WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.140 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:02.140 --> 00:00:04.639 one of the most famous documents of the 20th 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:08.140 century, but we're going far beyond the familiar 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:10.759 narrative you might already know. We're here 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:13.259 to look at Anne Frank, not just as a symbol of 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:16.039 suffering or a victim of the Holocaust, but first 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:19.980 and foremost, as this, this burgeoning, ambitious 00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:23.760 writer whose deeply private thoughts became one 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.500 of the world's most enduring testaments to human 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:29.079 dignity. And that distinction is so, so crucial. 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:31.239 When you approach her text, you have to remember 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:32.899 that what you're holding is the work of a teenager. 00:00:33.770 --> 00:00:36.509 A teenager who consciously decided she wanted 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:38.810 to be an author. Right. She was editing. She 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:42.210 was shaping her manuscript, turning a personal 00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:45.149 journal into a piece of literature, all while 00:00:45.149 --> 00:00:48.189 living in this constant suffocating fear. So 00:00:48.189 --> 00:00:49.929 our mission today is a bit complex. We're going 00:00:49.929 --> 00:00:51.929 to dissect the source material we've gathered, 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:53.990 and that's detailed historical accounts, some 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:56.609 rigorous forensic studies, biographies, and, 00:00:56.649 --> 00:00:58.890 of course, the critical editions of The Diary 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.170 of a Young Girl. Or Het Archer Horse, as it was 00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:03.609 first known. Exactly. And we have so much to 00:01:03.609 --> 00:01:05.469 unpack here. We're going to trace her life from 00:01:05.469 --> 00:01:08.329 her comfortable childhood in Frankfurt all the 00:01:08.329 --> 00:01:10.849 way to the terror of the secret annex. We'll 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:13.569 analyze the literary power she developed in isolation 00:01:13.569 --> 00:01:16.310 and dive really deep into the controversies, 00:01:16.310 --> 00:01:19.310 the betrayal, the defense of her work's authenticity. 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:22.709 This deep dive is really about a writer who set 00:01:22.709 --> 00:01:25.890 a goal to live on even after her death and whose 00:01:25.890 --> 00:01:28.310 success, born from this unimaginable tragedy, 00:01:28.670 --> 00:01:31.049 still forces us to grapple with some of the deepest. 00:01:31.150 --> 00:01:33.930 questions of history and memory. So our story 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:36.769 really begins in Frankfurt, Germany. Anne Frank, 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:39.790 or Anneliese Marie Frank, was born on June 12th. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.260 1929. And her family was a firmly middle class, 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:45.700 right? Well -educated. Very much so. They were 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:47.620 part of the assimilated reformed Jewish community. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:49.840 And the sources are all very consistent on this. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.239 Otto and Edith Frank were devoted parents. They 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:54.540 had this huge library. I read about that. Yeah. 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:56.500 They really prioritized intellectual development, 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:58.719 encouraged both their daughters, Anne and her 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.840 older sister, Margot, in reading and scholarly 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.439 pursuits. It was a very liberal, stable upbringing. 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:07.099 They were really enjoying a prosperous life in 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:09.530 Frankfurt in an area they called the poet. quarter. 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:12.610 Right. The Dixter Viertel. But that whole sense 00:02:12.610 --> 00:02:15.150 of permanence, of comfort, it was just shattered 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:17.750 in 1933. Utterly shattered. The political ground 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:21.389 shifts just violently when Adolf Hitler and the 00:02:21.389 --> 00:02:23.430 Nazi party gain control of the government. And 00:02:23.430 --> 00:02:26.229 that's the trigger. That is the immediate terrifying 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:29.789 catalyst. Otto Frank, who was known for being 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:33.639 pragmatic, for his foresight. He recognized the 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.159 danger early. He knew they had to get out of 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.259 Germany. So he goes on ahead to Amsterdam. He 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:41.479 does. In 1933, he moves there to organize a new 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:44.360 business, the Opecta Works, which sold tecton. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.240 Bacton, the stuff for making jam. Exactly. A 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.199 thickening agent. And he wasn't just, you know, 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.780 getting a new job. He was actively building an 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:54.520 entire financial and logistical base for his 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:56.819 family's future, completely outside of Germany. 00:02:57.229 --> 00:02:59.530 And this detail, the establishment of Opecta, 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:02.389 it's so critical because that physical space, 00:03:02.569 --> 00:03:05.129 the warehouse, the office, that becomes the secret 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:08.069 annex. It's the very foundation of it. The family's 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:10.310 migration happened in stages, which was, you 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:12.169 know, pretty common for refugees at the time. 00:03:12.689 --> 00:03:14.889 Edith and Margo arrived in Amsterdam in late 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:17.729 33. And then Anne, who had been staying with 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:20.090 her grandmother in Aiken for a bit. She follows 00:03:20.090 --> 00:03:23.349 in February 1934. Right. And they're trying to 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:25.629 build a whole new life from scratch. And Amsterdam 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:28.169 was a pretty natural place to go. They settled 00:03:28.169 --> 00:03:30.610 in the Rivier and Burt neighborhood on the Murritplein. 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:34.050 And this area became a hub for German Jewish 00:03:34.050 --> 00:03:37.050 refugees. A lot of people were fleeing that initial 00:03:37.050 --> 00:03:39.949 wave of Nazi persecution. The girls seem to have 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:42.610 settled in pretty quickly. Margot was a star 00:03:42.610 --> 00:03:45.650 pupil and Anne joins the sixth Montessori school. 00:03:46.129 --> 00:03:49.129 The sources really paint her as this outgoing, 00:03:49.270 --> 00:03:51.669 popular kid. And she picked up Dutch so quickly. 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:54.379 That school, by the way, was renamed the Anne 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:57.740 Frank School in her honor in 1957. Meanwhile, 00:03:57.979 --> 00:04:00.180 Otto is working to make them financially stable. 