Argumentative Essay: Who Betrayed The Franks

Who Betrayed the Franks On August 14, 1944 the Franks and five other people hiding with them, were captured by German police. The eight of them had been in hiding for more than two years, so who made the fatal call to police? There are three suspects, Willem van Maaren, Lena Hartog, and Tony Ahlers. All of which have reasons why they could be guilty or innocent. Nobody knows for sure who betrayed the Franks, but after doing research, I believe that Tony Ahlers is guilty. Willem van Maaren began working as the warehouse manager in 1943, one year before the secret annex was raided by police. The eight people in hiding did not trust him, and often felt suspicious of him. They also found traps set by him downstairs. He was obviously suspicious

Lena Hartog worked as a cleaning lady in the building where her husband worked and where the Franks were hiding. Her and her husband both knew about the secret annex and Lena was worried that if the police found out that they knew about it, her husband could get in trouble. She also supposedly told Bep, another helper, that if the police found the annex they would all be in great danger. For these reasons, she may have called the police so they would get in less trouble than they would have if the police found it themselves. Lena is more likely innocent though. If she did betray the Franks, she most likely would have told her husband not to come to work that day, to avoid getting him in trouble. Also, just because of how things were in this time period, the police might not have taken her too seriously if she called just because she is a woman. Woman weren’t always respected or treated equally so the police might not have taken any action. Lena Hartog is the least likely out of the three to call the

Otto Frank thought that Tony was a good friend of his. They talked often and Tony helped them go into hiding. As soon as the Franks went into hiding, though, Tony and Otto did not communicate at all. Many people think that Tony was just using the Franks to get money. If he let the Franks stay in hiding longer, there would be a bigger amount of money for anyone who turns in Jews. Tony may have used this to his advantage by waiting until the war was almost over, and then getting lots of money by turning in the Franks. There is quite a lot of evidence that says Tony is guilty. Even his own son says that he turned the Franks in just for the money. Of course there are people that still say he’s innocent. His ex-wife tells investigators that Tony did nothing wrong and that she even had Jewish maids at the time, though her son says that this statement is a lie. She also became very defensive while being interviewed and would not answer any more