Holocaust Writer Defends Anne Frank Story

The author of a new book called Life After Anne Frank is defending her account of meeting Frank at Bergen-Belsen, despite skepticism from historians and friends of the famous diarist. In the memoir, to be published in Dutch this month, Berthe Meijer, 71, recalls Anne telling children fairy tales in the barracks. Holocaust experts and fellow survivors say Anne was far too ill to tell stories. But Meijer is sticking with her story. "How do they think they can look into my memory?" she said in an interview with the AP.

Records show her family lived on the same street as Anne's elementary school before the war, and that Meijer was indeed imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen. Beyond that, the truth may remain a mystery: "On its face, it seems too good to be true," a leading historian says. "But you never know." Psychologists say it's conceivable that if Meijer knew Frank before the war and met her again in Bergen-Belsen, she could form a lasting memory about it, even as a 6-year-old. Click here to read more about the memoir. (More Anne Frank stories.)