The Last Secret of the Secret Annex

‘Fascinating … not only conveys the quiet heroism of what his mother contributed to Anne Frank’s story, but a sad playing-out of a family’s dysfunction, of the pain of survival, of the ripples of trauma flowing into succeeding generations’ * Daily Telegraph *
‘Devastating, compelling’ * Daily Mail *
‘This gripping account adds a missing human dimension to the story of the young girl hidden in an attic during the Nazi occupation of Holland—and those who helped and those who betrayed her. I read it in one gulp—as will you’ – Kati Marton, author of ‘The Chancellor’
‘As much a work of painful family therapy as painstaking historical analysis … A riveting read’ – Peter Hayes, author of ‘Why? Explaining the Holocaust’
‘A superbly well-written, intimate, engrossing, and heartrending reckoning with the endless damage done by genocide’ * Booklist (Starred) *
‘An important contribution to the literature on Anne Frank’ * Kirkus *
‘For long, the story of Bep Voskuijl, one of Anne Frank’s courageous helpers, has been mostly kept in the dark. This captivating book tells her moving and tragic story, her wartime assistance in the Secret Annex, and the long shadows of the war on her life and her family’s’ – Dr Bart Wallet, professor of early modern and modern Jewish history at the University of Amsterdam
‘Part biography and part whodunit, The Last Secret of the Secret Annex is, above all, a bereaved son’s cri de coeur, simultaneously mourning and celebrating the mother he lost even before she died’

* Wall Street Journal *
‘This powerful story brings to life Bep’s heroism and illuminates generations of a Dutch family, its secrets, and the trauma the Nazi occupation bequeathed to the future’ – Pamela S. Nadell, author of ‘America’s Jewish Women’
‘Provides a poignant account of the poison left by Dutch collaboration … [and] the devastating effect that Bep’s lifelong secretiveness had on her family. It is for their own stories that these books should be read, not for the extraordinary fame of Anne Frank’ * TLS *

Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl

Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl is the third of Bep Voskuijl’s four children. Born in Amsterdam in 1949, he enjoyed a successful career as a video producer and marketing manager for prominent Dutch companies and newspapers. After retiring in 2010, Joop dedicated himself to researching and writing his mother’s story. He also volunteers as a guest lecturer, educating Dutch schoolchildren and other groups about Anne Frank, the Holocaust, and the resistance during World War II.

Jeroen De Bruyn

Jeroen De Bruyn was born in Antwerp in 1993. At the age of fifteen, mirroring Anne Frank’s age at the time of her death, Jeroen began original research on the Secret Annex. He gained firsthand experience at the Anne Frank House through an internship in 2011. He later studied journalism, contributing to notable Flemish news magazines and serving as a senior editor for the Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen.

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