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:03.080 He starts a second company, right? Yeah, Pecticon, 00:04:03.259 --> 00:04:06.159 in 1938. It was a wholesale business for herbs 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.099 and spices. This was a really strategic move, 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:10.500 trading in high -demand goods. And it's through 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:12.520 Pecticon that they connect with Hermann Van Pels. 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:15.740 The butcher who had also fled Germany. Yes, from 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:18.620 Osnabrück. Van Pels was hired as a spice advisor. 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:22.819 And it's just... It's astonishing how the practical 00:04:22.819 --> 00:04:25.519 needs of Otto's business brought together the 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:27.899 eight people who would end up sharing that terrifying 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:30.519 confinement. But that sanctuary they found on 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:32.500 the Netherlands, it was so short -lived. The 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:35.000 trap just closes completely with the German invasion 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.439 in May 1940. Immediately. Restrictive, discriminatory 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.920 laws were implemented almost overnight. The goal 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.779 was simple. Segregate and isolate the Jewish 00:04:44.779 --> 00:04:47.430 population. And the process was just relentless. 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:50.370 It was bureaucratic terror, really. It was. We 00:04:50.370 --> 00:04:52.490 know from the records that it all culminates 00:04:52.490 --> 00:04:55.230 in Anne losing her German citizenship in 1941. 00:04:56.069 --> 00:04:58.529 Suddenly, she's officially stateless. And the 00:04:58.529 --> 00:05:01.350 segregation ramps up. Jewish kids forced into 00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:03.829 Jewish -only schools. Which meant both Anne and 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:06.480 Margot had to switch to the Jewish Lyceum. completing 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.540 their isolation from their Dutch friends. And 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:11.279 this forced isolation just underlines how desperate 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.199 things were getting. The sources show Otto was 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.100 trying everything to get them out. He was trying 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:17.819 to arrange emigration to the United States. That 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.600 was the only viable option left. And this, this 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:22.040 is where we hit one of the most heartbreaking 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:25.240 what -ifs in the whole story. The visa application. 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:27.800 Yeah, it was never processed. And the reason 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.560 why is just, it's brutal. The U .S. consulate 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:33.259 in Rotterdam was destroyed in a German bombing 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:37.720 raid on May 14, 1940. All the paperwork, including 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.259 their application, was lost in the fire. Wow. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.240 A simple bureaucratic failure compounded by an 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:45.920 act of war slams the door on their last hope. 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:48.670 It seals their fate in Amsterdam. An immense 00:05:48.670 --> 00:05:51.449 tragedy driven by a lost piece of paper. But 00:05:51.449 --> 00:05:52.990 even with all this happening, with the walls 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:55.810 closing in, there is that one really poignant 00:05:55.810 --> 00:05:58.290 piece of documentation we have from this period. 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:01.730 The famous silent film footage. Right. July 22, 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:05.769 1941. She's captured on film for maybe 20 seconds. 00:06:06.089 --> 00:06:08.110 And she's just a normal teenage girl leaning 00:06:08.110 --> 00:06:10.490 out of her second floor balcony window watching 00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:12.769 her neighbor's wedding party. She's curious, 00:06:12.870 --> 00:06:15.009 observing this moment of joy in the street below. 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:18.250 it's the only known footage of her it just freezes 00:06:18.250 --> 00:06:21.110 her in this moment of ordinary teenage curiosity 00:06:21.110 --> 00:06:24.250 totally unaware of the abyss she was about to 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.610 fall into it's such a powerful image of life 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:29.670 right before it became utterly abnormal and that 00:06:29.670 --> 00:06:32.329 transition from an ordinary life to this extraordinary 00:06:32.329 --> 00:06:36.550 confinement really hinges on one single very 00:06:36.550 --> 00:06:41.029 personal object the diary She gets it for her 00:06:41.029 --> 00:06:44.589 13th birthday, June 12, 1942. It's not a formal 00:06:44.589 --> 00:06:46.649 journal. It's an autograph book. With that distinctive 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:48.769 red and white checkered cloth cover and a little 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:51.709 lock, she decides to use it as a diary. And she 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:54.009 creates this fictional confidant, Kitty, who 00:06:54.009 --> 00:06:56.189 she addresses her letters to. And her first entries, 00:06:56.250 --> 00:06:58.149 they immediately show the reality that's closing 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:00.449 in around them. Absolutely. Yeah. Even before 00:07:00.449 --> 00:07:02.730 they go into hiding, her entry on June 20 in 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:05.670 1942, it details so many of the discriminatory 00:07:05.670 --> 00:07:08.970 laws. The Yellow Star, the curfews, not being 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:10.750 able to use public transport, not being allowed 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:13.430 in non -Jewish stores. She's documenting the 00:07:13.430 --> 00:07:15.069 very environment that's forcing them underground. 00:07:15.389 --> 00:07:17.509 And the plan to hide was suddenly dramatically 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:19.769 accelerated. They were supposed to go into the 00:07:19.769 --> 00:07:22.310 secret annex on July 16. But then Margo gives 00:07:22.310 --> 00:07:24.250 a call -up notice from the central office for 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:27.000 Jewish. immigration on July 5th. She's ordered 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.860 to report for relocation to a work camp. And 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:32.079 the timetable just shrinks from days to hours. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:36.079 So they move 10 days early on July 6th. The logistics 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.920 of that escape were so tense, so carefully planned. 00:07:39.339 --> 00:07:41.339 They left their apartment in disarray to make 00:07:41.339 --> 00:07:43.620 it look like they had fled suddenly. They even 00:07:43.620 --> 00:07:45.699 left a note hinting they were going to Switzerland. 00:07:45.939 --> 00:07:48.740 A classic misdirection to buy them some time. 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:51.920 A classic ruse. And because Jews were forbidden 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:55.029 from using any public transport. Otto, Edith, 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:56.889 and Anne had to walk several kilometers to the 00:07:56.889 --> 00:07:58.910 hiding place. They would wear multiple layers 00:07:58.910 --> 00:08:00.550 of clothes because they couldn't carry suitcases. 