey said...: An officer of the Titanic was portrayed, inaccurately, as a coward. His family insisted and got an apology from the producers.
I had heard they successfully sued, as well, but can find nothing at this point.
So...if Bergh has family and they object...better be some serious evidence.; 2/3/22, 5:12 PM
Big Mike said...: (and Poles as pigs)

I'm sure the Poles appreciate that.; 2/3/22, 5:13 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: No one likes to acknowledge that "their side" collaborated.; 2/3/22, 5:56 PM
rcocean said...: "Art Spiegelman's parents, Polish Jews, hid from the Nazis and were caught and sent to Auschwitz but survived."

That's what Art says. He was born in 1948. And even if that's true, that doesn't mean the incidents in Maus really happened to his parents. Or that he remembered what they said correctly.

You mention his mother committed suicide at age 56 in 1968. What does that have to do with anything? His father lived to be 76 and died in 1982. His elder brother, who he never met, was killed by his Aunt, who committed suicide because she didn't want to be imprisoned by the Germans.

Speigelmann had a Nervous breakdown and by his own admission took "a lot of LSD". Not to mention he did pornagraphic cartoons for much of his career. So why do I bring this up? Because maybe Art isn't the most reliable fountain of Historical knowledge. Maybe "Maus" is a work of fiction like all his other comics. Maybe. And chanting "why it could be true" or "some of things happened to others" is ridiculous.

Again - why read a fictional silly comic book when you have real life books from real life people based on real life PROVEN historial fact? Why read about cartoon mice, when you can see actual footage of concentration camps?; 2/3/22, 6:00 PM
Joe Smith said...: Naming someone as a Judas in this instance seems like a huge lawsuit waiting to happen...; 2/3/22, 6:23 PM
FullMoon said...: So, documentary on Netflix about mass murder of Jews. Dig a large, deep, rectangular ditch. Make Jews strip and lie face down, head to toe. Murder that row. Force next victims to lie on top of bleeding warm corpses. Murder them. Continue until ditch is full.

Come back tomorrow, do it again. Two bullets allowed per person. If a child is old enough to stand, they get 2 bullets. If not old enough, mother must hold child above head, one bullet each for child, then mom. Kill the child first to spare them the agony of seeing mom killed.

Interview actual murderer participant who believes he is a good guy because he was a good shot and scored a quick kill almost every time.

And, Nazis the administration, most killers local populace.; 2/3/22, 6:54 PM
Bilwick said...: He "dropped" a new book? Gee, I hope it didn't fall in water, or dog poop.; 2/3/22, 8:22 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: A journalist or author wouldn't falsify information to create a sensation just to sell a book or sell newspapers, would he? I watched that old film Ann mentioned the other day, "Ace in the Hole" and was surprised how appropriate and disturbing it was.; 2/3/22, 8:30 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "A journalist or author wouldn't falsify information to create a sensation just to sell a book or sell newspapers, would he? I watched that old film Ann mentioned the other day, "Ace in the Hole" and was surprised how appropriate and disturbing it was."

Glad you watched the film, and thanks for making this connection. Yes, this author got a ton of publicity. I saw the headlines about the "discovery" and did not click on them, because my instinct was skeptical. I waited for this headline — about the publisher withdrawing — before I read about it.; 2/4/22, 5:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The publisher withdrawing is a real fact that is almost certainly accurately reported.; 2/4/22, 5:49 AM
daskol said...: This is one reason why the ADL wants schools to teach MAUS

The ADL, currently helmed by stakeholder capitalism/ESG guru Jonathan Greenblatt, is no more the spokesman for Jews than I am—less so, I’d wager. Whatever the Foxman ADL was, the new one is just a globalist org siphoning away Gussie and Sylvia and Harry’s cash to spend for its oligarchic mission. I point this out because seen ADL invoked a couple times here this week, and it is a sham organization that foments resentment against Jews rather than some civil rights organizations on the moral high ground.; 2/4/22, 12:57 PM