How Was Anne Frank Discovered?

Anne Frank and her family were discovered after Dutch informers tipped off the Gestapo, who raided the family’s hiding place on August 4, 1944. The Frank family, along with four other Jewish individuals, had been hiding in a “secret annex” (concealed section) of Otto Frank’s business premises in Amsterdam. The Frank family went into hiding on July 6, 1942, a day after Anne’s sister Margot received a summons from Nazi authorities to report to a forced-labor camp. The annex was their refuge from the Nazi regime for more than two years. However, their safety was compromised when the Gestapo received a tip-off from Dutch informers, leading to the discovery of their hiding place.

The Gestapo, acting on the tip-off, raided the annex. This marked the end of the Franks’ time in hiding, as they were taken into custody along with the other occupants of the annex. They were subsequently deported to concentration camps.

The Frank family was initially sent to Westerbork, a transit camp in the Netherlands. From there, they were transported to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland, and later, Anne and her sister Margot were moved to Bergen-Belsen, Germany, where they died in 1945.

Anne Frank’s diary of her time in hiding (published as The Diary of a Young Girl [originally in Dutch, 1947]) survived, thanks to the efforts of Miep Gies, one of the family’s Dutch helpers. The diary has since become a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a poignant reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust.