Anne Frank: Diary of Hope
Anne Frank was a German girl and Jewish victim of the Holocaust who is famous for keeping a diary of her experiences. Anne and her family went into hiding for two years to avoid Nazi persecution. Her documentation of this time is now published in The Diary of a Young Girl.
Annelies Marie Frank, was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany to Otto and Edith. Her life was pretty normal until 1933, when the Nazis came into power. When the persecution of innocent Jews began, Otto fled to Amsterdam, his family following suit after a while.
The peace they had in Amsterdam was short lived, after the occupation of German forces in May 1940. 2 Years later, the Nazis had begun transporting Jews in numbers to the East, where they were killed. This further spelled trouble for the Jews in Amsterdam, which included the Frank Family.
The Franks were safe compared to the other Jew Families for a while, as they hid in a secret apartment close to Otto’s workplace. Anne had often referred to the apartment as the Secret Annex. They hid along other Jews and had Otto’s friends bring in food and water for them.
It was during this period that Anne began her diary which is one of the very few records of Jew Persecutions by the Nazi.
Unfortunately, 2 years into hiding, the German Gestapo figured out the hiding place. Some historians suggest that the place was either tipped off or it was by complete chance. The Gestapo sent the Franks and the rest of the Jews to Westerbork transit camp on August 8. A month later, the Franks were transported to Poland.
Records show that 1019 Jews accompanied the Franks in the train. The Franks were selected for forced labor. They were tattooed prisoner numbers.
Anne passed away in February 1945, at the young age of 15. Her sister died at the age of 19. Both of them were reported to have died of Typhus. Her mother, Edith also passed away in January 1945.
Among the Franks, only Otto lived to tell the tale. He was freed by the Soviet forces. This was when he was presented his daughter’s diary, by Miep Gies, who helped hide the Franks in the Secret Annex, who had preserved it after Anne’s unfortunate death. Otto played an important role in publishing Anne’s diary.
The home where the Franks hid in Amsterdam continues to attract a large audience. Now known as the Anne Frank House, it drew more than 1.2 million visitors in 2017.