00:08:01.009 --> 00:08:03.290 Margot went ahead on a bike with Miep Gies. And 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:07.730 the location itself, the secret annex, Het Achterhuis, 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:10.769 it was this three -story space tucked away behind 00:08:10.769 --> 00:08:13.529 the main OPECTA offices on the Prinsengrat Canal. 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:15.389 Right. It wasn't built for hiding. It was a storage 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:17.910 area. But it worked, as you pointed out earlier, 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:21.370 precisely because of Otto Frank's business. OPECTA 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:24.110 was a working, bustling office. The perfect cover. 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:26.889 The daily bustle of a legitimate spice and pectin 00:08:26.889 --> 00:08:30.250 business provided the perfect sound cover, drowning 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:32.610 out any minimal noise that eight people would 00:08:32.610 --> 00:08:35.490 inevitably make upstairs. Plus, the business 00:08:35.490 --> 00:08:38.210 was essential, so the four core helpers had a 00:08:38.210 --> 00:08:40.110 reason to be there every single day. Bringing 00:08:40.110 --> 00:08:42.870 supplies, news. Everything. And the entrance, 00:08:43.129 --> 00:08:45.929 which everyone now knows, was later hidden by 00:08:45.929 --> 00:08:48.450 that movable bookcase. So during those two years, 00:08:48.529 --> 00:08:51.279 the annex housed eight people. And that close 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:54.019 confinement, it inevitably led to tension. Of 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:56.720 course. The Frank family was joined by the Van 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.600 Pels family, Herman, August, and their 16 -year 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:02.700 -old son, Peter, on July 13th. Then in November, 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:05.320 Fritz Pfeffer, a Denison family friend, moves 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.379 in. And he has to share Anne's already tiny room. 00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:10.460 And her writing is just this brutally honest 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:12.980 look at life under that kind of pressure. It's 00:09:12.980 --> 00:09:15.159 a sociological study. She found Fritz Pfeffer 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.250 insufferable. She really resented having to give 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:20.769 up her desk to him, and she clashed constantly 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:23.250 with Auguste Van Pels, calling her foolish. And 00:09:23.250 --> 00:09:26.490 there were fights about food. Huge fights. She 00:09:26.490 --> 00:09:29.070 saw both Herman Van Pels and Pfeffer as selfish, 00:09:29.330 --> 00:09:32.090 especially about food, which became a bigger 00:09:32.090 --> 00:09:34.429 and bigger issue as the war went on and rations 00:09:34.429 --> 00:09:37.059 got tighter. But her... Honesty wasn't just reserved 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:39.259 for the others. She turned it on herself and 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:41.960 on her own family. And what's so compelling is 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:44.340 how her writing tracks her own growth. Especially 00:09:44.340 --> 00:09:46.679 with her mother. That relationship was so fraught. 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:48.740 Initially, she writes with what she calls contempt 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:52.360 for her mother, Edith. She famously says, she's 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:54.860 not a mother to me. Which is just a searing thing 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.379 for a teenager to write. But under the weight 00:09:57.379 --> 00:10:00.620 of that confinement, she matures. Later, when 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:03.100 she's revising the diary, what becomes version 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:06.850 B. She adds this self -criticism. She expresses 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:09.169 this profound shame for being so harsh to her 00:10:09.169 --> 00:10:11.549 mother, realizing she'd just added to Edith's 00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:13.590 suffering. It shows that incredible journey from 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:15.690 childlike resentment to a more adult empathy. 00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:17.950 In a very short time. She also got closer with 00:10:17.950 --> 00:10:20.070 Margot, and of course, there was the brief romance 00:10:20.070 --> 00:10:22.990 with Peter Van Pels. That was such an essential 00:10:22.990 --> 00:10:25.549 emotional outlet for her. It was a product of 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:28.169 their shared isolation. She got her first kiss 00:10:28.169 --> 00:10:31.169 from him, and they would spend hours just talking 00:10:31.169 --> 00:10:33.240 in his little room in the attic. But even then 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.370 she was so self -critical about it. She was. 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:38.009 She questioned if her feelings for Peter were 00:10:38.009 --> 00:10:41.049 real love or just this desperate need for connection 00:10:41.049 --> 00:10:43.210 because they were trapped together. She wrote 00:10:43.210 --> 00:10:45.549 about her own sexuality, her changing body, with 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.389 just astonishing detail for the time. And that 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:50.830 self -awareness was directly tied to this bigger 00:10:50.830 --> 00:10:53.029 ambition she had. I mean, they tried to maintain 00:10:53.029 --> 00:10:55.429 some normalcy. The girls continued their studies. 00:10:55.669 --> 00:10:57.750 Right, using correspondence courses under the 00:10:57.750 --> 00:11:00.909 helpers' names. Margot took an elementary Latin 00:11:00.909 --> 00:11:03.950 course in Bep Voskiel's name. Anne got great 00:11:03.950 --> 00:11:06.110 marks. But for Anne, it was more than just grades. 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:08.309 It was a higher calling. She wanted to be a journalist, 00:11:08.490 --> 00:11:11.610 a writer. And she poured everything, her deepest 00:11:11.610 --> 00:11:14.330 feelings, her beliefs, her dreams, into that 00:11:14.330 --> 00:11:17.149 diary. It stopped being just a record of events 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.830 and became a platform for her own self -expression. 00:11:20.029 --> 00:11:22.769 Her ambition just leaps off the page. In that 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:26.889 entry from April 5, 1944, she writes, I want 00:11:26.889 --> 00:11:29.720 to go on living even after my death. It's an 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:32.139 incredible statement. She was so determined not 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.940 to be forgotten. She saw writing as her gift, 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:37.600 a tool to express everything that was inside 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.000 her. And that self -identification as a writer, 00:11:40.139 --> 00:11:42.200 that's what leads directly to the version of 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:44.519 the diary that we all read today. It's what transforms 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.620 it from a private document version A into this 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:50.080 consciously crafted piece of literature version 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:52.620 B. And the catalyst for that was a radio broadcast. 00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:57.610 In March 1944, she hears Gerrit Bolkeskijn, a 00:11:57.610 --> 00:11:59.990 member of the Dutch government in exile, on the 00:11:59.990 --> 00:12:02.230 radio. And he's encouraging people to save their 00:12:02.230 --> 00:12:04.389 letters and diaries about the oppression for 00:12:04.389 --> 00:12:06.850 after the war. That was the pivotal moment, wasn't 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:08.850 it? That external validation that her private 00:12:08.850 --> 00:12:11.750 thoughts had public value? Exactly. It spurred 00:12:11.750 --> 00:12:14.490 her to start this massive project of editing 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:16.570 and rewriting her own diary for publication. 