Historians contradict findings in book on Anne Frank betrayal

A group of historians will present a report on Tuesday in which they contradict a cold case team's theory about the betrayal of Anne Frank. They will present their counterarguments at a gathering in the University of Amsterdam's auditorium.

The granddaughter of civil-law notary Arnold van den Bergh, a member of the Jews Council, will also speak at the event. The cold case team named him the possible traitor that revealed the Frank family's hiding place to the Nazis. The research, published in a book in January, caused a lot of controversy.

The historians, who carried out the counter-investigation at their own initiative, say they've shown that the cold case team's central arguments don't hold up. They, therefore, call for the allegations against Van den Bergh to be withdrawn.

The chief investigator of the cold case team, Pieter van Twisk, is not aware of the contents of the historians' report. "Our theory is a theory and nothing more. In our view, it is still the most plausible of all the explanations we have examined. If there are arguments that demonstrably undermine our theory, we will change our opinion without question and reject this theory as well. For the time being, that is not the case."