Karl Silberbauer
Karl Silberbauer, best known for his role as the Gestapo Chief in Amsterdam who captured Anne Frank, died of natural causes after a career as a police inspector in Vienna, Austria. While he was not tried for war crimes, there was a police disciplinary hearing for his role during the war.
Silberbauer is most often remembered for his raid on the Secret Annex. Anne Frank, her family and several others were hidden in the annex, and had been in hiding for several years. Silberbauer arrested them, and gathered their possessions, scattering the pages of Anne Frank’s diary. The Dutch police who assisted remembered Silberbauer’s name as something like Silvernagel.
In 1958, a Holocaust denier challenged Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal to locate the Gestapo officer responsible for the raid on the Secret Annex, stating that he would change his mind if Wiesenthal could prove the existence of Anne Frank, and the validity of her diary. Wiesenthal began his search and worked for several years. Finally, having received a Gestapo telephone directory, he found Silberbauer’s name in 1961.
Wiesenthal contacted an investigator of Nazi war crimes in the Austrian government and learned that it was likely that Silberbauer worked for the police department in Vienna. On June 2, 1963, Wiesenthal submitted a formal request to the police department, but they stalled for some time. In fact, the police identified Silberbauer at once, but suspended him, hoping to avoid publicity. He was soon exposed, and admitted his role.
The Austrian government declined to try him, but the police convened a disciplinary hearing. Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, said that Silberbauer had conducted himself professionally. Silberbauer’s suspension was lifted, and he lived out his life.