For those of you unfamiliar with the story Anne Frank, I'll give you just a little background. In 1942, when Anne was thirteen years old, she and her family were forced into hiding by the Nazis. In German occupied Holland, Jewish people like the Franks were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps throughout Europe. Rather than endure the horrors of the camps, the Franks and four other people spent more than two years hiding in secret rooms inside the Amsterdam building that had once housed Mr. Frank's office and warehouse.
The "Secret Annex," as Anne called it, could only be accessed by means of a door that was cleverly disguised as a bookcase. Behind it lay a few small chambers and an attic. Every day, the Franks walked on tiptoe and spoke only in whispers, afraid that someone might hear them in the warehouse below. For two years, the Franks and their friends lived without sunlight or fresh air in the hope that the Allied forces (including the Americans) would eventually arrive to drive the Nazis out of Amsterdam. When the Allies finally did march into Amsterdam, it was already too late for Anne and her family. The Nazis had discovered their hiding place in the summer of 1944.
Throughout her years in hiding, Anne wrote at great length in her diary. She documented the daily life of her family (including the many quarrels), kept track of the war, and confided her secret thoughts and desires. After World War II ended, her father--the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust--worked hard to have it published. The resulting book is funny, sweet, thrilling, horrifying--and ultimately heartbreaking. In the more than sixty years since it was written, The Diary of a Young Girl has become one of the most famous books in the world.
On Monday, I visited the house where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis, but I didn't take any pictures. Some rooms seem to remember what's happened in them, and it didn't feel right to snap photos in a place that had witnessed such terror. But I was so inspired by what I'd seen that started rereading The Diary of a Young Girl. It's even better than I remembered--and I recommend it to everyone. Anne was just a teenager, but she managed to create something that has inspired the entire world.
29 comments:
That's terrible. Not your post- the Holocaust. I happen to be Jewish, (okay, my moms a jew and my dad's catholic,) and if something like that ever happened again, well, uggghhhh.
I'm so glad I didn't live in those times, and I have tons of friends of all different races, countries, and religions.
And besides, Yom Kippur saturday night was pretty fun with my family. (Yom Kippur is a day of fasting, but kids don't have to, so yay me! It was just a big party for us under 18-ers.)
I should read that book...
man you really do write well, I have to work on my closing paragraphs, they never leave that kind of chill and wonder...
My friends doing a project on the Holocaust I wonder if she's read the Diary
I haven't read the book yet. I'm going to go get it from the library today!
Soooooo sad. And disturbing. I don't know how any one could do that to people. Poor Anne. She was so brave. I know someone who went to the concentration camps. Those places were so scary. It's fascinating in a sort of bad way that people had to go through that.
I'm doing a project for school on historic fiction. If you want a depressing book, try Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli.
*sob*
tell me about it, I couldn't get through that book.
:( sniff
Right now in school we are learning a lot about the Holocaust. I think it's so sad. We aren't reading the actual diary but we read an adaption. Now we are watching a movie of it. In another class I am reading Milkweed. Right now I am less than 100 pages in and I love it so far. When I am done reading some of the books I am reading now I am definitely going to read Anne's Diary.
I READ THE BOOK IT WAS GOOD I THINK THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD SHOULD READ IT TO BECAUSE IT TELL YOU LOT OF GOOD FACT ABOUT THE SECRET ANNEX AND WHAT HAPPEN IN AND WHO LIVE WITH HER AND THAT WAS NOT ALL BUT THE MOST IMPORTAND THING IS HER LIFE HIDING FROM THE GREMANS THAT WHEN THE FOUND THE FRANKS IN THE ANNXS AND TOOK THEM TO THE CONSTRASHAN CAMP NOW THESES DAYS THE WORLD IS MUCH TOO DIFFENT TO THE 1942 NOW IT IS 2008 AND THERE IS STLL SOME RACES PEOPLE IN ARE WORLD THAT WHAT MY COMMENT IS AND I HOPE YOU GOT SOME GOOD INFO FROM ME BY THE WHY MY NAME IS JUSTIN AND I AM JEWISH TO AND I PROUND OF IT AND I HOPE U ARE TO SO IF U READ THIS READ VERY CAREFUL LEE OK! :}
i just finished the book today. i think it teaches alot of lessons. anne frank was very mature for her age. its sad that she had that terrible fate.
a few months ago i read "Hannah's Suitcase" that is a very good holocaust book too. its not very long. i suggest it immensly.
i have read this book and went to the hiding place. i think how could anne and his fsther live with eight people. it was suppode to be of four people. Anne with the crapy mr. vandeen.in fact they died an horrible death.