00:12:16.889 --> 00:12:18.750 And that resulted in version B, which is a much 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:21.789 more structured literary text. She became a working 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:24.429 author. She restructured entries, expanded on 00:12:24.429 --> 00:12:27.690 themes, revised her tone. She created the pseudonyms 00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:31.370 Van Dan for Van Pels, Dussel for Pfeffer, and 00:12:31.370 --> 00:12:33.590 formally addressed all her entries to Kitty. 00:12:33.850 --> 00:12:36.649 The fact that a teenager under that kind of stress 00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:39.889 undertook such a rigorous editorial process is 00:12:39.889 --> 00:12:42.250 just a testament to her dedication. And none 00:12:42.250 --> 00:12:44.090 of it, the survival of the writing, would have 00:12:44.090 --> 00:12:45.909 been possible without the helpers. Absolutely 00:12:45.909 --> 00:12:48.480 not. They were the essential bridge to the outside 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:52.039 world. The core team was Victor Kugler, Johannes 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:55.500 Kleiman, Mibis, and Bepp Voskyle, with support 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:58.100 from Miep's husband, Jan, and Bepp's father, 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:00.559 Johannes. And they were risking their own lives 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:02.840 every single day. They faced the death penalty 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:05.360 for sheltering Jews. Their role was life -saving, 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.360 providing food, news, managing the whole operation. 00:13:08.909 --> 00:13:11.549 Anne felt a particular closeness with Bep Vosgeil, 00:13:11.669 --> 00:13:13.870 who she saw as a peer, someone who brought her 00:13:13.870 --> 00:13:15.889 little comforts and news from the outside. They 00:13:15.889 --> 00:13:18.669 kept eight people alive and informed for 25 months. 00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:21.669 And then Anne Frank wrote her last diary entry 00:13:21.669 --> 00:13:25.330 on August 1st, 1944. Just three days after that 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:27.450 last entry, which was actually quite optimistic, 00:13:27.769 --> 00:13:29.649 she wrote about finding balance in her life. 00:13:29.970 --> 00:13:33.009 The secret annex was stormed. This was the morning 00:13:33.009 --> 00:13:36.649 of August 4th, 1944, and the operation was carried 00:13:36.649 --> 00:13:40.529 out by the German uniformed police, the Grundpolizei. 00:13:40.649 --> 00:13:43.909 Led by an SS -Oberscharfuhrer named Karl Silberbauer. 00:13:44.250 --> 00:13:46.389 And it's an important distinction, as you say, 00:13:46.509 --> 00:13:49.009 that it was the uniformed police and not the 00:13:49.009 --> 00:13:51.990 Gestapo. Silberbauer was a mid -level officer. 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:54.509 All eight occupants were arrested immediately. 00:13:54.970 --> 00:13:58.049 They were taken to RSHA headquarters for interrogation, 00:13:58.070 --> 00:14:00.889 then to a detention center in Amsterdam. Two 00:14:00.889 --> 00:14:03.519 days later. They were on a transport to the Westerbork 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.080 transit camp, and their fate was immediately 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.879 made worse by how they were found. Because they 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:10.379 were arrested and hiding, they were classified 00:14:10.379 --> 00:14:12.639 as criminals. Which meant the punishment barracks. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.440 Hard labor. Exactly. Harsher conditions than 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.080 even the standard prisoners who were waiting 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:19.220 for deportation. And the helpers suffered as 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:21.840 well. Kugler and Kleiman were jailed. Kleiman 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.659 was released after a few weeks because of his 00:14:23.659 --> 00:14:26.389 poor health, but... Kugler was held in various 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:29.169 camps until the war ended. And this is where 00:14:29.169 --> 00:14:32.710 Mia Gies' courage just shines through. She and 00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:35.710 Voskal went back into the annex after the police 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:38.509 left. They did. And they found Anne's papers 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:41.490 scattered all over the floor. Silber Bauer had 00:14:41.490 --> 00:14:43.649 emptied a briefcase looking for valuables and 00:14:43.649 --> 00:14:46.330 just dumped Anne's writings. Gies gathered everything 00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.870 up, the notebooks, the loose papers, intending 00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:50.409 to give them back to Anne when she returned. 00:14:50.590 --> 00:14:52.950 She even tried to bribe Silber Bauer to release 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:55.929 them. An incredible futile act of bravery. Miep's 00:14:55.929 --> 00:14:58.169 preservation of the diary is what sets up the 00:14:58.169 --> 00:15:00.789 future. But the raid itself takes us to this 00:15:00.789 --> 00:15:04.409 profound and still unresolved mystery. Who betrayed 00:15:04.409 --> 00:15:06.769 them? This is probably the most sensitive and 00:15:06.769 --> 00:15:09.149 debated part of the whole story. And as we look 00:15:09.149 --> 00:15:11.700 at the sources. you have to be so critical because 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.379 there's just an overload of information, multiple 00:15:14.379 --> 00:15:16.840 conflicting theories, and new ones are still 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:19.059 emerging. Right. So we have to acknowledge that 00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:22.220 despite decades of investigation, no single theory 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:25.480 has ever provided definitive closure. None. So 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:27.899 let's walk through the four major theories and 00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:30.320 really look at the evidence, or lack thereof, 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.919 for each one. Okay. Theory one, Nelly Vosklo. 00:15:34.429 --> 00:15:37.149 This one gained traction around 2015. It suggests 00:15:37.149 --> 00:15:39.570 that Nellie, the younger sister of the helper 00:15:39.570 --> 00:15:42.149 Bette Voskoyle, was the informant. Right. She 00:15:42.149 --> 00:15:44.830 was known to be a Nazi sympathizer, a collaborator, 00:15:44.909 --> 00:15:46.970 and she was apparently critical of her family 00:15:46.970 --> 00:15:49.889 for helping Jews. There are accounts of her shouting 00:15:49.889 --> 00:15:52.330 at Bette and her father, go to your Jews. And 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:54.769 the main piece of evidence is that Silberbauer, 00:15:54.909 --> 00:15:57.570 the arresting officer, reportedly said the informant 00:15:57.570 --> 00:16:00.830 had the voice of a young woman. Precisely. Now, 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:04.360 theory two, ration card fraud. This came from 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:06.480 research published by the Anne Frank House itself 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.500 in 2016, and it suggested a totally different 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:11.840 focus. That the raid wasn't even about the Jews 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.759 in hiding. Potentially. The idea is that the 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:16.740 raid was part of an investigation into illegal 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:19.700 work or ration card fraud connected to the OPECTA 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:22.139 business. The authorities might have just stumbled 00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:24.519 upon the annex by chance during a search. So 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:27.600 it removes the idea of a specific, targeted betrayal. