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Anne Frank's Diary Published in English 65 Years Later

Created on Apr 28, 2017 by Kathy Pinna

During World War II, one young teenage girl's whole world was a small annex in which she lived with 7 other people.

All Jewish, they were hiding from the Nazis. Just previous to this, she had been given a diary and she began writing in it about her daily life. While initially published in 1947, in 1952 her (edited) diary was made into a book in the United States and generations since have been riveted by her insights and experiences.

Anne Frank, although she died at 15, is now known throughout the world and she has helped generations of young people understand the ravages of bigotry and hate through her book "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl".

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Images of Anne Frank

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Little Anne with her mother Edith Frank

Who was Anne Frank? Anne was born in Frankfurt Germany in 1929, the younger of two daughters born to Otto and Edith Frank.
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Although her father's family had lived in Germany for generations and the family were liberal Jews, growing anti-Semitism in Germany - and a job offer for Otto - caused the family to move to Amsterdam in 1934.

Anne and Margot, 1933

Anne was enrolled in a Montessori school, her sister Margot in a public school, and the family began a prosperous new life in the Netherlands.
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In 1939, Hitler invaded the Netherlands and Jewish persecution began in the Franks' new country.

Anne walking her dog in 1940

Otto tried to secure Immigration to the U.S. but the United States government blocked Jewish immigration, concerned that immigrants with relatives in Germany could be blackmailed into spying for Hitler's government.
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Anne circa 1941

A quote from her diary: "“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
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So Margot and Anne were forced to leave their schools and enroll in Jewish only schools while Otto had to turn ownership of his two businesses over to non-Jewish owners in order to keep them going.

For her thirteenth birthday, Anne asked her father for a book with a lock that she could use as a diary. She immediately began writing in it, listing the numerous restrictions that the Dutch Jewish population lived under. Within a month, on July 6, 1942, the family went into hiding - a three story space hidden behind a bookcase in the building of one of Otto's previous businesses.
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His most trusted employees - only four people - would become the family's helpers.

The Frank family walking to a wedding in happier times

A week later, 3 members of the Pels family joined them and in November another friend, a dentist, was added to the group in hiding. Anne's diary was filled with the daily quarrels and drama that resulted from such divergent personalities living in such close quarters. Even a small romance developed - and quickly fizzled - between Anne and the Pels' son, 16 year old Peter.
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Anne's last entry in her diary was on August 1, 1944. On the 4th, the German police stormed the house - no one has discovered who turned in the occupants - and in September the group was transported to Auschwitz. All under the age of 15 who entered Auschwitz were immediately put to death but since Anne had turned 15 three months earlier, she was spared the gas chamber - as were all occupants of the annex. Eventually, everyone but Otto died in the camps - Anne in February or March of 1945 (the date is unknown) of typhus.

Other Holocaust victims from The Netherlands

Renee Gottschalk, 3 yrs old
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Anna Reens, 2 yrs old
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David Neuhaus, 4 yrs old
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Vera Matteman, 5 yrs old
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Regina Blein, 4 yrs old
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Hester & Carla Witteboon, 5 yrs old and 3 yrs old
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Roza Binasch, 4 yrs old
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Bijna Matz, 7 years old
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Have photos that you'd like to see included? Share your photos or see more photos of some of the children who lost their lives in the Holocaust on the next page.

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