Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Her family was Jewish, and she was ten years old when WWII started. The Franks are famous because of their story during WWII and Anne's diary that was eventually published.
Family Background
Anne was an intelligent and bright girl. In many of the pages of her diary, she states that even with the brutal war going on outside, she still believes that there is good in everyone, but some people just don’t show it as much. Many of Anne’s family members said she was an optimist and loved to read and spend time with others. Anne's sister, Margot, was less talkative. She did not like school. Anne’s mother favors Margot more because they get along better. In Anne’s opinion, her mother should pay more attention to her. Margot was friendly and feminine and cared how she looked a little more than Anne did. In her diary, Anne said that Margot was not as attention-seeking as she was. Otto Frank (Anne's dad) was very outgoing, and he made a lot of friends at work. This helped the Frank family survive because they hid in one of Otto’s work friend’s houses. He was wealthy from his father, who owned a bank. He loved both of his children and his wife but was closer to Anne than Margot because they both shared their love of reading. Edith Frank (Anne's Mom) was more distant from Anne, and they often fought about silly things. Edith also often compared Anne to Margot about how she should be better and more like her. For example, Edith thought Anne should be more feminine, like Margot.
Education
When Anne was five years old, she started school at the Sixth Montessori School. Anne was a curious and intelligent young girl. Reading was one of her favorite subjects. She was also very outgoing and made friends quickly. Anne had to leave because she was Jewish. She transferred to a new school called the Jewish Lyceum. Though she didn't like it as much, she still made friends. Anne hoped that one day, when she got out of the Annex and the war was over, she could reattend school. Anne disliked math, but she excelled in reading and literature.
Anne’s mother and father tried to keep her education steady while living in the Annex. They tried to get her to like math more, but Anne did not want to learn. She says she would much rather read and write words than do math. She did not like math because she found it much more confusing than all the other subjects.
Anne and her family were forced to go into hiding. The Franks had to hide in a small space behind a secret bookshelf and they could not leave or make noise. They shared rooms and did not have much to eat. They ate 2 meals a day-breakfast and dinner. Still, this was a better situation than some of the other Jews who lived in their neighborhood and were hiding in sewers and other places. This “bookshelf” was located in Otto Frank’s friend’s house, who let them stay there and risked his own life to save them from being taken away. Anne called the hiding spot “the Secret Annex”.
Anne's Diary
Anne got a diary for her 13th birthday, where she recorded all of her thoughts, feelings, and experiences inside the Secret Annex for years. Without this diary, people would not know what Anne had to go through in hiding, and nobody would even know her name. The reason why Anne’s story became popular was because of her diary, which made people realize what it was really like to try to survive during WWII.
Concentration Camps
Somebody who worked at Otto’s business ratted them out and told the police there were Jews hiding behind that bookshelf. The police came and took everyone and everything away. They sold all of the Frank’s stuff to other families. This was very important because concentration camps were very hard to survive. They had very little food and harsh conditions. Anne, Margot, and Edith went to one camp, Auschwitz, and Otto went to another camp for men. Everybody was feeble and in really bad health at the camps. One day, Margot fell off of her bed and could not get back up. This would be the death of her. After years of hard work, Anne and her mother both grew very sick and passed away.
Always Hopeful
Anne was hopeful that her family would be able to get out of the Annex, WWll would end soon, and the Jews would win the war against Hitler. She also hoped that her parents would quickly understand how she felt all of the time- heard but not truly heard. She thought her mother was going against her all of the time, and she hoped that one day they would start to agree on things.
Intellegent
Anne was intelligent in any subject that did not involve math. She excelled at reading, literature, and learning languages like German and Dutch. She loved reading and could often list facts that most people did not know. Anne also would have somebody go to the library for her every week and check out different books for her to read while sitting in the Annex all day. In my book, Anne states that without her diary and books, she wouldn’t know what to do all day.
Achievements
We will remember Anne Frank because she was one of the few people who kept a diary on what was happening during WWll, and she successfully lived in the Secret Annex for 761 days. This was very impressive, and the Frank family was one of the last Jewish families in their neighborhood.
We will also remember Anne because of her inspirational story about what she had to endure at such a young age. She told her diary everything, so people know what it was like living in hiding for years, or at least can understand how hard it was for people to survive.
What Can Anne Teach Us?
Anne taught us that even when times get rough, you always have someone to count on.
In the Secret Annex, Anne almost gave up until she started talking to her family’s friend, Peter. He helped her through tough times, and in her diary, she wrote that she trusted him more than she trusted most people in her family except her dad.
“I don’t think of all the misery but all of the beauty that still remains.” -Anne Frank
This quote means that in the world, there are some terrible things, but there are also beautiful things that remain that a person can choose to focus on.
Sources
Marian Hoefnagel. Anne Frank-Her Life. Twickenham: ReadZone Books Limited, 2014.
"Anne Frank." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631002299/BIC?u=nysl_me_cms&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=3c674d96. Accessed 23 Oct. 2023.
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