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:29.899 It does, though it doesn't rule out a general 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:32.419 tip about illegal activity happening at that 00:16:32.419 --> 00:16:35.139 address. Then there's theory three, Hans Van 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:38.559 Dyck. This came up around 2018. She was a Dutch 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:42.179 Jewish woman who, under duress, became a collaborator 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:45.240 and betrayed at least 145 other Jews. And the 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:48.039 link here is an alleged testimony from a resistance 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:50.559 fighter who claimed he overheard her discussing 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:53.519 the Prinsengraft address. Yes. And finally, the 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:55.860 most recent and, frankly, sensational theory, 00:16:56.019 --> 00:17:00.090 theory four. Arnold Vandenberg. This came from 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:02.730 a high -profile cold case investigation in 2022. 00:17:03.190 --> 00:17:04.769 This was the one that made headlines everywhere. 00:17:05.069 --> 00:17:07.490 It did. It proposed that Arnold Vandenberg, a 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:09.809 Jewish notary and a member of the Jewish council, 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:12.029 gave up the Franks' address to save his own family. 00:17:12.269 --> 00:17:14.210 The book claimed this was known to Otto Frank, 00:17:14.369 --> 00:17:17.009 but he kept it secret. The whole theory hinged 00:17:17.009 --> 00:17:19.269 on an anonymous note that Otto supposedly received 00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:21.390 after the war. And this is where the critical 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:23.569 analysis becomes so important, because the source 00:17:23.569 --> 00:17:26.099 material is clear. This theory faced immediate, 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:28.740 severe, and widespread backlash from historians. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.720 The critique was overwhelming. First, the evidence 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.819 was just condemned as far too thin. It relied 00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:38.400 on circumstantial connections and really weak 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.220 assumptions. But more importantly, historians 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:43.940 immediately challenged the whole premise that 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:45.960 the Jewish Council even had a list of hiding 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:48.819 places. Right. There's no historical record of 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:50.519 such a list that Vandenberg could have used. 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:53.529 None. And then the allegations got worse, suggesting 00:17:53.529 --> 00:17:56.630 source distortion, that the book had misinterpreted 00:17:56.630 --> 00:17:59.410 Otto Frank's own records to fit their narrative. 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:02.390 The entire historical community just rejected 00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:05.309 the idea that Otto Frank would conceal the identity 00:18:05.309 --> 00:18:08.170 of his family's betrayer. And the publisher pulled 00:18:08.170 --> 00:18:10.549 the book. The Dutch publisher apologized and 00:18:10.549 --> 00:18:13.130 recalled the Dutch edition. The whole episode 00:18:13.130 --> 00:18:15.309 is really a powerful lesson in how historical 00:18:15.309 --> 00:18:18.390 consensus and source verification are so necessary, 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:20.529 especially with this kind of history. So after 00:18:20.529 --> 00:18:23.190 almost 80 years, the mystery is still unresolved. 00:18:23.289 --> 00:18:25.390 But regardless of how they were found, the consequence 00:18:25.390 --> 00:18:27.789 was deportation. They were deported on September 00:18:27.789 --> 00:18:31.410 3, 1944, on the very last transport from Westerbork 00:18:31.410 --> 00:18:34.230 to Auschwitz. The journey took three days. It 00:18:34.230 --> 00:18:37.049 was brutal. And upon arrival, the selection began. 00:18:37.369 --> 00:18:40.089 Immediately. Men separated from women and children. 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:43.579 The sources document that out of 1 ,019 passengers, 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:48.299 549, including every single child under 15, were 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:50.480 sent directly to the gas chambers. Anne, having 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.519 just turned 15, was one of the youngest spared 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:54.960 from that initial selection, an arbitrary line 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:57.259 that saved her life for a few more months. And 00:18:57.259 --> 00:18:59.579 the tragedy is just layered. She never found 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:01.819 out that the entire annex group survived that 00:19:01.819 --> 00:19:04.539 first selection. She assumed her father, who 00:19:04.539 --> 00:19:06.500 was separated from them moments before, was killed 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:08.819 immediately. Life in Auschwitz was slave labor. 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:11.640 Her head was shaved, her arm tattooed. She suffered 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:14.079 terribly from scabies. But witnesses later said 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:15.880 that while she had moments of withdrawal, she 00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:18.440 also showed immense courage. And she was supported 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:21.079 by her mother. Edith Frank, in this incredible 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:23.640 act of selflessness, saved every scrap of food 00:19:23.640 --> 00:19:25.539 she got and passed her rations to her daughters 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:27.880 through a hole in the infirmary wall. She eventually 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:30.660 died of disease and starvation in January 1945. 00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:33.640 Anne, Margot, and Auguste Van Tells were then 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:35.920 transferred to Bergen -Belsen on October 28, 00:19:36.180 --> 00:19:40.279 1944. Edith was left behind. And Bergen -Belsen 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:42.920 was already ravaged by disease. The conditions 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:45.599 were deteriorating by the hour as the war was 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.859 ending. And it's in Bergen -Belsen that we get 00:19:47.859 --> 00:19:50.400 our last personal glimpses of her. From her childhood 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:53.079 friends, Hanley Goslar and Annette Blitz. They 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.559 were briefly reunited. Blitz described Ann as 00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:59.420 bald, emaciated, and shivering. She said the 00:19:59.420 --> 00:20:01.930 shock of seeing her was just indescribable. But 00:20:01.930 --> 00:20:04.109 even then, Anne told them she still hoped to 00:20:04.109 --> 00:20:06.549 write a book based on her diary. She held on 00:20:06.549 --> 00:20:08.750 to that writer's ambition even at the very end, 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:10.990 but she also told them she believed her parents 00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:12.970 were dead and that she didn't have anything left 00:20:12.970 --> 00:20:15.490 to live for. Anne and Margot died in February 00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:18.809 or early March of 1945. They were victims of 00:20:18.809 --> 00:20:20.789 the typhus epidemic that swept through the camp, 00:20:20.930 --> 00:20:23.990 killing 17 ,000 prisoners just weeks before liberation. 