The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation

Using new technology, recently discovered documents and sophisticated investigative techniques, an international team—led by an obsessed retired FBI agent—has finally solved the mystery that has haunted generations since World War II: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family? And why?

Over thirty million people have read The Diary of a Young Girl, the journal teenaged Anne Frank kept during World War II. Anne, along with her family and four other people, lived in an attic in Amsterdam until the Nazis arrested them and sent them to a concentration camp. But despite the many works—journal articles, books, plays and novels—devoted to Anne’s story, none has ever conclusively explained how these eight people managed to live in hiding undetected for over two years—and who or what finally brought the Nazis to their door.

With painstaking care, retired FBI agent Vincent Pankoke and a team of indefatigable investigators pored over tens of thousands of pages of documents—some never before seen—and interviewed scores of descendants of people familiar with the Franks. Utilizing methods developed by the FBI, the cold case team painstakingly pieced together the months leading up to the infamous arrest and came to a shocking conclusion. 

The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation is the riveting story of this mission. Rosemary Sullivan introduces us to the investigators, explains the behaviour of both the captives and their captors, and profiles a group of suspects. All the while, she vividly brings to life wartime Amsterdam, a place where no matter how wealthy, educated or careful you were, you never knew whom you could trust.