THE BETRAYAL OF ANNE FRANK: A COLD CASE INVESTIGATION

THE BETRAYAL OF INVESTIGATION: A COLD CASE INVESTIGATION by Rosemary Sullivan

The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan has been my porch swing reading book over the past few days. I saw this book in the bookstore a couple months ago, put it in my pile, then put it back. When I got home I saw a news story that the Dutch publisher was suspending the publishing indefinitely. I called the bookstore and asked them to hold the book back for me until my next visit. I wanted to read what all the upset was about.

I didn't realize how many times people have delved into the Anne Frank story trying to figure out how their hiding place was discovered. Was it betrayal? Was it just an unlucky stumble across? How had they managed to stay in hiding for over two years and then be discovered?

In The Betrayal of Anne Frank, a team of Cold Case Investigators headed up by a retired FBI agent spent six years looking into solving the mystery that ultimately took the lives of all the members of the Frank family except the father, Otto. The book helps the reader get a very good picture of the structure of the Frank family. It walks through all the steps Otto took to try and get his family out before relying on close friends to help hide his family.

It's really amazing reading the lengths that the CCI team went to to follow as many leads as they had. They poured over documents, interviewed family members, visited many places etc. They had special computer programs written to help organize data, to have the computer process how many times certain names and interactions came up, to recreate scenes, etc.

So why has the publisher halted the printing of more copies? For me to tell that is to give away the ending with as little detail as possible. So if you don't want to know what happens, don't read the SPOILER ALERT!

Heads Up- Just a couple minor heads up warnings. The book does talk about sexual relations with Nazis. That's all it says. It doesn't go into details. There is also a lady who would sell Jews out who was a Lesbian. No details to her relationships are given, but it is very interesting since homosexuals were also put in concentration camps. The book gives the idea that homosexual men were put in camps more than women.

SPOILER ALERT - The reason the book was pulled is because ultimately the team feels that the evidence most strongly points toward a prominent Jewish man who gave them away. It is thought that because of that it plays into the idea that Jews were responsible for the Holocaust (Holocaust inversion). I certainly didn't walk away from this book feeling that way. The idea was that a man sold out the Frank family (and others as well) to protect his own. It is very clear it was the Nazis who placed him in this position. As I write this I thank the Lord that I am not in that position, and I pray I never am. I also fully place the blame of the Holocaust on the backs of the Nazis led by Hitler. It is also very clear to me that the Jews are God's chosen race that brought Jesus to the earth. Satan has been trying to wipe them out through all of history. There is no other race that has been so persecuted on earth.