The Diary Of Anne Frank - Centro De Recursos Marista

The Diary of Anne FrankI Still Believe“In Spite of Everything, I still believe people arereally good at heart.”

Anne’s Diary Kitty“I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been ableto do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support andcomfort to me”.So begins the diary of a 13 year old Jewish girl named Anne Frank. Anne’sdiary opens in 1942 with stories of boyfriends, parties, and school life. Itcloses two years later, just days before Anne is captured and imprisoned in aNazi concentration camp.

I Still BelieveOne girl.One diaryOne voiceOne person can make a difference

Anne was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt,Germany. Her parents were Edith and OttoFrank.

Anne’s Early LifeWhen Anne was 4 years old, her family movedto the Netherlands to escape the anti-Jewishlaws being introduced in Germany.Anne and her older sister Margot enjoyed ahappy, carefree childhood until 1940 whenHitler invaded the Netherlands.

Anne and her sister Margot

“After May 1940, good times rapidly fled: first the war,then the capitulation, followed by the arrival of theGermans, which is when the sufferings of us Jews reallybegan.”Margot’s call up notice

Adolf HitlerChancellor of Germany and Founder and Leader of the NaziParty1933 - 1945

Hitler was born in Austria on April 20, 1889. Spoiled by adomineering mother he had tantrums when he didn’t get his ownway and was subject to hallucinations.He was a high school dropout, wanted to be an artist, but failed theart school entrance exam, and he refused to work.He fled Austria when they were going to draft him into the army.

Since Hitler thought of himself as German instead of Austrian he moved to Germany andwhen WWI started he happily served in their army . He found he loved war and won 4medals for bravery.When Germany lost the war he went into a deep depression and blamed the loss of thewar and Germany’s greatness on the Jews.His greatest lie to the German people was when he told them he would rule Germany withequality and justice for all.As he said that he was carrying out his plan for world domination and German superiorityby eliminating the Jewish people.

For some unknown reason Hitler discovered he could attract loyal followers. His maniacalranting and raving appealed to the crowds of people who shared his hatred of the Jews.As he spoke Hitler had already written “Mein Kampf”, his biography in which he wrotehis plan for world domination. Unfortunately he was a terrible writer and nobody paidattention to his book, so few people read the chilling words of Hitler who publicallydocumented his “final solution "for the Jewish problem.Had he been as good a writer as a public speaker theworld might have been alerted to the devastation heplanned for humanity.

The Jewish Laws Jews must wear a yellow star of David Jews must hand in their bicycles Jews cannot ride the bus or train and can’t own a car Jews can only shop in Jewish shops between 3-5PM Jews must be indoors by 8PM & cannot sit outside after that ,even in their own patios. Jews are forbidden to visit theatres, movies, and other places ofentertainment. Jews may not take part in public sports, swimming pools, tennis courts, hockey fields, andother sports grounds. Jews may not visit Christians Jews must go to Jewish schools, and many more restrictions of a similar kind.“So we could not do this and were forbiddento do that. But life went on in spite of it all.”Anne Frank

The Situation Gets WorseAs in other German-occupied countries, the Nazis began roundingup Jews and transporting them to concentration and death camps,where prisoners died from overwork, starvation, disease, or weremurdered in gas chambers or crematoriums.Escaping Nazi-occupied territory became nearly impossible.

The HolocaustThe Holocaust MemorialMass grave of Jews with Nazi’s looking on

The word Holocaust means complete destruction of life, usually by fire. In World War II itcame to mean the deliberate massacre of 6 million Jews by Hitler and his Nazis. In theconcentration camps they were murdered by using cyanide or carbon monoxide gas,electrocution, phenol injections, hanging, shooting, incinerating and many othermethods. The concentration camps have come to stand for the worst that humans can do.The Nazis were proud of their efficiency in murder.

The Concentration CampsAuschwitz Death Camp

The Franks Go Into HidingLike many other Jews trapped in Europe at the time,Anne and her family went into hiding to avoid capture.Others were not so lucky, as Anne knew.

The Residents of the Secret Annex and Their HelpersMr. DusselThe Frank familyMr. Van DaanPeter Van DaanMiep GiesThe HelpersMrs. Van Daan

Living in HidingThe Frank family and 4 other Jews lived for more than 2 years hidden in a fewcramped rooms, the Secret Annex, behind Mr. Frank’s office and warehouse.

