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The arrest of Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler

In the 4 August 1944 raid of the Secret Annex, helpers Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler were also arrested.

Event

Aug. 4, 1944

52.3753 N 4.884037 E

Prinsengracht 263

Amsterdam

Nederland

On 4 August 1944 around 10.30 am, an arrest team raided the building on Prinsengracht.[1] The policemen drove a car ahead, got out, whereupon one of the Dutch detectives asked the warehouse staff something, who directed him to the office floor upstairs. There they found the office staff working. At least Bep Voskuijl and Miep Gies, both of whom knew about the people in hiding, were sitting there at the time.

It is not entirely clear exactly where Kleiman was at the time of the raid. Miep and Bep stated in December 1963 that they were together in the front office and that Kleiman only entered when the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) was already in the building. According to them, when they entered, he gave his wallet to Bep with a request to deliver it to a drugstore owner friend nearby.[2]

In January 1948, Kleiman mentioned the SD officer Karl Silberbauer and (detectives) Gezinus Gringhuis and Willem Grootendorst entering the office.[3] The detectives walked on from the front office to the office of Victor Kugler, who at the time was director of Opekta/Pectcon. The policemen questioned him and took him along while they searched the building. Initially, only Kugler went into the Secret Annex, but later Kleiman was also taken there.[4]

According to statements made by SS-Hauptscharführer Karl Silberbauer (who did not understand Dutch) after the war, Kugler was immediately taken into interrogation by one of the Dutch SD officers. Afterwards, Kugler allegedly led them straight to the bookcase. Years later, Kugler himself stated that he strung the SDs along for as long as possible. However, according to Kugler: "They knew".[4] Further statements regarding Kugler during the raid are second-hand, and vary considerably.

According to statements by Kugler, Edith Frank-Holländer was the first person he saw when, followed by the SDs, he entered the Secret Annexe. He said: "Ich konnte nur mit vieler Mühe sagen: die Gestapo ist da." [4]

Kugler was eventually taken to the SD building at Adema van Scheltamaplein 1 along with the eight people in hiding and Johannes Kleiman.[5] In the SD building, they were locked together in a large room, to be interrogated one by one later.

Kugler mentioned no details about the arrest in his rather brief statement to the Politieke Recherche Afdeling of 14 January 1948.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Dit tijdstip gaf Jo Kleiman in 1948 aan, en werd door Otto Frank in 1963 herhaald. Nationaal Archief, Den Haag (NL-HaNA), Centraal Archief van de Bijzondere Rechtspleging (CABR), toegang 2.09.09, inv. nr. 23892: Verklaringen J. Kleiman, 12 januari 1948 en O. Frank, 2-3 december 1963.
  2. ^ NL-HaNA, CABR, inv. nr. 23892: Verklaringen Miep Gies en Bep Voskuijl in p.v.b. 86/1963 v.H. De drogist is waarschijnlijk Derk Kollen op de Leliegracht.
  3. ^ NL-HaNA, CABR, inv. nr. 23892: Verklaring 12 januari 1948 aan Politeke Recherche Afdeling (P.R.A.).
  4. a, b, c Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach, Archief Ernst Schnabel: Schriftelijke verklaring van Victor Kugler, 17 september 1957.
  5. ^ Otto Frank zelf verklaarde herhaaldelijk dat zij na zijn arrestatiedoor de SD naar de Aussenstelle – het regionale kantoor – van de Sicherheitsdienst aan de Euterpestraat zijn gebracht. De Zentralstelle fur jüdische Auswanderung, de dienst die zich bezighield met de opsporing en het verhoor van ondergedoken Joden, bevond zich echter aan het Adama van Scheltemaplein 1, tegenover de Aussenstelle van de Sicherheitsdienst aan de Euterpestraat in Amsterdam. Silberbauer, die het arrestatieteam leidde, verklaarde echter dat hij de onderduikers mee had genomen naar zijn bureau aan het Adama van Scheltemaplein. NL-HaNA, 2.09.09 CABR, inv.nr. 23892, dossier W.G. van Maaren, proces-verbaal, 3 november 1964: verhoor Otto Frank, 2-3 december 1963, 3. Met betrekking tot het transport heeft Otto Frank het over een gesloten vrachtauto. Jan Gies noemt een donkerkleurige bestelauto, waarschijnlijk arrestantenauto van de Amsterdamse politie. Silberbauer heeft het over een Duitse politieauto. NL-HaNA, CABR, inv. nr. 23892, dossier van Maaren, procesverbaal, 3 november 1964: verhoren Otto Frank (2-3 december 1963), Jan Gies (23 december 1963) en Carl Silberbauer (3 janauari 1964).  In het CABR dossier van Janssen noemt Otto Frank één beambte van de Grüne Polizei en vier Hollandsche politie-ambtenaren: NL-HaNA, CABR, inv. nr. 23834, onderzoek contra Josephus Marinus Jansen, procesverbaal, verhoor Otto Frank, 20 november 1946.