Karl Silberbauer
| Karl Silberbauer | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Karl Josef Silberbauer 21 June 1911 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 2 September 1972 (aged 61) |
| Resting place | Mauer, Friedensstrasse Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation | SS-Oberscharführer; Vienna Police Officer |
| Known for | Arresting Anne Frank and seven other occupants of the "Secret Annexe" |
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) |
Karl Josef Silberbauer (21 June 1911 – 2 September 1972) was an Austrian police officer, SS-Oberscharführer (staff sergeant), and undercover investigator for the West German Federal Intelligence Service. Silberbauer is best known, however, for his activities in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during World War II. During his time in Amsterdam, he got promoted to the rank of Hauptscharführer (master sergeant). In 1963, Silberbauer, by then an Inspector in the Vienna police, was exposed as the commander of the 1944 Gestapo raid on the Secret Annex and the arrests of Anne Frank, her fellow fugitives, and their Gentile protectors.
Born in Vienna, Silberbauer served in the Austrian military before following his father into the police force in 1935. Four years later, he joined the Gestapo, moved to the Netherlands, and in 1943 transferred to the Sicherheitsdienst in The Hague. He was then assigned to Amsterdam and attached to "Sektion IV B 4", a unit recruited from Austrian and German police departments and which handled arrests of hidden Jews throughout the occupied Netherlands.
On 4 August 1944, Silberbauer was ordered by his superior, SS-Obersturmführer (lieutenant) Julius Dettmann, to investigate a tip-off that Jews were being hidden in the upstairs rooms at Prinsengracht 263. He took a few Dutch policemen with him and interrogated Victor Kugler about the entrance to the hiding place. Miep Gies and Johannes Kleiman were also questioned, and while Kugler and Kleimann were arrested, Gies was allowed to stay on the premises. Both Otto Frank and Karl Silberbauer were interviewed after the war about the circumstances of the raid, with both describing Silberbauer's surprise that those in hiding had been there more than two years. Frank recalled Silberbauer confiscating their valuables and money, taking these spoils away in Otto Frank's briefcase, which he had emptied onto the floor scattering out the papers and notebooks which made up the diary of Anne Frank.
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