Books to Borrow Martinsburg Public Library Recommends

Millions of people all over the world have read the story of Anne Frank in her own words, thanks to “The Diary of a Young Girl,” the journal she kept for 25 months while in hiding with her family and four other people. What has remained a mystery is how, after all that time, they were finally discovered. It is probably one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time.

Rosemary Sullivan introduces us to Thijs Bayens, a filmmaker, and Pieter van Twisk, a researcher and journalist. These two Dutch men have hired retired FBI agent Vincent Pankoke and a team of investigators from all walks of the scientific world who are once again tackling the question of exactly who betrayed the Franks. Two previous formal investigations occurred in 1947 and 1963, but both were unsuccessful in identifying the informant.

The team uses modern-day technologies, including an Artificial Intelligence program written by Microsoft, to comb through thousands of pages of documents relating to the Frank family, their time in hiding, and their eventual arrest. Some of the documents they gained access to have never before been seen by investigators. They also use good old-fashioned investigative skills, tracking down and interviewing descendants of people familiar with the Franks and what happened to them.

Sullivan uses the beginning of the book to remind us of what happened to the Franks, as well as some insight about those who helped hide them for so long. She also introduces the team that is doing the investigation and talks about some of their methods. The book then turns to the theories and possible informants that the team identified. Mixed in are snippets of what daily life was like in Amsterdam during World War II, a piece that makes the story even more real, and sometimes heartbreaking, to those reading it.

After all this time, will the betrayer be identified, or will it remain one of the great mysteries?