1. Karl Josef Silberbauer was an Austrian police officer, Schutzstaffel member, and undercover investigator for the West German Bundesnachrichtendienst.
11 Facts About Karl Silberbauer
1. 2.
Karl Silberbauer was stationed in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during World War II, where he was promoted to the rank of Hauptscharfuhrer.
3.
Karl Silberbauer was then assigned to Amsterdam and attached to "Sektion IV B4", a unit recruited from Austrian and German police departments and which handled arrests of hidden Jews throughout the occupied Netherlands.
4.
On 4 August 1944, Karl Silberbauer was ordered by his superior, SS-Obersturmfuhrer Julius Dettmann, to investigate a tip-off that Jews were being hidden in the upstairs rooms at 263 Prinsengracht.
5.
Karl Silberbauer took a few Dutch policemen with him and interrogated Victor Kugler about the entrance to the hiding place.
6.
Karl Silberbauer later surmised this was because she recognized and connected with Silberbauer's Viennese accent.
7.
Frank recalled Karl 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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Anne Frank 8.
Karl Silberbauer served 14 months in prison for using excessive force against members of the Communist Party of Austria.
9.
Possibly due to BND pressure, Karl Silberbauer was reinstated by the Viennese Kriminalpolizei in 1954, four years after the German publication of Anne Frank's diary, and promoted to the rank of Inspektor.
10.
Karl Silberbauer explained that the call was taken by his commanding officer, SS Lieutenant Julius Dettmann, who said only that the information came from "a reliable source".
11.
Karl Silberbauer is interred in Mauer Friedensstrasse cemetery, where his wife Barbara is interred.