00:20:24.509 --> 00:20:26.690 Margot reportedly died after falling from her 00:20:26.690 --> 00:20:29.130 bunk in her weakened state. Anne died the day 00:20:29.130 --> 00:20:31.579 after. The official death date was long listed 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:35.200 as March 31, but newer research from 2015 strongly 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.480 suggests they died much earlier, probably in 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:39.740 February. The scale of the loss is just immense. 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.500 Of the eight people from the annex, only one 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:45.460 survived, Otto Frank. He survived Auschwitz, 00:20:45.500 --> 00:20:47.720 which was liberated by Soviet troops. He started 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:49.880 the long journey back to Amsterdam, arriving 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:53.480 in June 1945, where he was sheltered by Miep 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:56.339 and Jan Gies. He learned about Edith's death 00:20:56.339 --> 00:20:58.960 on the journey home. And it was weeks later that 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.400 he finally confirmed Anne and Margot's deaths. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.880 From the Brule's light for sisters, who had been 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:06.839 with them in Bergen -Belsen, a father, the sole 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.039 survivor, left with the unbearable knowledge 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:11.599 that his entire family was gone. Otto Frank's 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:13.660 return is what leads directly to the diary's 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:16.279 resurrection. And it was all because of Miepki's. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.819 In July 1945, she gives him Anne's papers and 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:21.660 notebooks, the original diary, all the loose 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:24.589 sheets from version B. And the sources say Otto 00:21:24.589 --> 00:21:27.170 was just profoundly moved. He said he had no 00:21:27.170 --> 00:21:29.089 idea of the depths of her thoughts and feelings. 00:21:29.289 --> 00:21:31.609 He realized she had kept all of this to herself. 00:21:31.930 --> 00:21:34.250 And moved by her explicit wish to be an author, 00:21:34.410 --> 00:21:37.609 he takes on the role of editor. He does. He meticulously 00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:40.009 creates that first version for publication by 00:21:40.009 --> 00:21:42.990 combining Anne's original diary, version A, with 00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:45.490 her edited draft, version B. He restored his 00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:47.869 own family's true identities, but kept the pseudonyms 00:21:47.869 --> 00:21:50.069 for the others, like Van Dan and Dussel. And 00:21:50.069 --> 00:21:52.710 this editing, it raises an important question 00:21:52.710 --> 00:21:55.130 that people have grappled with for years. I mean 00:21:55.130 --> 00:21:58.470 he was curating a public figure. Did his decisions 00:21:58.470 --> 00:22:01.089 compromise the historical truth? That is the 00:22:01.089 --> 00:22:03.289 central tension. We know the first published 00:22:03.289 --> 00:22:05.450 version was edited, auto -removed several sections, 00:22:05.690 --> 00:22:07.789 mainly to protect the privacy of the people who 00:22:07.789 --> 00:22:09.609 died and to, you know, manage the narrative. 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:12.289 What kind of things did he remove? Mostly Anne's 00:22:12.289 --> 00:22:15.609 really critical remarks about his strained marriage 00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:18.730 with Edith and her very harsh discussions about 00:22:18.730 --> 00:22:21.690 her lack of affection for her mother. The early 00:22:21.690 --> 00:22:24.109 version presented a much more harmonious family 00:22:24.109 --> 00:22:26.569 than her private writings really showed. The 00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:29.009 initial impact in the Netherlands was huge, though. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:32.339 It was, partly thanks to some influential endorsements. 00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:35.000 After Otto gave the manuscript to the historian 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.839 Jan Romijn, Romijn wrote an article called Kinderstem, 00:22:37.980 --> 00:22:40.980 A Child's Voice. And in it, he argued that the 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:43.599 diary embodies all the hideousness of fascism, 00:22:43.660 --> 00:22:45.960 more so than all the evidence that Nuremberg 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.180 put together, that Achterhuis was published in 00:22:48.180 --> 00:22:52.059 Dutch in 1947. International success came, but 00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:54.880 it was uneven. The English edition, The Diary 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:56.700 of a Young Girl, was critically acclaimed in 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:59.420 the U .S. in 1952, but it was an initial failure 00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:02.680 in the U .K. Really? Yeah. But its most noteworthy 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:05.880 success early on was in Japan. It sold over 100 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.700 ,000 copies in the first edition. It just resonated 00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:10.920 deeply with a culture still reeling from the 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:13.759 war. But that drive for a complete, transparent 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.759 record eventually overcame Otto's initial censorship. 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:20.839 It did. The missing five pages were finally found 00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:24.180 by Cornelis Wake in 1999, long after Otto's death. 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:26.720 They were returned in 2001 and are now in all 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.299 the new editions, detailing more of that family 00:23:29.299 --> 00:23:31.730 friction. And crucially, other censored sections 00:23:31.730 --> 00:23:34.029 were added back in, relating to her sexuality. 00:23:34.349 --> 00:23:36.410 Her exploration of her body, her thoughts on 00:23:36.410 --> 00:23:38.329 menstruation, her developing understanding of 00:23:38.329 --> 00:23:41.089 sex. And these inclusions really transformed 00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:43.150 the document. It wasn't just a historical record 00:23:43.150 --> 00:23:45.609 of persecution anymore. It was an intimate coming 00:23:45.609 --> 00:23:47.470 -of -age story. And then there was that 2018 00:23:47.470 --> 00:23:49.670 discovery, the two pages she had pasted over 00:23:49.670 --> 00:23:52.390 with brown paper. Which, when they were deciphered, 00:23:52.390 --> 00:23:54.490 contained her attempt at sex education and a 00:23:54.490 --> 00:23:57.859 few dirty jokes. It just proved that even in 00:23:57.859 --> 00:24:00.500 that confinement, she had this normal, inquisitive, 00:24:00.660 --> 00:24:03.460 sometimes silly teenage mind. From a literary 00:24:03.460 --> 00:24:05.819 standpoint, the praise has just been constant. 00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:08.359 John Berryman, the American poet, called her 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:11.799 style stunning in its honesty. Eleanor Roosevelt 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:15.140 called it one of the wisest and most moving commentaries 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:17.720 on war. And this was recognized at the highest 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:21.119 levels. John F. Kennedy, in a speech in 1961, 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.359 said that no voice is more compelling than Anne 00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:27.309 Frank's. And the diary quickly transcended its 00:24:27.309 --> 00:24:29.930 historical context to become this global symbol 00:24:29.930 --> 00:24:32.210 of resilience. This is where it connects to other 00:24:32.210 --> 00:24:34.789 struggles. Nelson Mandela read the diary while 00:24:34.789 --> 00:24:36.970 he was imprisoned on Robben Island. He said he 00:24:36.970 --> 00:24:39.309 derived much encouragement from it. That's fascinating. 