“The Diary of Anne Frank” was introduced in court yesterday at the trial of Wilheim Zoepf, Gen. Wilhelm Harster and Gertrud Slottke, former SS officers who are charged with the murder of Dutch Jews deported to Nazi concentration camps.
Harster told the court that two groups of over 700 Dutch Jews, aged 18 to 35, whom he had sent to the Mauthausen camp in 1941, had been destined for extermination. Zoepf, who was questioned by an American attorney, Robert Kempner, appearing in behalf of Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, said that, among the Jews sent to Germany, 48 percent were women and 22 percent children because his office “wanted to keep families together.” Zoepf also said that every time he saw Anne Frank’s picture on the cover of her book “it was terrible for me.”
Harster was the officer in charge of deporting to concentration camps 94,398 Jews from Holland, including Anne Frank. Only 1,070 survived. He was commander of the Nazi security police in occupied Holland. Zoepf was his principal aide and Gertrud Slottke, his secretary and director of the women’s division of the deportation project.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
