Anne Frank Fund head slams findings in diarist’s betrayal as ‘full of errors’

The head of the Anne Frank Fund slams as “full of errors” a claim that Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh is the leading suspect in betraying the teen Holocaust diarist to the Nazis during World War II.

Published last week, author Rosemary Sullivan’s “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation” determines that Arnold van den Bergh — a notary and member of the Nazi-appointed Jewish Council — gave addresses of Jews in hiding to the Germans in exchange for freedom, based on an anonymous letter sent to Frank’s father, Otto. Among those addresses, claim investigators, was Otto Frank’s office building, where the concealed rooms were located.

But adding to historians who have branded the finding “rubbish,” John Goldsmith, president of the Basel-based fund set up by Otto Frank, says the claim isn’t sufficiently backed up and borders on a “conspiracy theory.”

“It contributes not to uncovering the truth but to confusion and in addition it is full of errors,” Goldsmith tells Swiss newspaper Blick am Sonntag, according to Reuters.

“This proof just has not been produced. Simply to disseminate an assertion that then in the public discussion becomes a kind of fact borders on a conspiracy theory,” he charges.

“Now the main statement is: a Jew betrayed Jews. That stays in the memory and it is unsettling.”