Anne Frank Part 11:What Happened to the Helpers After the Arrests?
Today I want to take a look at what happened to the brave men and women who helped Anne Frank and the others in the Secret Annex after the arrests on the 4th of August 1944. They had risked everything for more than two years, and now they were faced with the consequences.
Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested alongside the people in hiding. As the senior employees running Otto Frank’s business, the German authorities had strong evidence that they had knowingly helped to hide Jewish families. After being questioned, both men were sent to the SS prison camp at Amersfoort. Johannes Kleiman was released after a week because of his poor health, but Victor Kugler was transferred to forced labour camps. As the war came to an end in 1945, he escaped during an Allied air attack and managed to survive.
Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were also questioned, but they were not arrested. Historians are still unsure exactly why. Miep later believed that SS officer Karl Silberbauer noticed her Austrian accent during her questioning and chose not to detain her, but no one knows his true reason. Bep may have been released because the authorities didn’t have enough evidence to prove she was involved. Both women were incredibly fortunate, as they could easily have both been imprisoned.
Miep’s husband, Jan Gies, was not at Otto Frank’s business when the Secret Annex was discovered, so he completely avoided being arrested. He continued to work with the Dutch resistance, he helped other people in hiding and also obtained illegal ration cards. Together, Jan and Miep never gave up hope that those taken from the Annex might survive and return home.
Miep and Bep returned to the Secret Annex after the arrests. They found Anne’s diary and other papers on the floor. Miep kept them safe. She refused to read them because she hoped that one day she would be able to return them to Anne.
After the war, Otto Frank was the only person from the Secret Annex to return. Miep gave Anne’s diary to him, and after reading his daughter’s words, he decided they should be published. Without the courage of Miep Gies, Jan Gies, Bep Voskuijl, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman and the other helpers, one of the world’s most important personal accounts of the Holocaust may never have survived.
Their bravery did not end with the arrests. Even after everything had been lost, they ensured that Anne Frank’s voice would live on.
Do you think the bravery of Anne Frank’s helpers receives the recognition it deserves?
Next time, we will start to find out what happened to Anne Frank, her family and the others immediately after their arrest.
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