CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — Almost 80 years have passed since Anne Frank and her family were found and captured by the Nazis during World War II.
A team of investigators recently released who they believe betrayed the Frank family to the Nazis.
That team was led by Vince Pankoke, a Johnstown native with over 35 years of law enforcement experience.
6 News interviewed Pankoke over Zoom. Here's how he said it happened.
"It was important to address this. We owe it to the memories of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. We owe it to the survivors of the holocaust, and to make sure that we try to learn from history's mistakes to make sure this never happened again."
"I was born and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and graduated from Richland High School in 1975, and then -- like many do in Johnstown -- attended the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown."
"While I was at UPJ, I did an internship at the Richland Police Department, and then was fortunate enough to be hired there as a patrolman in late 1979."
"I remained with Richland Police until I was hired with the FBI in late 1987."
"I remained in the Miami division until the end of my career, when I retired in November of 2014."
"During my time with the FBI, I worked very closely with a Dutch National Police Group. I would travel back and forth to the Netherlands. So, I had a lot of good colleagues there."
"One day, after I retired, I received a call. My colleague said, "If you're done sitting on the beach, I have a case for you ready to work.'"
"I politely told him, 'You know that I'm retired at this point,' and he said, 'Yeah, but it's not that kind of case.'"
"It's a historical investigation in an attempt to determine what caused the raid in the capture of Anne Frank, her family, and the others in the annex."
"He knew that I had an interest in World War II, my dad served in the U.S. army, and that I would probably be a perfect fit for it."
"I was the director of the team."
"We found an overlooked piece of evidence, and it was a note that Otto Frank received -- shortly after liberation -- identifying the name of his betrayer."
"A man by the name of Arnold van den Bergh. Unfortunately, van den Bergh was Jewish -- and like many people who were Jewish during this time -- were actually given a choice."
"They can get on the train and get on a death camp to the East, or you can cooperate with us [the Nazis.]"
"Facing that untenable choice of losing his family or cooperating -- we believe, our theory, it's not 100 percent that he is the betrayer -- but it is the most likely cause of the raid."
"(We think) that he turned over lists of addresses, not names, but addresses, where Jews were in hiding, and one of the addresses on the list was that of the annex where Anne Frank, her family, and friends were hiding."
"Why is this still important? Because it could happen again."
"If an educated, cultured group of people like the Germans -- prior to the war -- could fall for the Nazi rhetoric, and end up throwing the entire world into war, it can happen nowadays."
Pankoke says their investigation began in 2016 and concluded in 2021.
These findings came to light in January of 2022 when Pankoke appeared on national television and was quoted in a newly-released book.
Click here for more information on The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation by Rosemary Sullivan.
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