Anne Frank (Part 2)

Anne Frank

Anne Frank, a German Jewish girl is well known for the diary she wrote while she was concealed from anti-Jewish persecution in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, during the World War II. Her diary describes with wisdom and humour the two arduous years she spent in seclusion before her tragic death at the age of fifteen years.

The Frank family left Germany in 1933 to escape the anti-Jewish movement led by Adolf Hitler. Her father Otto Frank took the family to Amsterdam where he established a small foo product business.

When Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks once again became subjected to anti-Semitic persecution. Therefore, Otto Frank arrange a home prison or hiding place by sealing off several rooms at the rear of his Amsterdam office building. The room Anne Frank was hidden on the first floor. It was a gloomy room where the entrance is shielded by a swinging bookcase. A very narrow staircase led to the upstairs. Anne spent three long years of the spring time of her life in this ‘home prison’.

In 1942, for her thirteenth birthday, Anne received a diary. She began to write about the bitter experiences of her life as well as her thoughts and expectations in this diary. She wrote about her fear and emotional agitation of her fellow people. And also mentioned about the little humour or pleasure she enjoyed in her isolation. She talks about her first love and also the beauty of life.

Later on, in 1944, Anne and others in her family were discovered by the Gestapo, Hitler’s Secret police. They were separated. Anne and her sister were sent to the Bergen Belson concentration camp. There, they lived only for a short time. Both of them died of ‘Typhus’.

Anne Frank became much recognised after her death. Her diary was published as a literary work in 1947. Its English translation, “Anne Frank The Diary of a young Girl” appeared in 1952. The story was made into a play and this play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1956. It was made into a film in 1959.