| 18 April 1941
![[curiosity/witnesses]](gifs/peoplea.gif)
![[denunciation of a Jew]](gifs/talk.gif)
| Otto is paid an
unexpected visit from NSB member, "Tonny" Ahlers,
who confronts him with a letter
from Joseph Jansen, to the NSB, about the conversation in March.
In the letter, Jansen charges that "the Jew Frank" was still involved in the
company he was supposed to have left (due to the anti-Jewish decrees), expressed
doubts about the German war effort, attempted to influence him, insulted the
Germans, made derogatory comments about the Nazis, and therefore Frank should
be arrested. Ahlers indicates
that he isn't there to arrest him: he had intercepted the letter and is giving
it to him. Otto pays him some cash and offers more if he comes back. (It is not
clear if they ever meet again before the end of the war.)
Otto then shows the letter to Kugler, Miep, and a friend. He does
not mention it to the family. At some point Otto gives the letter to his
long-trusted attorney (who
takes notes and later destroys it, worrying about repercussions if Frank were to be
arrested after all).
Just what problems will this bring? Will Jansen
write again? Do other NSB members already know about it? Will Ahlers get greedy
and/or turn against Otto after all? Otto later said, "Because of Jansen's letter,
I was afraid for months that if I met him in the street, Jansen would file
a new complaint against me."
HLOF p. 4, 74, 81-2. (Also p. 328, CE p. 10.)
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