Anne Frank is one of the most widely recognized victims of the Holocaust, known for her poignant and insightful diary, Dear Kitty, which she wrote while in hiding from the Nazis. Born Annelies Marie Frank on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1934 to escape the growing antisemitism in Nazi Germany.
In May 1940, the Netherlands fell to German occupation. By July 1942, as the Nazis intensified their persecution of Jews, the Frank family—Otto, Edith, Anne, and her older sister Margot—went into hiding in a secret annex behind Otto Frank's business premises. They were joined by four others: Hermann and Auguste van Pels, their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer.
During the two years they spent in hiding, Anne kept a diary in which she recorded her thoughts, daily experiences, and reflections on life in the annex. Her writings reveal a young girl with profound insight, humor, and an enduring hope for the future, despite the grim reality surrounding her.
On August 4, 1944, the occupants of the annex were betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo. The Frank family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in Poland. In late October or early November 1944, Anne and Margot were transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where both sisters contracted typhus and died in March 1945—just weeks before the camp was liberated by British forces.
Otto Frank, the only surviving member of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war. He discovered Anne’s diary, which had been preserved by Miep Gies, one of the helpers who had assisted them in hiding. Moved by his daughter’s words, Otto arranged for the diary to be published. The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, was first published in 1947. It has since been translated into numerous languages and remains one of the most widely read and influential books in the world.
Anne’s diary provides a deeply personal account of the Holocaust, offering a powerful testament to the impact of war on individuals. Her words continue to educate and inspire people around the world, emphasizing the importance of tolerance, human rights, and remembrance. Anne Frank’s legacy endures as a symbol of resilience and the necessity of bearing witness to history.
On Saturday, June 20, 1942, Anne writes:
Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest. Paper has more patience than people. - Diary of Anne Frank
In hiding there was no singing, no laughter, no talking above a whisper most of the time. Although Anne Frank had to silence her voice, she wrote her heart in her diary.
