Forgotten Friday – The arrest of Anne Frank.
79 years ago today, on 4 August 1944, Anne Frank and the other people in hiding were discovered and arrested. In this reconstruction, you will learn what we know about this day, when what they had feared for so long finally happened.
on 4th August 1944, to the people in hiding, it was the 761th day in the Secret Annex, more than two years since the day Anne and her family had entered the hiding place on 6th July 1942. Between 10.30am and 11am, many police officers showed up at the building.
The police officers walked into Victor Kugler’s office, he was responsible for the business operations as he was the Managing Director. The police questioned him and took him with them to search the entire building.
During the raid, they also came to the landing with the revolving bookcase. Casual observers would not notice that there was an entire house hidden behind the bookcase, but the police officers discovered the entrance to the Secret Annex.
(Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. Public Domain Work)]
The people in hiding were completely taken by shock. For more than two years they had been living with the constant fear of discovery. Without any warning, the moment had come.
Otto stated after the war: ‘I was upstairs with the Van Pels family in Peter’s room, helping him with his schoolwork. Suddenly someone came running up the stairs and then the door opened and there was a man right in front of us with a pistol in his hand.’ This must have been a terrifying experience for those in hiding.
Downstairs they were all gathered. The people in hiding had to hand in their valuables. Silberbauer took Otto’s briefcase, which contained Anne’s diary papers, and emptied it out to put the valuables in. Anne’s diary papers fell to the wooden floor. The group were forced to prepare for their departure.
Helpers Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested together with the eight people from the Secret Annex. The police officers took them all away. the raid took over two hours to complete, resulting in discovery and arrest of those inside the hidden Secret Annex.
Sometime after the arrest, helpers Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl went to the Secret Annex with Willem van Maaren. Anne’s diary papers were still scattered on the floor. Miep later said: ‘Later, Bep and I went upstairs to the Franks’ bedrooms. And there we saw Anne’s diary papers all over the floor.’ Miep and Bep picked up the papers and took them to the office. There, Miep kept the papers in a drawer.
Anne Frank House Website – Copyrighted to their collection of photographs
Of the eight people in hiding, Otto was the only one to survive the war. When he returned to Amsterdam after the liberation, Miep gave him the papers.[1]
Anne Frank passed away in 1945, shortly before the British troops liberated Bergen-Belson on 15th April 1945. Anne died at the age of 15. To read more, visit the Anne Frank House Website.
[1] https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/reconstruction-arrest-people-hiding/ , copyright to this website – Accessed 3rd August 23’ read more on this article there.
