• The Last Secret of the Secret Annex

  • The Untold Story of Anne Frank, Her Silent Protector, and a Family Betrayal
  • By: Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl, Jeroen De Bruyn
  • Narrated by: Jacques Roy
  • Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

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The Last Secret of the Secret Annex  By  cover art

The Last Secret of the Secret Annex

By: Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl, Jeroen De Bruyn
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
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Publisher's summary

A riveting historical investigation and family memoir that intertwines the iconic narrative of Anne Frank with the untold story of Bep Voskuijl, her protector and closest confidante in the Annex, bringing us closer to understanding one of the great secrets of World War II.

Anne Frank’s life has been studied by many scholars, but the story of Bep Voskuijl has remained untold, until now. As the youngest of the five Dutch people who hid the Frank family, Bep was Anne’s closest confidante during the 761 excruciating days she spent hidden in the Secret Annex. Bep, who was just twenty-three when the Franks went into hiding, risked her life to protect them, plunging into Amsterdam’s black market to source food and medicine for people who officially didn’t exist under the noses of German soldiers and Dutch spies. In those cramped quarters, Bep and Anne’s friendship bloomed through deep conversations, shared meals, and a youthful understanding.

Told by her own son, The Last Secret of the Secret Annex intertwines the story of Bep and her sister Nelly with Anne’s iconic narrative. Nelly’s name may have been scrubbed from Anne’s published diary, but Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl and Jeroen De Bruyn expose details about her collaboration with the Nazis, a deeply held family secret. After the war, Bep tried to bury her memories just as the Secret Annex was becoming world famous as a symbol of resistance to the Nazi horrors. She never got over losing Anne nor could Bep put to rest the horrifying suspicion that those in the Annex had been betrayed by her own flesh and blood.

This is a story about those caught in between the Jewish victims and Nazi persecutors, and the moral ambiguities and hard choices faced by ordinary families like the Voskuijls, in which collaborators and resisters often lived under the same roof.

Beautifully written and unsettlingly suspenseful, The Last Secret of the Secret Annex will show us the Secret Annex as we’ve never seen it before. And it provides a powerful understanding of how historical trauma is inherited from one generation to the next and how sometimes keeping a secret hurts far more than revealing a shameful truth.

©2023 by Jeroen De Bruyn & Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

What listeners say about The Last Secret of the Secret Annex

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Great listen after reading Diary of a young girl

This was a very interesting read. I liked it even more than the original diary, but you definitely have to read the original diary 1st in order to understand it.

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Enlightening

I just watched the movie by the same name and wanted to read the book.

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Background

I enjoyed hearing the background of the Anna’s diary and the people that helped the people in the Annex.

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Wonderful new information!

I thoroughly enjoyed this expansive new knowledge on this case. I’ve never heard this before.

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Loved this book

Loved the book and learning so much! Would listen to it again. Highly suggest buying.

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Extraordinary

Wonderful story about an extraordinary woman, her courage during the war and the memories she dealt with.

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