In the author’s opinion, his mother had an internal conflict that led her to “opt for as little attention as possible, practically complete radio silence, from the beginning of the Sixties,” he wrote. Around the time of the investigation into the SS officer, Voskuijl ceased granting interviews, wrote Van Wijk. Previously, Voskuijl and others had placed suspicion on a disgruntled male warehouse employee, Willem van Maaren. In 1963, the SS officer who conducted the annex raid told investigators a “young woman” made the betrayal call. After discovering some of the family’s long-held secrets, Van Wijk now believes there is an unsettling reason behind his mother’s relative “anonymity” among the helpers. The encounter ended with Nelly shouting, “Just go to your Jews!” ‘Out of loyalty for my mother’Īt the time of Bep Voskuijl’s death in 1983, she was the least known of the four Dutch resisters who helped hide Anne Frank. “Nelly didn’t just engage in an adolescent relationship with a soldier - it went far beyond that,” wrote Van Wijk.Īfter tracking down Hulsman for the book, Van Wijk learned of a heated conversation between Nelly and other members of the Voskuijl family during the hiding period.
His aunt’s past as a Nazi collaborator, as well as her whereabouts during a key part of the hiding period, had been covered up by the family. Specifically, Anne referred to the “troubles” brought upon the Voskuijl family by Nelly, and that the young woman was “often away from home.”ĭuring his research for the book, Van Wijk learned that Nelly did far more than engage in flirtations with German soldiers. In her diary, Anne Frank wrote about Nelly on several occasions. Later, when father Johan Voskuijl and sister Bep were involved in hiding Jews on the Prinsengracht, Nelly was working for the Nazis across town. Not only was she carousing with German soldiers, but Nelly’s rowdy behavior earned her a stint in police custody. “This should be part of her biography.” ‘Just go to your Jews!’Įven during the early days of the war, the Voskuijl family faced trouble with Nelly. “My mother had lots of troubles with Nelly during the war and after the war,” Van Wijk told The Times of Israel.
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