The Betrayal of Anne Frank

With painstaking care, retired FBI agent Vince Pankoke and a team of indefatigable investigators poured over tens of thousands of pages of documents, interviewed scores of  people, including descendants and specialists involved in cold cases, and used AI technology to draw connections between people and places never suspected before in order to determine what  led to the arrest of Anne Frank, her family, and the other four people who had been hiding in the secret Annex for over two years. Using methods developed by the FBI, the Cold Case Team meticulously pieced together the months leading up to the infamous arrest on August 4th, 1944.

The Betrayal of Anne Frank is the riveting story of their mission. Rosemary Sullivan introduces us to the investigators, explains the behavior of both the captives and their captors, and profiles  a group of suspects. All the while, she vividly brings to life wartime Amsterdam, where no matter how careful you were you could never take your own freedom—or survival—for granted.

“There are words of such sorrow in The Betrayal of Anne Frank that they may lodge forever in the cupboards of your mind.”
—Winnipeg Free Press

“Sullivan’s narrative, full of twists and turns and dead-end leads, commands attention at every page, dramatic without being sensational.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“The Betrayal of Anne Frank is a stunning piece of historical detective work, cleverly structured and grippingly written.”
—Telegraph

“Powerfully illuminates what it was like to live under a genocidal regime.”
—Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

“As much about the process of investigation as about the subject investigated. Along the way [Sullivan] lucidly describes many fascinating details of the compromises and betrayals of life under a murderous regime.”
—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

“Sullivan circles all of the possibilities like Agatha Christie with Zoom and a time machine. Shaped like a procedural or a whodunit, The Betrayal of Anne Frank hums with living history, human warmth and indignation.”
—New York Times

“Featuring startling new revelations and an intriguing new theory of what happened.”
—Daniel Finklestein, The Times

“Praiseworthy. With impressive clarity and dramatic effect, Sullivan reconstructs a complex investigation lasting five years.”
—Gerard de Groot, The Times

“A gripping, moving narrative.”
—Press Association

“Meticulous … Sullivan describes the Cold Case Team’s interdisciplinary methods, from criminal profiling, historical research and crowdsourcing to a Microsoft artificial intelligence program that found connections within a blizzard of archival documents. But the book is most engrossing as a portrait of wartime Amsterdam, a city of conflicting and cross-cutting loyalties, where personal peril could erase the line between heroism and villainy.”
—Boston Globe

Winner of The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence 2023 (The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book)

Jury Citation:

Rosemary Sullivan adeptly documents the investigation into the identity of the informant who betrayed Anne Frank, arguably the most famous murder victim of all time.  The examination of this 80-year-old cold case from Nazi-occupied Holland is a fascinating combination of the latest forensic techniques and old-fashioned gumshoe detective work. It is a thoroughly modern story in the questions it raises about culpability and the impact of crime on subsequent generations. Throughout, Canadian author Sullivan’s precise writing is chilling in its descriptions of state-sanctioned mass murder and its treacherous ripple effect. The highly attentive editing and detailed citations document evidence in a format that promoted a global discussion about the rise of fascism and the inevitable victims of the crimes it incites. While addressing the universality of evil, Sullivan never loses sight of Anne Frank, her family, and the savage cruelty and terror they endured.

The Betrayal of Anne Frank named Best Nonfiction Book of 2022 on Poland’s Major Book Review Site (granice.pl)

Countries where published

1. HC UK—English
2. HC Australia—English
3. HC New Zealand – English
4. HC Italia—Italian
5. HC France—French
6. HC Nordic—Swedish
7. HC Nordic—Finnish
8. HC Nordic—Norwegian
9. HC Nordic—Danish
10. HC Brasil—Portuguese
11. HC Iberica—Spanish
12. HC Mexico—Spanish
13. HC Iberica—Portuguese
14. HC Japan—Japanese
15. HC Polska—Polish
16. HC Polska—Czech
17. HC Espanol—Spanish
18. Iztok Zapad—Bulgarian
19. Patakis—Greek
20. Corint—Romanian
21. AST—Russian
22. Citadella—Slovak

Available in the USA:

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Available in Canada:

Paperback

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Ebook

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