Canadian author Rosemary Sullivan defends controversial Anne Frank book
CTV
A Canadian author and academic is standing by the research in her controversial book about Anne Frank after a Dutch publisher pulled the title in response to the latest round of criticism of its claims about who betrayed the Jewish teenage diarist and her family during the Second World War.
Rosemary Sullivan, who wrote “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation” but was not involved in the research process, said in a statement on Thursday that she has “full confidence” in the investigation led by retired FBI agent Vince Pankoke.
The cold case team alleges that the person who revealed the location of the Frank family's secret annex hiding place in Amsterdam was likely a prominent Jewish notary, Arnold van den Bergh, who they say gave the information to the German occupiers to save his own family from deportation and death in Nazi concentration camps.
A group of Dutch historians released an in-depth criticism of the team's work this week concluding that the “accusation does not hold water” and characterizing the findings as “a shaky house of cards.”
The book's Dutch publisher, Ambo Anthos, repeated an earlier apology and announced Tuesday night it was withdrawing the book.
