Anne Frank is one of the most known names in modern history. The young Jewish girl shared her painful journey during one of the worst moments in history, the Holocaust. Approximately six million European Jews were killed during World War II, and among them, was 15-year-old Anne Frank.
She Was Born In Germany But Grew Up In The Netherlands
Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. She had an older sister who was three years older than her. At the time of her birth, dictator Adolf Hitler and his party were gaining momentum in Germany, with a hate for Jews rising all over the country. Hitler blamed Jews for all problems existing in the country, and with a declining and fragile economy, more and more supporters seemed to join his hateful propaganda.
Facing antisemitism on a daily basis, Anne Franks’s parents, Edith and Otto Frank made the decision to move to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Many Jews would make this decision at the time, hoping that the antisemitic atmosphere and violence would look different in the Netherlands.
They Were A Liberal Jewish Family
In Amsterdam, Otto would go ahead and start his own company in the trade of pectin, a gelling agent that contributed to making jam. This was a big career change for him, as he had previously been a lieutenant for the German army throughout World War I. The Frank family had a liberal Jewish home, as they didn’t strictly follow Jewish customs and traditions.
They lived in a mixed neighborhood, with a plethora of cultures and religions, which included both Jews and non-Jews living in peace. At the time of Anne’s birth, the family lived in a two-floor rented home, but decided to move two years later to an area called “Poets’ Quarter.” To this date, both of these houses are intact.
Anne And Her Sister Were Enrolled In Different Schools
In the Netherlands, Anne and her sister were enrolled in different schools. Anne was almost five years old when she joined Amsterdam’s Sixth Montessori School while her sister Margot would attend a public school. At Sixth Montessori School, Anne would get to make friends from all over, as just like her neighborhood, the school welcomed children from all religions and backgrounds.
Close friends of Anne from those times have claimed that Anne loved writing from a very young age. She wouldn’t particularly share her writing with anyone though, she would rather keep all of her writing hidden from others.
New Pages About Anne's Sexual Explorations Are Revealed
Since the original publication, Anne's diaries have undergone revisions to include previously edited-out sections that delve into her exploration of her own sexuality, thoughts on menstruation, and exploration of her genitalia. After resolving an ownership dispute in 2001, new editions now feature pages removed by Otto Frank. These pages offer candid remarks about her parents' strained marriage and shed light on her challenging relationship with her mother.
In 2018, two additional pages, previously covered with brown paper, were deciphered. These pages contained an attempt to explain sex education and a collection of humorously risqué and "dirty" jokes.
Anne And Margot Were Encouraged To Write And Read By Their Parents
Young Anne had what some would call a gift for writing. She and her sister were encouraged to read and to write at home by both of her parents, with their father even building a home library for all of them. Anne could look at an object and write about it, bringing up details that only she was able to see, no one else would succeed in it.
Once, she wrote about an ancient horse-chestnut tree from the Annex, describing every single detail about it in her diary. The horse-chestnut tree ended up becoming one of the biggest associations with the Frank family and the Holocaust, becoming almost a sort of sacred place.
The Tree Deteriorated With The Years
Unfortunately, in 2007, the tree was scheduled to be cut down due to the ton of deterioration it had gone through. Fungus and moth infestations were constant over the years, making it really hard to preserve the tree. But even with its deteriorating status, many people disagreed about cutting it down, and a civil case to keep it intact began.
The civil case resulted in a ton of international attention, which was beneficial for it since the tree ended up being left intact. Sadly though, even after steel supporters were placed on the tree to keep it alive for as long as possible, it was eventually knocked down by gale-force winds.
The Family Attempted To Flee The Netherlands
Before World War II broke out, the Franks attempted to move to either the United States or England, but unfortunately, they didn’t succeed in it. Around the same time, approximately 300,000 Jews fled Germany and kept doing so for six years prior to the war.
By September 1st of 1939, when WWII broke out, the family still lived in the same neighborhood in the Netherlands, and antisemitic violence was only getting worse. Anne was only 10 years old at the time. Germany would start by invading Poland, and would then proceed to invade the Netherlands in May of the following year, and the Franks family was still trapped there.
