Today, June 12, is Anne Frank’s birthday. Everyone must have heard her name in some way or the other. Either in her book, or in speeches or in the news. On this day, let’s remember this beautiful and kind soul who despite facing so much trouble, still believed in humanity.
Anne Frank was a German-Dutch diarist of Jewish heritage. One of the most discussed victim of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of her diary titled,”The Diary of A Young Girl” in 1947.
In this diary, she documents her life in hiding during the German occupation of Netherlands during World War II. It is one of the most famous books in the world and has been transformed into plays and short films in various languages.
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929. However at the age of four, they had to move to Amsterdam, Netherlands when the Nazi took control over Germany. Anne was German national, but her entire family’s citizenship was revoked, thus rendering them stateless. They later had to go into hiding due to the Nazi occupation of Netherlands. This was the plight of not just them, but all the Jews who were under German rule or whose territories were occupied by the Nazis.
By 1942, the persecutions of Jews was more rapid and rising further. Hence, Anne and her family went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind the office where Anne’s gather, Otto worked. Anne recieved a diary as her birthday gift in 1942. She kept records of her life in hiding and daily incidents that occurred. She kept the diary very private, not disclosing any of the thoughts and emotions that she penned down in it. She kept writing in the diary until 1944, when the family was captured by the Gestapo.
Anne and her sister, Margot were sent to a different concentration camp where they died(probably due to typhus). The only member of the family who survived was Otto Frank, who went back to his workplace to discover that the secretary had safeguarded Anne’s diary. Due to his efforts, this novel exists in the present and the world could witness the story of a young and talented girl.
Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, and ends at about her fifteenth. At the start of the diary, Anne described typical experiences any girl would talk about. Her friendship with other girls, her crushes on boys and her academic performance in school.
Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her diary. Her entries started moving from detailed accounts of incidents into profound thoughts of humanity and life, in general. Anne feels lonely due her confinement and deprivation and also speaks about her relationship between family members.
In her diary, she longs to be seen as an individual, rather than a member of any society or religious group. We get to see the world’s developments during the war from a 15 year old girl’s perspective. Her last entry was on August 1, 1944. On August 4, her family was captured by the Germans.
This book shows us the horrors of the Holocaust and the condition in which Jews has to live due to fear of being killed. The Jews were killed due to their very existence and for no fault of their own. This shows us the views of a young, innocent girl who had so much to look forward to in life and it all just disappeared due to a war started by people.
This memoir will always remind us of the brutalities faced by people during the war and the impact of violence on younger generations.
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