00:24:39.650 --> 00:24:41.829 He saw a mirror of his own struggle against apartheid 00:24:41.829 --> 00:24:44.309 in her struggle against Nazism. It related to 00:24:44.309 --> 00:24:46.670 the confinement, the longing for freedom, the 00:24:46.670 --> 00:24:48.650 belief that human dignity could survive anything. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.880 And Hillary Clinton used her story in the 90s 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:53.680 to speak out against indifference, referencing 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.380 the genocides in places like Sarajevo and Rwanda. 00:24:56.599 --> 00:24:59.480 Her voice became this universal moral yardstick. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:02.799 But that symbolism created a tension, a point 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.700 that other Holocaust survivors have highlighted. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.839 Primo Levi. Right. Primo Levi suggested that 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.160 Anne's single, identifiable face moves us more 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:13.279 profoundly than the millions whose faces and 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:16.109 stories are unknown. He recognized that we can't 00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:17.990 process suffering on the scale of six million, 00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:20.609 and Anne provides that necessary singular connection. 00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:23.369 And even Miep Gai is cautioned against this. 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:26.730 She hated the idea that Anne symbolizes the six 00:25:26.730 --> 00:25:30.210 million victims. She insisted on it. She emphasized 00:25:30.210 --> 00:25:33.029 that Anne's fate was individual, her life was 00:25:33.029 --> 00:25:35.410 cut short, her hopes were destroyed, and that 00:25:35.410 --> 00:25:37.890 her story was simply repeated six million times 00:25:37.890 --> 00:25:41.089 over. It's a crucial warning against abstracting 00:25:41.089 --> 00:25:43.079 suffering into a comfortable symbol. But that 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:45.940 power, that recognition, made the diary an inevitable 00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:48.960 target for denialists. Of course. Starting in 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:51.559 the late 1950s, especially in neo -fascist circles, 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:54.720 allegations of forgery started to pop up. And 00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:56.740 that required decades of rigorous scientific 00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:00.019 and legal defense. The defense started almost 00:26:00.019 --> 00:26:03.599 immediately. In 1958, Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:05.920 hunter, was challenged to prove she even existed. 00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:08.160 So he went looking for the arresting officer, 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:12.420 Karl Silberbauer. And he found him in 1963 working 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:15.180 as a police inspector in Vienna. And he confessed. 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:18.619 Immediately. He admitted his role, corroborated 00:26:18.619 --> 00:26:21.700 the entire story, including the detail of emptying 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.240 the briefcase full of her papers onto the floor. 00:26:24.380 --> 00:26:26.480 It was the first eyewitness account from the 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:29.039 perpetrator's side. And Otto Frank pursued legal 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.180 action against deniers throughout the 50s and 00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:33.960 70s. Successfully. The courts repeatedly and 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.099 legally confirmed the diary's authenticity. But 00:26:37.099 --> 00:26:40.059 the definitive scientific proof came after Otto's 00:26:40.059 --> 00:26:43.099 death in 1980. When the diary was willed to the 00:26:43.099 --> 00:26:45.079 Dutch Institute for War Documentation? Right. 00:26:45.140 --> 00:26:46.920 They commissioned a massive forensic study in 00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:49.859 1986. This is the ultimate response to the claims 00:26:49.859 --> 00:26:52.759 that the diary was written with, say, a modern 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:55.140 ballpoint pen. So what did the forensics prove 00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:57.460 exactly? How did they do it? They analyzed the 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:00.259 physical evidence exhaustively. They prepped 00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:03.539 three things. First, the paper. They authenticated 00:27:03.539 --> 00:27:05.759 the paper, the glue, the pulp, proving it all 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:07.359 matched materials that were available in the 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:10.240 Netherlands during the war. Second, the ink. 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:13.099 They confirmed all the main entries were written 00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:15.240 with ink components consistent with that time 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:18.700 period. And third, and most conclusively, the 00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:21.279 handwriting. They matched samples from the diary 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.880 to known samples of Anne's handwriting from school 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:26.440 papers and letters, and it showed the clear development 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:29.140 of her script. over those two years. And all 00:27:29.140 --> 00:27:30.700 of this was published in the critical edition. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.059 Yes, that edition includes Anne's version A, 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.859 her version B, Otto's published version C, and 00:27:35.859 --> 00:27:39.660 the entire 1986 forensic report. It just cemented 00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:42.420 the diary's factual basis forever, scientifically 00:27:42.420 --> 00:27:45.259 shutting down the arguments of forgery. The power 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:47.099 of her story meant that her physical location, 00:27:47.299 --> 00:27:49.420 that building on the Prinzengracht, it couldn't 00:27:49.420 --> 00:27:53.039 just be demolished. In 1957, a group that included 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.240 Otto Frank established the Anne Frank Foundation 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:58.039 to prevent its demolition. And that led to the 00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:00.140 opening of the Anne Frank House Museum in 1960. 00:28:00.579 --> 00:28:03.259 It did. And it's a deliberate choice that the 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:06.039 annex is left unfurnished, isn't it? A very deliberate 00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:08.480 choice. It emphasizes the claustrophobic space. 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:11.519 It lets visitors experience the dimensions of 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.119 that confinement rather than focusing on domestic 00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:17.589 clutter. And it remains a huge global attraction. 00:28:17.869 --> 00:28:20.329 It was averaging about 1 .2 million visitors 00:28:20.329 --> 00:28:23.410 a year before 2020. And beyond the physical space, 00:28:23.750 --> 00:28:26.230 Otto Frank was very strategic about her legacy. 