The Nazis Introduced More And More Laws Against The Jews
The Dutch army surrendered five days after the German invasion of the Netherlands, and the Nazis began implementing laws and regulations that made the life of Jews impossible. Strict rules began being applied to the Jewish community, with segregated schools, workplaces, and spaces, in general, becoming more and more prevalent. Both Anne and Margot were forced to leave their schools in order to attend a Jewish school, and their father lost his business.
Along with other Jews in the country, the family would also start wearing a yellow Star of David everywhere they went. Jews couldn’t go anywhere after a curfew specifically implemented for them began, with places such as cinemas, parks, and non-Jewish shops being completely off-limits.
The Family Had To Go Into Hiding
With life becoming completely horrifying at that point, the Franks family attempted once more to migrate from the Netherlands to the US, but unfortunately, they were denied. Both Otto and Edith realized that their only option was to go into hiding.
Their daughter Margot had received a letter that required her to report to a “labor camp” in Nazi Germany on July 5, 1942, making her parents utterly suspicious. This was the blow they needed to understand the urgency of protecting the family. So the next day, they decided to go into hiding.
They Were All Cramped In The Secret Place
Otto’s business associate and his family aided the Franks with the hiding place and joined them for what would be two entire years living in secret. Together, they all furnished the place, which was located in the annex of his former business establishment at Prinsengracht 263. The entrance was secretly concealed behind a bookshelf and was quite hard to decipher.
In it, hid the Franks family and Otto’s business partner’s family, making the place extremely cramped. They would all have to remain as quiet as possible, and the feeling of fear of being discovered was constantly there.
She Was Gifted A Diary
When the Franks left their apartment, they left everything a mess with the hope of throwing the Nazis off their tail. Otto also had the idea of leaving a note in there, pretending that the family was moving to Switzerland. Also, right before the family went into their secret hiding, Anne decided that it would be best to give their family cat to their friend and neighbor to take care of.
In addition to the cat, she also gave them a book, a tea set, and a tin of marbles with the hope that they would keep it safe until the family could return. Anne also celebrated her 13th birthday before they went into hiding. One of her favorite presents was a diary, which would be her biggest companion during the following years.
The Diary Would Become Her Companion
Due to her love for writing, she would use the diary for writing virtually everything, including personal diary entries about her time in hiding, short stories, and even quotations from some of her favorite writers.
On the actual day that she was gifted the diary, she wrote the following words in it: “I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” She also wrote this in an entry on a separate day: “the nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings, otherwise I’d absolutely suffocate.”
She Wrote Everything
Anne would begin writing everything in her diary. She often referred to her imaginary friend, Kitty, and in some entries, she also spoke about the horrible discrimination her family was facing with the Nazi regime. She was inspired to write as much as she could, especially after the Dutch government Minister of Education back in England asked people to hold on to their war diaries and documents.
So Anne held on to that and wrote her heart off, including several accounts of how difficult it was to live in hiding. The secret place had eight people living in it at that point, who couldn’t make any noise, and could never leave the hiding place to get some outside air.
She Had Her First Kiss In The Secret Place
It was during her time in hiding that Anne got to have her first kiss, while living a small and short romance with Otto’s business partner’s teenage son, Peter van Pels. The two of them spent a lot of time together and ended up growing fond of each other.
One day, she would even have her very first kiss with the young Peter, but wouldn’t be so sure about the feelings she had for him. Because they were in hiding together for so long, she wasn’t sure the feelings she had were also associated with all the time they spent together, or whether she truly liked him.
She Grew Closer To Her Sister
During their time together in hiding, her relationship with her sister Margot also grew closer. The two sisters spent so much time together that they truly developed a bond they had never had before.
On the 12th of January, 1944, Anne wrote an excerpt that alluded to this in her diary, saying: “She’s not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn’t count.” The two girls clearly had to grow quite quickly while in hiding and turned to each other for love, support, and sisterhood.
They Had Secret Aides
Because they couldn’t step outside at all, all eight people in hiding were helped by secret aides. These aides would bring them food and would relay information about the outside world, including war updates and political moves made by the Nazis.
These aides risked their lives to help the Frank family and others, as they could be prosecuted for helping “the Jews.” In certain instances, aides who would help Jews to hide and survive would even be killed. Thankfully, the family had a constant group of people helping, which was essential for their survival.
Otto Frank’s Biographer Had One Theory
Even though there is no proven theory of who ratted the family to the Nazis, there are several theories out there. One of them was shared by Otto Frank’s biographer, who suggested that Tonny Ahlers, a former member of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands had some fault.
