Anne Frank is one of a thousand Jewish children who died during the Holocaust of 1933-1945. Her name became widely known after the publication of this young girl's notes about the life of the Frank family in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
The work, entitled Anne Frank's Diary, was published by the girl's father a few years after her death. The book was later translated and published in over 60 languages. In addition, the tragic life story of Anna has inspired directors around the world to create plays and films that tell about the terrible events of that time.
Family and childhood
Anneliese Maria (Anna) Frank, this is how the girl's name sounded at birth, was born on June 12, 1929 in the German city of Frankfurt in the family of Otto Frank and Edith Frank - Hollender. She had an older sister, Margot.
The Franks were a typical liberal Jewish family of a wealthy middle class who successfully assimilated into a society of people of various nationalities. Anna's father, a former military officer, had a small business. Mom was doing housework. Otto and Edith from childhood tried to instill in their daughters a love of reading.
However, it so happened that the birth of Anna coincided with the era of political chaos in Germany. In March 1933, Adolf Hitler's Nazi party won the municipal elections in Frankfurt. The party was known for its radical anti-Semitic views. The girl's parents began to seriously think about the safety and future of their daughters.
When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the family left the country and moved to Amsterdam. The Franks fled to the Netherlands fearing for their lives. They were among the 300,000 Jews who fled Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1939.
The house where Anne Frank lived from 1934 to 1942 Photo: Maksim / Wikimedia Commons
Ott Frank had to work hard to stabilize his family's financial situation. He eventually found work at Opekta Works and continued to develop his own business.
Anna started attending Montessori school. During these years, she developed a new passion - to write. But, despite her open and friendly nature, Anna never shared her recordings, even with friends.
Anne Frank's Montessori School Photo: Eyalreches / Wikimedia Commons
In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. The life that the Frank family was able to establish in this country came to an abrupt end. The persecution of the Jews began. First, restrictive and discriminatory laws were introduced. Anna and her sister were forced to leave their schools and continue their studies at the Jewish Lyceum. And their father was banned from doing business, which seriously affected the financial situation of the family.
On her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, Anna received a red checkered diary as a gift. Almost immediately she began to take notes about her daily life, about her forced escape from Germany and life in the Netherlands.
Asylum life
In July 1942, Anna's older sister Margot received a notice to report to a Nazi labor camp in Germany. Realizing that the family was in danger, Otto hid his wife and daughters in an impromptu secret hideout behind his company building.
During this difficult time, Otto Frank was assisted by his collaborators Viktor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Meep Guise and Elisabeth Foscale. Hermann van Pels, his wife Augusta and son Peter soon joined the Frank family. A little later, the dentist Fritz Pfeffer settled with them.
At first it seemed to Anna that she was part of some adventure and wrote about it with excitement in her diary. She began a youthful romance with Peter van Pels, which she mentioned in her notes.
Over time, Anna lost her former optimism and began to get tired of living inside the shelter. No one was allowed to go outside. However, she did not lose hope that someday life would return to normal and the young girl would be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer.
Arrest
In 1944, a secret informant betrayed a hideout for Jewish families. In August, Franky, van Pelsy and Pfeffer were arrested and interrogated. And then they were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where the men were forcibly separated from the women.
Anna, her sister and mother were taken to a women's camp where they were forced to do heavy manual labor. After some time, Anna and Margot were separated from their mother, who later died in Auschwitz. And the girls were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where conditions were even worse due to lack of food and lack of sanitation.
Death and legacy
In 1945, a typhoid epidemic began in Bergen - Belsen. Although the exact cause of the Frank sisters' death is unknown, it is believed that both Margot and Anne became ill and died sometime in February or March 1945 from a raging infection.
Otto Frank became the only family member to survive the genocide. Mip Guise, who took Anna's diary during her arrest, returned it to the girl's father after Otto returned to Amsterdam.
After reading his daughter's notes, he realized that Anna had managed to make an accurate and well-written account of the time they had to go into hiding. Otto Frank decided to publish Anna's work.
Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam Photo: Rossrs / Wikimedia Commons
The Diary of Anne Frank was first published in Dutch in 1947 under the title Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 - 1 Augustus 1944. In 1952 it was translated into English and published as "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl". In subsequent years, the book was translated into several dozen other languages and became one of the most widely read works of the twentieth century.
