Anna "Ans" van Dijk

Anna "Ans" van Dijk

(Ans van Dijk at her Trial in 1947)

Anna "Ans" van Dijk was born on December 24, 1905 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Her Father was Aron van Dijk and ran a Collection Agency and her Mother was Kaatje (nee Bin.)

Her Family was Jewish.

In 1919, when she was 14, her Mother killed herself.

Ans married Bram Querido in 1927,they separated in 1935 and they Divorced in 1940.

In 1935 she started a Relationship with Miep Stodel and while Homosexual Activity was legal in the Netherlands since 1811 it was still oftentimes punished through other Laws.)

Her Father remarried in 1939, but he suffered from Paranoia and went into the Het Apeldoornsche Bosch Psychiatric Institution where he died.

She had a Brother and two Half-Brothers.

Ans opened a Millinery Shop called “Maison Evany” on the Nieuwendijk in Amsterdam.

The Germans invaded and occupied the Netherlands in May 1940.

Ans refused to follow the new Anti-Jewish Laws.

She did not register as a Jew and did not wear the Mandatory Star of David.

Instead she dyed her hair and got a Fake Identity Card in the name of Annie de Jong.

In November 1941, the Germans forced her to close her Millinery Shop because it was registered to a Jew (Ans not Annie.)

In 1942 her Girlfriend, Miep, fled to Switzerland.

In January 1943 she went into hiding (with a Family on Marco Polostraat) after the German Round-Ups of the Jews increased.

On Easter Sunday 1943 the Sicherheitsdienst (the Nazi Intelligence Service) Detective Peter Schaap of the Office of Jewish Affairs (Dutch: Bureau Joodsche Zaken) of the Amsterdam Police arrested Ans after she was betrayed by two Jewish Women whom she herself had previously hidden and who had been arrested.

After Ans agreed to work for them and to help them find other Jews in hiding she was released.

She started to work as an Informant (Dutch: Vertrouwensman or V-Frau) and used her house at Jekerstraat 46-2 in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt’s District.

Ans pretending to work for the Dutch Resistance and “offered” to help Jews find hiding places.

She helped the Germans and their Dutch Collaborators to capture 145 People (including one of her Half-Brothers and his Family) from May 1943 until August 1944.

84 of those 145 People were later killed by the Germans.

She received 7.50 Dutch Guilders (or $68 US Dollars today) for every Jew she gave to the Germans (this helped her live a comfortable life during the War.)

She also helped other V-Frau Informants capture another 700 Jews and Dutch Resistance Fighters during the War.

The Netherlands was liberated by the Canadians in May 1945.

On June 20, 1945 Ans was arrested in Rotterdam for her Crimes during the War.

She was charged with 23 Counts of Treason.

On February 24, 1947 she was tried by a Special Court in Amsterdam.

She pled Guilty to all the Charges, but said it was only done through Self-Preservation (so she wouldn’t be sent to the Death Camps.)

Her Former German Supervisor, Willy Lages, described Ans as “eager to do her work.”

The Court found her Guilty and sentenced her to Death.

She appealed the sentenced, but it was upheld.

She also asked Dutch Queen Wilhelmina for a Royal Pardon, but that was also turned down.

On January 14, 1948 Ans was executed by Firing Squad at Fort Bijlmer.

She was 42 years old.

The night before her Execution she converted to the Roman Catholic Church.

She was the only Dutch Women to be executed for her Crimes during the War.

Ans van Dijk is also thought to have betrayed Anne Frank and the other 7 who hid in the Secret Annex, but there is no direct evidence of that.

Her Ex-Husband, Abraham Querido, died on June 30, 1944 at the Blechhammer Concentration Camp.

Her Ex-Girlfriend, Miep Stodel, died in 1993.

Peter Schaap (the SD Officer she worked with) was executed after the War in 1949.