The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan: Book Review

The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan is the story of one of the biggest cold cases in history. Released in January 2022 by Harper, Sullivan documents the work done by an international team. Readers are given the background of the team of investigators and why they want to know the answer to the question, who betrayed the Frank family.

Synopsis from Goodreads

Over thirty million people have read The Diary of a Young Girl, the journal teen-aged Anne Frank kept while living in an attic with her family and four other people in Amsterdam during World War II, until the Nazis arrested them and sent them to a concentration camp. But despite the many works—journalism, 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 to the infamous arrest—and came to a shocking conclusion.

My Opinions

Everyone has grown up hearing the name Anne Frank. Some still don’t believe she was a real person. Some think the stories we learn are fiction or a mixture of other people’s stories. This belief is nothing new. It is one that Otto Frank dealt with when he started sharing her diary. Regardless of your thoughts on the subject, it’s still an important story to understand. And this book is one way to help with that understanding.

The story is told in two parts. The first part of the book helps set the scene. Readers learn about the team conducting the investigation and some roadblocks they dealt with. The book’s first part also introduces the readers to Otto Frank and what he faced as he tried to protect his family. Included is also learning about those who helped the Frank family hide. Near the end of the first half, you are taken to the secret annex on the day they are discovered.

The second part of the book then discusses the investigation. This isn’t the first investigation into the betrayal, but it is one of the most complete. While no one will know the answer with 100% certainty, the investigators are at least 90% certain they figured out the answer.

My Feelings

Reading this book made me think about how I would have acted or behaved if I had been in the circumstances millions of people faced in the 1930s-1940s in Europe. I even discussed it with my husband. Would we be part of the Resistance? Or would we just put our heads down and try to survive? Or worse, would we have sided with the oppressors? It led to some heavy discussions and just as heavy thoughts. We both agreed that we couldn’t even begin to guess what we would do, only that we would hope to be on the right side of things.

While this book is based on history, it is written in an accessible way. The biggest stumbling block people may come across is the pronunciation of names. Of course, there is also the expected heartbreak that occurs with the loss of so many innocent people.

The Betrayal of Anne Frank examines an important story in history. While it is one that everyone should read, I understand that it’s one that not everyone can read due to the subject matter.

Are you looking for some more books to read? Check out my bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.