Elisabeth "Bep" Voskuijl (Dutch pronunciation: [eːˈlisaːbɛd bɛp ˈfɔskœyl];[a] 5 July 1919 – 6 May 1983) was a resident of Amsterdam who helped conceal Anne Frank and her family from Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands.
In the early versions of Het Achterhuis, known in English as The Diary of a Young Girl, she was given the pseudonym "Elli Vossen".
When still a teenager, Bep worked as a chambermaid, waitress and shop assistant in order to earn money to support the large Voskuijl family.
In 1937, Bep enrolled in the Instituut Schoevers, the evening school for girls and women who wanted to learn secretarial work.
She also made friends with Miep Gies and got acquainted with Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman, all employees at Opekta who would later become protectors of the people in the Secret Annex.
Every time I heard a tree creaking in the October wind or a car driving along the canal, I grew afraid.
On 15 June 1943, Anne Frank wrote in her diary: "It is a disaster for us that good old Voskuyl won't be able to keep us in touch with all that goes on, and all he hears in the warehouse.
"[9] During the Gestapo raid, Bep managed to escape with a few documents which would have incriminated the black market contacts of the Secret Annex helpers.
She went into hiding for a week and then got back to the office, after which she entered the Secret Annex and saved parts of Anne's diaries, that were scattered over the floor.
Bep was honored in later years for her activities during the Second World War, but disliked publicity and gave few interviews about her association with Anne Frank.
That same year, Bep met with Queen Juliana at the Dutch premiere of the Hollywood film The Diary of Anne Frank by George Stevens.
In an article in Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf, Miep Gies was quoted, stating that "the special thing about Bep was that she was so humble.
In Belgium and the Netherlands, the biography received much media attention, mainly because the authors claimed that Bep's sister Nelly (1923–2001) could be seen as a suspect of the betrayal of the Secret Annex.
According to Bertus Hulsman, Bep's former fiancé, who was interviewed by the authors, Nelly knew that her father and sister hid Jews.
The authors underline that Karl Silberbauer, the SS man who arrested the people of the Secret Annex, later claimed that the infamous call to the Germans was made by a female.
They find it curious that Bep was strongly convinced of stockroom manager Willem van Maaren's guilt, but changed her mind when Simon Wiesenthal tracked down Silberbauer in 1963.