He also pointed towards Willem van Maaren, a Stockroom manager who was not trusted by the eight people hiding in the room. He seemed to be constantly inquisitive about them being there, which made him utterly untrustworthy. And yet, there is no proof that either of these men actually did tell on them.
Another Theory Suggests A Dark Collaboration
Another biography written about Bep Voskuijl, one of the Secret Annex’s aides, brought up another possible suspect. The biography suggested that Bep’s sister, a woman called Nelly, had been the one telling on the Annex.
She was supposedly collaborating with the Nazi government and was against her family helping Jewish individuals to hide and survive the regime. The theory was reinforced by the SS police officer who had received the call which led the police to raid the annex. The receiver was Karl Silberbauer, who suggested that the other person on the line sounded like a young woman.
The Police Might Have Been There For Other Reasons
The third theory around who was responsible for the Franks and others being discovered is related to illicit activities. The Anne Frank House, which had been doing its own investigations until in 2016, suggested that the police had been attracted to the building due to other possible illicit activities taking place there, unrelated to the Secret Annex.
The report suggested that the police were there to investigate these illegal activities, but were eventually led to the Annex, discovering those in hiding. Still, though, there is virtually no real way of knowing which one of these theories was true.
They Were Taken To Auschwitz
Despite the violent raid, some of Anne’s diary was preserved by two aides who had not been arrested, but everything else that was in the secret place was emptied. All eight people would be taken to Auschwitz, passing through the offices of the German security police first.
Later they would pass through the Westerbork transit camp, and would eventually be transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Of the two aides who had been arrested with them, one managed to escape and the other one would eventually be released.
They Were Separated When They Got To Auschwitz
It took three days by train for the eight and thousands of others to be transported to Auschwitz. The cattle wagons were packed with innocent people, who barely had any access to water and food, and were forced to use a barrel as a toilet. When they arrived at Auschwitz, Otto would be separated from Edith, Anne, and Margot due to the gender split prevalent at the concentration camp.
While the two daughters and their mother stayed together, they were all forced into hard labor. Every day, they would hail grass mats and heavy stones as a form of punishment for having lived in hiding for so long.
She Had Her Humanity Taken Away From Her
Of the people who arrived together on that train, 549 of them would be sent directly into gas chambers to be murdered. This included all children who were under the age of 15, sparing Anne, who would become one of the youngest people from that specific transport to be spared from the gas chambers.
Because they were separated almost instantly when they got to Auschwitz, Anne would believe that her father had been killed. Almost instantly, the humanity that was left in Anne and the other people who were brought to Auschwitz was stripped away into something unrecognizable.
Anne And Margot Got Sick
Anne and others had been stripped naked, had people shaving her head, and was tattoed with a number on her arm. Due to the deplorable conditions in Auschwitz, Anne and her sister Margot would eventually contract an infection by scabies. The two sisters were moved to a dark and infested infirmary, that would barely have any conditions.
In fact, there were often mice and rats seen running around and infesting the place. It was so bad that Edith would eventually stop eating in order to give her portions to her daughters, who she hoped would survive the infection.
Their Mother Died Of Starvation
Due to the infection, Anne remained in the same concentration camp as her mother and sister for a while. A process had started to move her to a different labor camp, but scabies prevented this from happening
Yet, both Anne and Margot would eventually join 8,000 other people in a transfer to Bergen-Belsen, while their mother was left behind. In Auschwitz, Edith would die of starvation on January 6, 1946, which was about three weeks before the Red Army liberated the camp.
Anne And Margot Died
When the two sisters arrived in Bergen-Belsen, they joined a majority of prisoners who were of Dutch nationality. The conditions there were as deplorable as they could get, it was cold, there was no sanitation, no food, and no water. The two sisters would once again get sick, contracting typhus.
In February 1945, Margot died as a result of exhaustion and the effects of the infection, with Anne dying shortly after for the same reasons. Another 17,000 prisoners would also die as a result of the typhus epidemic that had taken over the camp. This would happen only a few months before the camp was liberated.
Only Otto Survived The Camps
After prisoners of the camp were liberated, the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was completely burned so that the disease would stop being spread. Anne and Margot were buried with others in a mass grave, and to this date the exact place of burial is unknown.
