Anne Frank

“I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength, and plenty of courage.”

 

Anne Frank (1929-1945) yesterday should have celebrated her 90^th birthday. Instead her life was cruelly ended aged 15 in a Nazi concentration camp. She is probably one of the best known writers in the world thanks to the publication of her diary which she kept during her time in hiding in Amsterdam.

Born in Germany, Anne was a young Jewish girl who lived most of her life in Amsterdam. She was a happy child, encouraged to read and focus on her education. She was given her famous diary as a 13^th birthday present from her parents in 1942. Her family were liberal Jews and mixed happily with their community, as Anne attests to in her diary. In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the legal persecution of Jews began – for example mandatory registration, banning from public spaces/transport,  and segregation – many of which Anne details in her diary. Anne’s Father applied for a US visa in hopes of escape, but the application was never processed due to delays on each end.

Thus, Anne’s parents made plans to go into hiding in Amsterdam, having to move up their plan after a tip-off that they would be sent to a work camp. Anne gave away some of her possessions – including her beloved cat -  to friends: "'I'm worried about my marbles, because I'm scared they might fall into the wrong hands,' Kupers said Anne told her. 'Could you keep them for me for a little while?' This breaks my heart because it shows that she really was just a child.

In July 1942,the Frank family moved into their hiding place (know known as the “Secret Annex”), a three-story space entered from a landing above offices where they could be aided by trusted employers. where some of his most trusted employees would be their helpers. They staged their flat to look as if they had left in haste, and planted a note suggesting they had moved to Switzerland.

Only three employees knew they were there, and they helped to supply the family with essentials, and news at great personal risk of death. The Frank’s were later joined by a second family, the Van Pels. Tensions soon arose between the two families owing to their forced close confinement, however Anne did enjoy a romantic dalliance with their young son. Anne’s diary details her relationships with each member of her family, especially her Father who she was particularly close with. Although Anne had a difficult relationship with her mother, as she matured she began to respect her in a new way, showing the personal growth attained during her time in hiding.  The relationship between Anne and her sister Margot is also touching as they changed from jealous siblings to close friends. They continued to study in the hope of one day returning to their education.

After two years in hiding, the Franks’ were discovered and arrested by German troops. It is still debated whether they were betrayed and if so by whom. Regardless, their time had come.

“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”

On 3 September 1944, they were transported on the last train transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There, they were separated from their father – who she assumed had been killed but was actually the only family member to survive the war. Frank, her mother and sister were forced to strip naked, shaved and tattooed before being set to work doing hard manual labour. Witnesses attest to the strength and resourcefulness Anne showed during this time, though also report her difficulty witnessing the deaths around her. Eventually, Anne and Margot were moved to the infirmary for scabies – a place almost worse than the barracks – and their mother starved herself in order to sneak the food to her daughters instead. When her mother and sister were due to be transported elsewhere, they chose to stay with Anne.

However, in October 1944, the sisters were transferred to Bergen-Belson, forced to leave their mother behind to die of starvation. Anne was briefly reunited with two school friends, who report that Anne – believing her parents to be dead and her sister desperately ill – also expressed a desire to die. Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock. Anne died a few days after Margot. In early 1945, epidemics of several diseases including typhus spread through the camp, killing 17,000 prisoners. In this chaos,  the exact cause of Anne’s death is unknown – only that she died of illness rather than in the gas chambers. Tragically, it is believed they died very shortly before the liberation of the camps by allied troops.

Anne’s father, Otto, survived the war and returned to Amsterdam, only learning later that his entire family was dead. On learning of their death, he was given Anne’s diary by a friend who had recovered it from the annex. He was surprised at the detail it contained: "For me it was a revelation ... I had no idea of the depth of her thoughts and feelings ... She had kept all these feelings to herself". Moved by her repeated desire to be a writer, he sought to have it published. 

After two unsuccessful attempts, Anne’s diary was eventually published in Germany and France in 1950. An unabridged edition was published five years later, containing descriptions of exploring her own genitalia and her puzzlement regarding sex and childbirth, a passage that had previously been removed by her father.

The diary’s reception was slow at first, but eventually it became a worldwide success.

 

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

When she was not studying, Anne wrote and revised her diary – writing about her feelings, beliefs, ambitions, and events as they unfolded. As she grew, she began writing on more philosophical topics such as religion and human nature. She wrote of hoping to become a journalist. Here is one of my favourite of Anne's quotes: 

“I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ... I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”

This sums up  her drive, her passion, her faith, and her feminism. I relate to it on a personal level, and it makes me proud to think that although her life was ended so tragically, she has achieved in death what she hoped to achieve in life. Her last entry, was on the 1^st August 1944. She continued writing regularly until her last entry of 1 August 1944.

Anne had stated in her diary that she would hate for anyone to read such private thoughts. However, she later edited her entries in the hope of having it published someday. She removed and rewrote various sections and gave pseudonyms to everyone who she hoped to keep anonymous.

Anne has become an icon of the Holocaust and a figurehead for the persecution of youth during war. Anne gave a voice to the millions of others who suffered as she and her family did, and has given a face to the faceless victims of Nazi (and other) persecution. I’m actually a qualified Holocaust Education Ambassador but I think reading her diary as a teen gave me a greater insight into the human tragedy of WW2. Many important objects and places relating to Anne’s life have been preserved, although her greatest legacy remains her words.

Anne Frank is one of my personal heroes – not just because we share a dream of becoming a writer. Anne shows more maturity, understanding, growth, and bravery at the tender age of just 14 than most people show in a lifetime. She knew the importance of education, shared progressive views of women/criticism of the patriarchy, and showed a remarkable insight into human nature. Most of all, however, I am inspired by her optimism and the faith she retained in the good of humanity, despite all the tragedies that befell her. In my opinion, no one ever deserved their fame more.