The Diary of Anne Frank
This is the latest edition of Anne Frank’s diary. It contains sections not included in the previous printings. If you have not read it, the diary is one written by a young Jewish girl who spent 2 years hiding in a secret annex above a factory in Amsterdam with her family and another family. They were aided by people who worked in the factory and had worked for Anne’s father.
Anne’s voice is clear and honest. As she writes, she often mentions her desire to be a journalist when she grows up and WWII is over and she can stop hiding. She writes about her feelings and, as a young teen, they are often childish and misinformed, as I continued to read, I saw her grow and change. Always optomistic and very passionate, she shares her deepest darkest secrets with Kitty, a fictitious confidant in her diary. She shares how she feels about life, love, the war and her family. I was struck by her positivity and also her gratitude for her life. Anne has left school and is hiding in cramped quarters, but she often writes that she is thankful for Miem and the other people who risk their lives to hide them and make sure they have enough food and water and any extra items they need. Bep, a young office worker smuggles milk deliveries for the office to the secret annex. She also enrolls in correspondence courses in her own name so Anne and her sister Margot can continue their studies.
The diary contains hope but also mundane descriptions of basic problems they experience like backed up toilets being used by 9 people all day every day. Not to mention spoiled food and scarcity, and of having to remain absolutely silent during the day when the factory workers are downstairs.
Towards the end, Anne describes the hope they feel on D-Day, Sadly, August 1st 1944 is Anne’s last diary entry. She and her family were discovered by SS Oberschrfuher Silberbauer and betrayed by three Dutch collaborators. It took the men several hours to discover the Secret Annex. Bidtor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman, who helped the family were also arrested. Miep and Bep were not. It was Miep who went back later and discovered Anne’s diary. She facilitated its publication. Anne and her sister Margot were sent to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and died there from typhus. Mrs. Frank died of starvation in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The van Pels family who hid with them were also killed. The only survivor was Mr. Frank, Anne’s father.
It’s and exceptional book that reads like a novel written by an exceptional young woman who would have made an even greater mark in the literary world had she lived. It is important to be reminded of the in danger malignant predjudice and toxic fascism.