From the horror of the Holocaust there has arisen an incredible
cannon of informative, evocative and always powerful literature.
From THE TIN DRUM to SOPHIE'S CHOICE to NIGHT, the list is as long
as it is impressive. But one author's name is mentioned most often
and most indelibly in connection with Holocaust literature, a girl
who didn't even survive through her concentration camp
experience.

That girl, of course, is Anne Frank. Somehow her father did survive
and, upon returning to Amsterdam, discovered the diary his youngest
daughter kept during the Frank family's two years in hiding from
the Nazis. Thusly, Anne's words were published and soon became the
world's most widely read account of the Holocaust. The experience
of a young person's climb to maturity, told in the extreme context
of quietly battling for her life, universalized the situation in a
way nothing else has before or since.

There have been several Anne Frank biographies published, as well
as books about the Frank family's Dutch "helpers," who hid them in
the secret annex. But little has been written, at least in book
form, about Anne's beloved father, Otto, the man who published the
diary. Carol Ann Lee's THE HIDDEN LIFE OF OTTO FRANK tackles this
topic, four years after her literary debut ROSES FROM THE EARTH:
The Biography of Anne Frank.

Don't let the somewhat salacious title fool you. There's no Mr.
Frank mistress hidden amongst the Jews in the attic, or any
particularly outrageous diary passages that have never been seen
before. In her extremely knowledgeable and competent, if never
particularly florid, writing style, Lee presents a straightforward
portrait of a man who tried to harness his pain for the greater
good. Otto is a sympathetic character. He's not saint material, but
he appears to have been the good and just man that Anne portrays
him to be in her adoring writings. Lee traces his life, from his
German roots to his family's immigration to Holland to his second,
more loving marriage. Her many sources include excerpts from Otto's
pre-, post- and wartime letters; the ones dating from just after
his Auschwitz internment become particularly interesting and
heartbreaking. Readers already know that his daughters will not
return. But it takes Otto a painfully long time to discover
this.

The book's only truly new revelation is the accusation of a new
Frank family betrayer. Past theories have abounded, including the
new warehouseman, burglars looking for extra money, or suspicious
neighbors. According to Lee's theory (and this is not giving
anything away, as she voices it in the introduction), ne'er do well
Tonny Ahlers did it. Ahlers, an early Nazi informant, actually
saved the Franks from the Germans once. He turned over an
incriminating letter that accused Otto of anti-German sentiments in
1941. Otto paid off Ahlers twice for giving Otto the letter instead
of sending it along to his superiors. Lee believes there was a
larger blackmail scheme ongoing and that Ahlers eventually turned
in the Franks (and the four others living with them) because he
needed the money.

This theory certainly tracks as well as any others that have been
introduced with regard to the Frank betrayer. But it is also the
only part of this book that seems forced. Lee tries very hard to
link Otto and Ahlers together, when there is minimal evidence that
they crossed paths beyond once or twice. Though two of Ahlers'
immediate relations confirm that their brother/father turned the
Franks in, this is not conclusive. Lee struggles to make Ahlers a
focal point when he seems more like an interesting sidelight. Since
this is the only truly new revelation, it seems understandable. But
the sections still read a bit stilted.
Our international interest in Anne Frank shows no signs of ebbing.
When this book was published in the Netherlands last year, it drew
national attention. And it is an engrossing, well-researched, if at
times slightly dry, read. As always, it seems an impossible shame
that Anne is not here to see the many legacies she left.