Of all eight people who had been hiding in the Secret Annex, only their father, Otto would survive and return home. He would embark on a long journey back to their home in the Netherlands, and there he would find out that his entire family had been killed.
Anne’s Diary Was Given To Her Dad
Otto joined two of his associates and lived with them for about seven years after returning from Auschwitz. One of his associates had Anne’s diary, which he handed to Otto. It was painful for him to read his daughter’s thoughts knowing that she was no longer alive, but her writing certainly made a very big impression on him. Anne wanted to become either a writer or a journalist, which she shared in her diary.
Otto was convinced by his friends that he should try to publish his daughter’s diary, as it was an important account of the life in the Secret Annex, and was also a way of honoring her dream.
The Secret Annex Was Published
On the 25th of June, 1947, 3,000 copies of “The Secret Annex” were printed and published. Otto would share the following about the book: “I began to read slowly, only a few pages each day. More would have been impossible, as I was overwhelmed by painful memories.
For me, it was a revelation. There, was revealed a completely different Anne to the child that I had lost. I had no idea of the depths of her thoughts and feelings.” He also shared that Margot had grown closer to her mother than Anne did. He suspected that it was because Margot kept most of her feelings to herself, while Anne was a bit more vocal and experienced more mood swings.
Anne’s Relationship With Her Mother Was Difficult
This was one of the topics in Anne’s diary. In it, she shared how much of an arduous relationship she had with her mother. She did, however, change the way she wrote about her mother when she began revising her entries. She felt that she was being a little too harsh on Edith, and wanted to treat her with more respect.
She admitted that her stress and some of the actions and words she would throw at her mother were probably a big contributor to her mother’s suffering during those days.
The Book Was Widely Acclaimed
As we know today, Anne’s diary has become one of the most famous publications in history. The book was eventually translated into 70 different languages and was published in more and more editions. It was even adapted into the screen, with many plays and films being based on The Secret Annex. She was acclaimed by people from all over the world, including some known figures from several countries.
Among them were former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who claimed that the publication was remarkable and “written by a young girl - and the young are not afraid of telling the truth - it is one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read.”
World Leaders Praised Her Words
Former US President John F. Kennedy also praised Anne and her book publicly, sharing that Anne’s words and voice were the most compelling accounts of human dignity in times of suffering he had ever seen.
Nelson Mandela followed suit, after reading Anne Frank’s diary while in prison. He claimed that the diary had given him “much encouragement” during a time he was making history himself. He would later receive the humanitarian award from the Anne Frank Foundation in 1994. Anne’s words would continue to be shared through her diary and through her father’s quest to honor her legacy.
The Anne Frank House Became A Museum
Otto would spread the word about his daughter for years until his death in 1980. He would also spend hours and days responding to letters sent by people from all over the world, who had been impacted by Anne’s story. He also helped with the Anne Frank House, which was transformed into a museum in 1960.
The Anne Frank House had been set to be destroyed after the end of WWII, but after several fights by activists, the building was eventually saved and today, the house remains one of the three most visited places in Amsterdam.
Her Legacy Remains Intact
At the Anne Frank House, visitors and tourists get to see personal items from all eight individuals who had lived there, which have been preserved ever since. The house also has several movie star photographs that had been put up by Anne herself. Her legacy has been preserved with a lot of care, with Anne being named by Time Magazine in 1999 one of the Most Important People of the Century.
According to writer Roger Rosenblatt, Anne’s writing was extraordinary for virtually any age. She was a storyteller, and her writing seemed to be deeply influenced by her capacity to be ruthlessly honest.
Anne Had Big Dreams For Herself
Another thing that Anne had shared in her diary were her aspirations to achieve so much for herself. She not only wanted to be a writer and journalist, but also wanted to live for longer than fate had allowed her too. In one of the entries shared on April 5, 1944, she said: “I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to!”
As a young woman, she was already breaking gender barriers, and dreaming big. She continued to say: “I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living after my death!”
Her Legacy Will Last Forever
Apparently, when the diary was first published, her father knowingly censored a few sections that had sensitive information shared by Anne. Most of this was around her stranded relationship with her mother, and other parts were related to her newly found sexuality.
These deleted pages were eventually added to a new German edition of the diary shared in 1950, and to the 1952 English edition. Although it wouldn’t be in the way she had dreamed, Anne would go on living after her death, with her name becoming one of the most respected names in history.