Probe could solve mystery

For nearly 75 years, some of the greatest investigative minds have tried to figure out who tipped off the Nazis about Anne Frank and the seven other Jews hiding behind a movable bookcase in Amsterdam.

Now, a former FBI investigator working with a production company hopes the decades-old mystery can be solved with the help of a new mind — an artificial one.

Vince Pankoke, who spent a chunk of his FBI career investigating Colombian drug cartels, has assembled a team of 20 researchers, data analysts and historians to look into what he calls “one of the biggest cold cases” of the 20th century.

The most unconventional member of his team is a piece of specialized software that can cross-reference millions of documents — police reports, lists of Nazi spies, investigative files for Frank family sympathizers — to find connections and new leads.

Proditione Media, a production company in the Netherlands, is soliciting donations to help fund Pankoke’s investigation, which will become the subject of a podcast — and possibly a documentary.

The company, which asked Pankoke to lead the investigation, also has asked people with information or previously undisclosed documents to submit them on its website.

Already, the investigation has generated new interest — and new information, Pankoke said.

“The bottom line is until this day, there is nothing that’s really held water or been definitive,” he told The Washington Post. “The point of the investigation is fact-finding just to discover the truth. There is no statute of limitations on the truth.”