In this important work, Lee provides the answer to one of the most heartbreaking questions of modern times: who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis? Photo insert. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Anne Frank and her family are hallowed symbols of all the lives lost in the Holocaust, but the identity of the person who revealed the "secret annex" in which they hid for two years from the Nazis has always remained a mystery. Lee (Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank) has, through vigorous, dedicated detective work, uncovered his probable identity. More important, she has uncovered a startling aspect of Otto Frank's life. According to Lee, the Franks were betrayed by Tonny (Anton) Ahlers, a young, troubled, even thuggish, Dutch youth and Nazi informer. But there is more: in 1941, Ahlers saved the Frank family from deportation, but he also began blackmailing Otto after discovering that Frank's food and spice business was selling to the German army. Ahlers's blackmail continued until Otto's death in 1980, during the years when Anne's diary became famous and Otto could not risk being seen as a war profiteer. Lee's plain but compelling reporting style suits this material, which is presented as part historical analysis and part mystery. The power of the book, however, resides in her rich, human portrait of Otto Frank, who can now be seen as more than simply "Anne's father." Lee's instinct for displaying the humanity of her subjects is best attested to by her portrayal of Tonny Ahlers, which is so engaging and frighteningly complex that readers will want to know more about him.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Otto Frank's story is often viewed in the shadow of his daughter Anne. Lee, whose previous efforts include a biography of Anne Frank, takes Otto out of the shadows in this sympathetic yet thorough portrait of a man who was more than Anne Frank's father and literary executor. A World War I veteran, Otto was emblematic of those middle-class, assimilated German Jews who fled the Nazis after 1933. Moving to Amsterdam, he ran a successful business, even after the Nazis overran the Netherlands in 1940. Lee's study reveals, among other details, Otto's experiences in Auschwitz, his postwar efforts on behalf of his extended family, and the identity of the man who betrayed his hiding place to the Nazis. According to the information uncovered by Lee, Otto had extensive business dealings with a Dutch Nazi named Ahlers, who was being paid to keep silent about the Frank family's hiding place. Lee provides a plausible explanation for why Ahlers betrayed the family and why Otto kept silent about his betrayer's identity even after the war. Otto Frank will likely remain eclipsed by his famous daughter, but this well-researched book provides insight into his life beyond that of the famous diary. Recommended for all libraries.-Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, CincinnatiCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Anne Frank's father, Otto, was the only member of the famous Amsterdam family to survive the concentration camps, and his postwar years were devoted to preserving Anne's memory by publishing her diary--perhaps the most widely read Holocaust work ever--and establishing a charitable foundation in her name. Life after Anne was as surrounded by controversy as it was filled with sorrow. Otto was criticized for his editing of his daughter's diary, chastised for dramatic adaptations downplaying the family's Jewishness, and even accused of wartime opportunism because of his company's contract with the Wehrmacht. The question of who betrayed the Franks to the authorities continues to be a hot topic in the Netherlands. This selection attempts to clear Otto's name while filling in the details of his life. Incorporating new interviews and previously unpublished fragments of Otto's own diary, Lee fingers a previously unsuspected informer, and her convincing detective work may, 60 years later, finally be the last word. Perhaps more important, her biography illustrates the complicated entanglement of resistance and complicity that still haunts Amsterdam. BrendanDriscoll. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Acknowledgments	xi
Preface	xv
Prologue: The Letter	1
1 Germany	7
2 Fatherhood and Exile	29
3 Entrapment	49
4 A Very Dangerous Young Man	73
5 Out of Sight	96
6 Betrayal	118
7 Unforgettable Marks on My Soul	141
8 Everything Is Like a Strange Dream	163
9 This at Least Has Survived	187
10 Publish Without a Doubt	212
11 The Question of a Jewish or Non-Jewish Writer	237
12 I Have No Scars Left	264
13 The Legacy	296
Epilogue: The Telephone Call	315
Appendix A Chronology of the Jewish Persecution in the Netherlands	327
Appendix B Dramatis Personae	333
Appendix C Glossary	339
Notes	343
Bibliography	381
Index	391

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