‘It really hurts’: Dutch Jewish leader Ruben Vis strikes back at explosive new Anne Frank book

Ruben Vis, the CEO of the Dutch Jewish organization NIK. (Supplied photo)

Last week on The CJN Daily, we brought you an interview with Canadian writer Rosemary Sullivan. Her latest book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, details a team of historians and researchers that argue it was a Dutch Jewish notary who sold out the Franks to the Nazis. Sullivan defended her work and argued the Dutch need to face the fact that one-third of all Dutch Jews in hiding were betrayed, resulting in the death of 75 per cent of the country’s Jewish population.

But the Dutch are angry at the book—especially one Dutchman, Ruben Vis. The CEO of a Dutch Jewish organization called NIK, who is also the son of Holocaust survivors who hid for their survival, Vis has since embarked on a PR campaign to force the book’s publisher to stop printing copies. He also believes his research refutes several accusations from The Betrayal of Anne Frank, a book which he describes as a painful hit on Dutch Jews.

Vis joins from Amsterdam to explain what Sullivan’s book got wrong and why his fight to stop the book is going to heat up even more next week.

What we talked about:

  • Listen to Rosemary Sullivan discuss her book on The CJN Daily at thecjn.ca
  • Watch Sullivan’s full interview with The CJN on YouTube
  • Learn about the event, “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Refutation”, in which local Dutch historians and family members go into details about their counter-findings, at spui25.nl

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.