Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Anne Frank's Secret Annex





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.

39 Comments:

Blogger International Mastermind said...

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...

7:31 PM  
Blogger LittleChar said...

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

6:33 AM  
Blogger Spring said...

I haven't read the book yet. I'm going to go get it from the library today!

11:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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.

7:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm doing a project for school on historic fiction. If you want a depressing book, try Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli.

*sob*

5:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

tell me about it, I couldn't get through that book.
:( sniff

7:04 PM  
Blogger Ashley said...

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.

10:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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! :}

4:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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.

9:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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.

2:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read the book and I thought it was so sad. I litterly cried!!! Fuck the Nazis!!!

11:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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!

2:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IT IS SO SAD :( BUT I LOVE IT.IT TEACHES YOU EXACTLY HOW LUCKY WE ARE THAT WE DONT LIVE LIKE THAT.

5:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow this is veysad that people would want to kill other peole who did nothing to them.

11:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

.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

11:06 AM  
Anonymous katelyn (8th grader) said...

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

9:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

goodtentag!!!

9:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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.

9:31 AM  
Blogger Brittany Anania said...

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.

6:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That book was so sad for me! i wanted to cry about what they had to go through!

4:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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...

11:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

just learned about anne frank and saw the play with my whole grade! so sad but i am very interested in the holocaust!

5:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's very sad...I have learned a lot about Anne Franke and I think That this was a terrible thing to have happened.

7:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i just finished the biography by Melissa Muller it's as sad as the diary

12:14 PM  
Blogger freddofreak said...

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.

9:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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.

2:38 AM  
Anonymous lml said...

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.

12:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiii

9:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The diary of a young girl was very good but it made me cry at the end...=3

9:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am reading the Diary with my 8th Grade class. This is the first time I read this book and I am truly amazed at this young girl's hope and positive attitude through this horrific time in her life.

9:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

such a nice post I read Anne Franks diary and did alot of research about her and waht happened broke my heart I lost all faith in humanity I couldnt understand how people could ever be led so astray as to kill so many people.Anna Frank was an amazing writer and had her whole life she had so many dreams and thoughts.Her diary reads like a book not just a set of entries and it gives the reader such insights into her mind that you cant help but desperatly hope she survives even though you know how it ends...I hate the Nazis for Anne but she never lost faith in humanity so I have no right to.She died pointlessly and yet her death wasnt pointless it serves as a constant reminder to us all of the atrocities of the holocaust and reminds us that we can never let it happen again...REST IN PEACE ANNE...

5:34 PM  
Blogger xyz said...

i feal very sad about ann.Becase she is a young girl and she faced lot of problems.Andalso she had many desiers.But all the deaiers were deystroyed................

9:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ann frank is so super hott and so super brave and so super awesome and so super coooool and so super pretty and i wanna marry her

1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read the Diary of Anne Frank in 4th grade for a book report. Four years later now I am doing a Holocaust unit in Language Arts. Its amazing how much I didn't understand back then. How much of the horror I didn't fully make sense of. I am definitely going to re-read the book! By the way, this is a very well written article! The information is to the point and the end is chilling but hopeful at the same time! Great job(:

7:15 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I LOVE ANNE FRANK"S DIARY. AT SCHOOL WERE DOING AND EXPERT PROJECT AND WE GET TO PICK SOMEBODY WHO CHANGE THE WORLD. GUSS WHO I PICKED. ANNE FRANK

1:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I picked this book for my book report, Thinking it would be something easy to do. I had no idea it would change me so much. I never really get sad from movies and books, but I cried after I finished it and whenever I think about Anne. I just hate that she was so young and just was killed for no reason...

4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read Anne's diary it's very touching in certain points in the book I can't believe such a young girl could have been through so much and at my school I got an A+ for my book report my fifth grade classmates asked me how do I understand it and I said I don't know but I understand it.

4:54 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I'm a fifth grader and I read this book in third grade and I had to do a report on the book and I got an A+ it was a heart breaking diary on how a child can survive in something so intense and there are many touching points in the story that I have learned the Anne's viewpoint of her diary is that your life has many obstacles that you will have to face in our world

5:00 PM  

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