00:28:26.430 --> 00:28:28.809 Very. He established the Anne Frank Fonds in 00:28:28.809 --> 00:28:31.910 1963, a charitable foundation based in Basel, 00:28:31.910 --> 00:28:34.650 Switzerland. And he willed the diary's copyright 00:28:34.650 --> 00:28:36.609 to the Fonds when he died. And what does that 00:28:36.609 --> 00:28:38.650 foundation focus on today? It's not just managing 00:28:38.650 --> 00:28:41.309 money, is it? No, absolutely not. Its primary 00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:44.230 focus is active educational engagement. fighting 00:28:44.230 --> 00:28:47.109 racism, discrimination, supporting human rights 00:28:47.109 --> 00:28:49.390 projects globally. They'd administer the copyright, 00:28:49.690 --> 00:28:52.230 they'd loan her papers for exhibition, and they 00:28:52.230 --> 00:28:54.190 made sure her story is used responsibly in schools. 00:28:54.509 --> 00:28:57.009 They are the institutional force fighting revisionism 00:28:57.009 --> 00:28:59.130 today. And the other physical spaces are still 00:28:59.130 --> 00:29:01.490 being memorialized, that Marita Plain apartment 00:29:01.490 --> 00:29:03.970 where they lived before the annex? It was restored 00:29:03.970 --> 00:29:06.670 in the 2000s, and now it houses a writer -in 00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:09.049 -residence program for writers who can't work 00:29:09.049 --> 00:29:11.349 freely in their own countries. That's a beautiful 00:29:11.349 --> 00:29:14.339 direct link between her... confinement and the 00:29:14.339 --> 00:29:16.839 contemporary need for free expression. It really 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:20.019 is. And her legacy is just central to Dutch culture. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:22.779 She's one of the 50 topics in the canon of the 00:29:22.779 --> 00:29:25.440 Netherlands, which is the list of things considered 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.880 essential for teaching Dutch school kids. Her 00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:30.660 name is recognized everywhere. There are over 00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:33.779 270 schools worldwide named after her. A hundred 00:29:33.779 --> 00:29:36.140 in Germany alone. But I think maybe the most 00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:38.500 poignant piece of the legacy is the Anne Frank 00:29:38.500 --> 00:29:42.680 tree. The horse chestnut tree she could see from 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:45.500 the annex window. It was her one living view 00:29:45.500 --> 00:29:47.920 of the outside world, a symbol of freedom and 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.180 hope. She writes about it in the diary, The Changing 00:29:50.180 --> 00:29:52.680 Seasons. But that tree faced its own tragedy. 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:55.940 It did. By 2007, it was severely diseased and 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:58.039 was scheduled to be cut down. There was this 00:29:58.039 --> 00:30:00.700 huge international outcry. A Dutch economist 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:03.180 said, this is not just any tree. The Anne Frank 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:05.480 tree is bound up with the persecution of the 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:08.359 Jews. So they built a steel construction to try 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:11.400 and save it. A desperate attempt. But tragically, 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:13.920 gale force winds blew it down in August 2010. 00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:16.599 But its lineage continues, and that's such a 00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:19.619 powerful metaphor. Eleven saplings, grown from 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:22.140 the tree, were distributed to significant sites 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:24.359 across the United States. Where are they planted? 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:28.019 In places chosen for their symbolism. Liberty 00:30:28.019 --> 00:30:30.220 Park in Manhattan, which honors 9 -11 victims. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:34.150 The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The physical 00:30:34.150 --> 00:30:36.509 continuity of that one tree that Anne saw from 00:30:36.509 --> 00:30:39.009 her window has now spread across continents, 00:30:39.329 --> 00:30:42.230 reinforcing this idea that resilience and renewal 00:30:42.230 --> 00:30:45.049 are possible, even after such a profound loss. 00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:48.309 Her global recognition just keeps growing. Time 00:30:48.309 --> 00:30:50.250 magazine named her one of the most important 00:30:50.250 --> 00:30:52.630 people of the century. An asteroid was named 00:30:52.630 --> 00:30:55.849 after her. Asteroid 5535 Anna Frank. The entire 00:30:55.849 --> 00:30:58.390 world, in so many different ways, has recognized 00:30:58.390 --> 00:31:01.089 that this one voice holds this profound, enduring 00:31:01.089 --> 00:31:04.009 significance. So when you synthesize the whole 00:31:04.009 --> 00:31:06.829 arc of her life, the refugee, the writer in isolation, 00:31:07.049 --> 00:31:09.970 the tragic victim and then this posthumous literary 00:31:09.970 --> 00:31:12.430 giant, you're left with this powerful paradox. 00:31:12.769 --> 00:31:16.150 Her life was cut brutally short. But she achieved 00:31:16.150 --> 00:31:19.069 her most fervent ambition. I want to go on living 00:31:19.069 --> 00:31:22.250 even after my death. And her success came from 00:31:22.250 --> 00:31:24.549 the sheer literary power of her writing, that 00:31:24.549 --> 00:31:27.009 brutal honesty, the self -critical maturation. 00:31:27.190 --> 00:31:29.670 She gives us a window into history that is so 00:31:29.670 --> 00:31:34.009 individual and yet somehow. globally universal. 00:31:34.549 --> 00:31:37.309 But her story also reminds us of the enduring 00:31:37.309 --> 00:31:40.950 complexities of historical investigation, the 00:31:40.950 --> 00:31:43.789 unresolved mystery of the betrayal, the decades 00:31:43.789 --> 00:31:46.369 -long forensic defense required to protect her 00:31:46.369 --> 00:31:48.809 work from denialists. And I think the key takeaway, 00:31:48.930 --> 00:31:51.089 the lesson that her keepers and historians always 00:31:51.089 --> 00:31:53.569 try to impart, is that tension between the symbol 00:31:53.569 --> 00:31:55.960 and the individual. We talked about Miep Gies, 00:31:56.099 --> 00:31:58.920 who was so careful to remind us that Anne's fate, 00:31:59.059 --> 00:32:01.319 while it serves as this powerful symbol, was 00:32:01.319 --> 00:32:03.759 ultimately an individual one. She was one girl 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:06.099 with one name and one terrible fate. Exactly. 00:32:06.099 --> 00:32:08.599 So you have to consider what it means to truly 00:32:08.599 --> 00:32:10.859 understand the Holocaust through the eyes of 00:32:10.859 --> 00:32:13.839 one single, deeply personal voice. And Frank's 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:16.220 diary is our access point to the unimaginable. 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:18.680 It lets us connect with the human scale of the 00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:21.680 six million, which forces you to ask. If her 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:23.940 individual struggle was repeated six million 00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:27.279 times over, then what responsibilities does that 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.839 knowledge place upon us, the learners? I think 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.000 it means we have to use the single voice we've 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.920 been given, the one voice that survived, to honor 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:37.200 the millions of others whose voices we lost, 00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:39.759 whose individual stories are silent and unknown. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:42.039 So her story shouldn't replace the suffering 00:32:42.039 --> 00:32:45.079 of the six million. No. It should be the lens 00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:47.539 through which we actively acknowledge the profound, 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.509 unique loss of every single other person. That's 00:32:50.509 --> 00:32:52.710 a profound thought to end on, using the voice 00:32:52.710 --> 00:32:54.769 we have been given to honor the voices we lost. 00:32:55.089 --> 00:32:56.890 Thank you for joining us for the deep dive.