From the News Vault: Simon Wiesenthal’s Pursuit of Justice and the Arrest of Anne Frank’s Captor

(April 3, 2009) 

“My cause was justice, not vengeance.”
– Simon Wiesenthal

August 21 marked 62 years since the arrest of Karl Silberbauer, the Gestapo officer who captured Anne Frank and her family in a raid on the Secret Annex that led to the murder of Anne, her mother, and her sister. It was through Simon Wiesenthal’s relentless efforts that Silberbauer was apprehended.

Wiesenthal had been tracking down perpetrators of the Holocaust since the end of World War II through his Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna. When challenged by Holocaust deniers who questioned the validity of Anne Frank’s diary and her very existence, finding Karl Silberbauer became one of his highest-priority cases.

In 1963, Wiesenthal found Silberbauer’s name in a wartime Gestapo telephone directory that listed officers stationed in occupied territories. Following this lead, the Nazi hunter contacted the Austrian minister of the interior, who confirmed that the former Gestapo officer had been working for the Vienna Police since 1946. Wiesenthal located and confronted Silberbauer, who admitted plainly, “Yes, I arrested Anne Frank.”

The Vienna Police later exonerated Silberbauer of official guilt, saying he was “only doing his job.” For Wiesenthal, however, securing this confession was a crucial step in preserving the historical record and holding perpetrators accountable.

Click here to learn more about Simon Wiesenthal’s relentless pursuit of Nazi war criminals.

Source: The Simon Wiesenthal Center