Anne Frank

Anne Frank

I read Anne franks diary when I was a teenager myself. I could really identify myself with her. It had a huge impact on me. Just a young girl living in Amsterdam. 13 years old, she keeps a diary. Nothing unusual so far. But it's 1942. The nazi's have occupied Holland. The jews become more and more victim of inhuman rules and laws. Annes sister Margot Frank, who is already 16, receives a call-up on July 5, 1942. The Nazi's plan to send the people they have summoned to work camps in Germany. The entire family will be arrested if Margot does not report.

Annes father Otto, decides that the entire family has to hide from the Germans. They hide in the back of Otto's company on the Prinsengracht 267. An old bookcase hides the door to the part where they hide. They hide together with another family, the Van Pelses. Father, mother and their 16 year old son Peter. Later a dentist called Fritz Pfeffer joins them. 13 year old Anne has to share a room with him. They have four helpers that bring them food and other things they need. Their names are Miep Gies, Johannes kleiman, Victor Kugler and Bep Voskuijl. They are employees of Otto Franks company. they also keep the people in hiding up-to-date with the news about the war.

The bookcase

Most of the time it's bad news. Inside the hidingplace, life is hard with so many people in a small space. Quarrels and irritations are not rare. In the meantime Anne writes almost everyday in her diary. She calls her diary Kitty and sees it as her best frind to whom she can tell her deepest feelings.
All the Jews that didn't hide are captured and deported to the concentrationcamps. After two years there is fantastic news: a massive landing of the Allies on the beaches of Normandy. The liberation of Holland will not take long anymore.


D-day

Sadly the liberation comes too late for Anne. On august 4 in 1944 they are betrayed by someone. Untill this day nobody knows who that was. The whole family got arrested and got deported to concentrationcamps. Anne and Margot died of typhus in March 1945, a few weeks before the camp is liberated by the British Army.

In Amsterdam the diary of Anne was found by Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. They kept it and hoped that Anne and her family would return. The only one who returned was otto Frank. the rest of the hiders died in the concentrationcamps.

the diary

When Otto reads his daughters diary, he also reads her desires to become a writer. he decides to let it publish. In 1947 the first edition in Dutch was published. The Dutch publication is followed by German, French, American, and English versions.

A few years later, the diary is also made into a film and a play. More and more people become interested in seeing the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her diary with their own eyes.On May 3, 1960, the Anne Frank museum officially opens. The Secret Annex is now a museum. Website of the Anne Frank museum

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