I read the book and I thought it was so sad. I litterly cried!!! Fuck the Nazis!!!
oh. i read that. (well, i couldn't finish it.) i read most. i chose it 4 a book report. it was so sad. i think its very sweet of you to mention it!
IT IS SO SAD :( BUT I LOVE IT.IT TEACHES YOU EXACTLY HOW LUCKY WE ARE THAT WE DONT LIVE LIKE THAT.
wow this is veysad that people would want to kill other peole who did nothing to them.
.iitz oh soooo very sad that people had 2 go thiiz. .iit makez want 2 do sumthing bout iit n iit alzo makez mii very angry that people would want n r wiilling 2 do thiiz 2 other people tat diid absolutly nothiing 2 them iitz soooo terrible
i am literally crying right now!!!
i read her diary aswell as sooo many other books about the hollocaust aswell as looking up pictures...
how could anyone do that?!
you know what?
its rumored that hitler could have been jewish! uh huh!!!
my teacher said that his grandma worked for a jewish man and got pregnant, but wouldn't say who the dad was. then hitler's dad was born.
do you know that hitler's mom was 23 years younger than his dad?!
ya!!! his dad was a foster parednt to his mom!
and hitler's sister was skitzifrenik (i dont know if i spelled that right) and his brother was mentaly retarded... says something about his geneology.
ya' know what else?
hitler's teeth were all NASTY, because he ate sweets alot!!!
maybe thats why he had that mustache.... to cover up his teeth :P
The Holocaust was a HORRIFIC AND TRAGIC TIME,God Bless Anne Frank for being so strong though all of it!!!!!!!!!! Anne Frank was a TRUE HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
goodtentag!!!
I find myself inspired by this diary, and am amazed by how mature this 14 year old girl is. Anne Frank's story is a very sad one indeed but also inspiring in that Anne's wish of her diary being published after the war being fulfilled. In truth, even Anne Frank would not have been able to imagine the vast legacy and impact she would have in the lives of people all around the world.
I'm in Holocaust Studies right now and the class has really opened my eyes to the horrors that took place during that time. We just finished watching a documentary and reenactment film of the life of Anne Frank, both before and during the Holocaust. I have not read any of her books but I intend to very soon. Another great Holocaust book is Thanks to My Mother. It's another journal-based book about a young girl and her life as a Nazi prisoner going from concentration camp to concentration camp. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know the truth and gain a deeper understanding of life for prisoners during the Holocaust.
That book was so sad for me! i wanted to cry about what they had to go through!
It was really freaky for us when we were watching the movie because my teacher is Jewish (nothing wrong with that except some moron thinks that racism is funny)but theres a poster of Anne's face and its weird having her smile at you when you're watching her imminent doom. so sad...
just learned about anne frank and saw the play with my whole grade! so sad but i am very interested in the holocaust!
That's very sad...I have learned a lot about Anne Franke and I think That this was a terrible thing to have happened.
i just finished the biography by Melissa Muller it's as sad as the diary
yer totally, i am only like 3 entries into this book amd i am hooked already i am doing homewrk on it all term and i think it is sad my nana was in a concentration camp and she is scarrd fr life. my sister actually went to her house, she went in annes room and in the annex or watev its called.
a very tragic story.
i'm doing a project for school on anne frank and this kinda helped. i'm jewish and i cried al the way through the after word of the book.
Wow. Great job talking about anne. I just read the book on my own (well we are doing a bio project at school and i chose the diary) and read the play version in english class. I cried during the afterword, and also just thinking about anne. she had so much potential and she was a smart, funny girl who had big dreams that she never got to achieve because of horrible people doing what i think is the meanest thing in the history of the world. it broke my heart to hear about not only anne and her friends and family, but of all the jewish, disabled, or black people who were put in camps. god bless them forever.
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiii
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