Miep Gies risked her life and well-being to hide the Frankfamily. She died on January 11, 2011 at the age of 100.

Shortly after the arrests, Miep returns to the attic and finds Anne's diaries, as well aspapers and family photographs. She collects everything and hides them in her desk drawer.She hopes to present them to Anne when she is freed. Otto Frank survives the Holocaust,returning to Amsterdam from Auschwitz in 1945. He lives with Miep and Jan Gies. AfterOtto learns that none of his family has survived, Miep presents him with the papers she hascollected from the attic floor. The Diary of Anne Frank is published two years later. In the 50years since its publication, the diary has been read by tens of millions of people worldwide.

Anne’s DiaryFor her 13th birthday Anne received a diary from her parents. She called it Kittyand immediately started writing all about her life, including her intimate thoughtsand feelings. But, a few weeks later Margot received her call up notice from theNazi SS to report for work detail at a labor camp. On July 5th 1942, Anne and herfamily moved to the Secret Annex in the attic of Otto Frank’s former officebuilding. For the 2 years she spent in hiding her diary was her solace, herconfidant, her friend. What she recorded there were, in many ways theordinary thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl. But she was a teenage girlliving under extraordinary circumstances in ominous times.

Life in the Secret AnnexEight people hid and lived in the Secret Annex. Anne, her sister Margot, her parents Ottoand Edith Frank, Mr. and Mrs. Van Dann, their son Peter, and Mr. Dussel. They did nothave much food. They might have oatmeal for breakfast, bread for dinner, anddifferently cooked potatoes. They could not make much noise because someone mighthear them. They could only talk during the night so that people wouldn’t be awake tohear them. They also had very little clothes, materials like blankets, pots and pans,cooking supplies, beds and rooms, only 1 bathroom, and they almost even had noprivate spaces. They could not go outside or even smell fresh air. Every night they wentto sleep feeling sorry for all their friends who had been captured and sent toconcentration camps. They would go to sleep hearing the sounds of bombs and gunfire.Always in their minds was the question: “ When will this war be over?”

During the group’s quiet times Anne wrote in her diary not onlyabout the Nazi persecution and the experience of living in secret,but also about the day-to-day details about her adolescent life.She wrote about how much she hated potatoes and how herolder sister was clearly her parents’ favorite. She described thejokes people made and her brief romantic flirtation with Peter.More than anything she wrote about her struggle to be anindividual despite her lack of privacy.She wrote: “Everyone thinks I’m showing off when I talk,ridiculous when I’m silent, insolent when I answer, cunningwhen I have a good idea, lazy when I’m tired, selfish when I eatone more bit than I should, cowardly, calculating I really amtrying to be helpful, friendly, and good, and to do everything Ican so that the rain of rebuke dies down to a light summerdrizzle.”In 1944 she heard on the radio that people should save their war letters and diariesbecause they would become historical documents someday. She began thinking abouttrying to turn her diary into a novel. But on August 4. 1944, the annex was discovered andraided by the Nazis, and Anne and her family were captured. All of them died except forOtto. Anne and Margot died in Bergen’ Belsen of typhus just 6 weeks before the campwas liberated by the Allies.

Otto Frank was the only member of the family tosurvive. He traveled back to Amsterdam andfound that Miep had saved Anne{s diary. It tookhim several weeks to read it, because he couldonly bear to read a little at a time withoutbreaking down and crying.The Diary of a Young Girl was published in 1947 and it was an immediate bestseller. It wastranslated into more than 50 languages. The entire first printing of the English translationsold out the day after it was reviewed in the New York Times. It was made into a play andthen into a movie. To date it has sold over 25 million copies.

Remembering AnneAnne Frank and the former camp, but Anne and her sister are buried in one of the massgraves. No one knows the exact location of their remains. In the background of the photois on her older sister, Margot, both died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen shortly before theliberation. A tombstone for them has been placed at the site of e of the mass graves.

Anne Frank Tree

She did not leave her legacyas an ode to the past But as a beacon of hope tothe future.

Anne’s Diary Kitty “I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me”. So begins the diary of a 13 year old Jewish girl named Anne Frank. Anne’s diary opens in 1942