World War II was full of innocent people who lost their lives. Anne Frank was one of those many people. Known for keeping her diary during hiding, Anne also had family background, her school life, hiding, and sadly her death.
Anne was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany to Edith Hollander Frank, her mother, and Otto Frank, her father. Not being an only child, Anne had one older sister, Margot. In 1933, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany, causing Anne’s father, mother, and sister to move to Amsterdam. A chancellor is the chief minister of state in certain parliamentary governments, in this case, Germany. She soon joined them in 1934.

Anne didn’t start school until 1935 in Amsterdam. During her school years, she soon gained a reputation of being energetic, and popular. “Anne likes going to the Montessori kindergarten and, later on, enjoys first grade at this same school just as much.” Edith wrote in a letter to Gertrud Naumann. Her father also stated, “Anne was a demanding character. She continually asked questions... When we had visitors, it was difficult to free yourself from her, because everyone and everything interested her... It was good that Anne went to a Montessori School, where each pupil gets a lot of individual attention.” Her sister, and herself usually played when they got home, but in Amsterdam they made many new friends who were either Dutch, or German.

"My mother brought me to kindergarten. I only knew Anne, and I did not speak a word of Dutch. I still remember that time very well. We came inside and I saw Anne on the other side of the classroom. She stood with her back next to mine and played with these bells. Then she turned around. I saw her, she saw me, and then we ran into each other's arms. I didn't realize that my mother was gone. From that moment we were with each other, to the end... It was a nice childhood, until the German army invaded the Netherlands in 1940" one of Anne’s friends, Hanneli Goslar stated.

Because Anne was Jewish, along with her family, in Amsterdam she went into hiding in a small apartment building. Soon after, a week to be exact, Mr. Frank’s business associate’s family- Hermann van Pels, Auguste, and their son Peter joined them in hiding. While in hiding, Anne referred to the secret room that held about eight people the Secret Annex. Here, along with her other roommates, they lived in fear of being discovered and captured. During the day, the bunch stayed quiet- which they had to do so they didn’t get discovered. To pass time, Anne wrote down observations in her diary, which she had received for her 13th birthday.

In her diary, she didn’t just write down her observations. In the birthday present, she also wrote her own short stories, and her favorite quotes by other authors. Adding to that, she also wrote about her sexuality- which publishers thought she wrote too freely about. Not only did she have her own short stories, and quotes, but her father, Otto had read about her plans to publish her own book after the war! A large portion of her diary she had even rewritten and revised, but her father wasn’t very certain on the idea of her publishing her personal life.

On April 3, 1946, a historian, Jan Romein wrote an article about Anne’s Diary, which had gotten around to a few publishers. He wrote in his article, “To me, however, this apparently inconsequential diary by a child... stammered out in a child's voice, embodies all the hideousness of fascism, more so than all the evidence at Nuremberg put together.”. Finally, after a few changes made by a publishing company in Amsterdam that was willing to work with them, on June 25, 1947, Anne’s book was published. By the time though, Anne had already been captured. Otto, who wrote about her book that same day said, “If she had been here, Anne would have been so proud."

Going back in time to 1944, everyone in the Secret Annex- the room Anne and seven others hid in, were found and arrested, being betrayed by someone. The someone who betrayed them? Their identity has never been discovered. The first camp they were deported to was Westerbork Transit camp, then they were sent to Auschwitz. Mr. Frank, unfortunately was the only one to survive the camps, while the rest of his family and colleagues died there.

Anne ended up in the same barracks as her mother and sister at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Later on though, Anne and her sister, Margot were taken to Bergen-Belsen. Sadly, at the age of 15, Anne died there in 1945.

Today, the house that Anne and her family hid in is now on display for tourists in Amsterdam. Tourists are allowed to take a tour through the house, seeing different artifacts from the time. There’s even the original copy of the diary at the house on display to look at!

The life of Anne Frank was short, but it was very eventful with moving to Amsterdam, hiding, and being sent to concentration camps. Ending in tragedy, at least the girl who wanted to survive got her dream come true.


Works Cited

Anne Frank. Anne Frank House, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/>.

Anne Frank. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005210>.

Anne Frank’s Diary Is Published. Anne Frank House, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/The-diary-of-Anne-Frank/Anne-Franks-diary-is-published/>.

The Story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank House, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/A-diary-as-a-best-friend/>.

The Story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank Stichting, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/Emigrating-to-the-Netherlands/At-Home-in-Amsterdam/>.