LEST WE FORGET: ANNE FRANK AND HER DIARIES

Thousands of young girls keep a diary, a secret friend to share their innermost thoughts and feelings when growing up seems to be full of irritation, rebellion, confrontation and confusion

Fifty-seven years ago this week, the diary of Anne Frank was first published. The diary was  a gift from her father on her 13th birthday in 1942.

In hiding with her family for 2 years,  isolated from girls and boys of her own age,  she addressed many letters to ‘Kitty’ a fictional friend who Anne described as ‘a nice 14-year-old girl’ and said that they were becoming ‘close friends’.

Anne Frank: will I ever be able to write something great?

As Adolf Hitler and his far right Nazi party gained more and more supporters throughout Germany, and the anti semitic atmosphere and growing threat of persecution grew daily,   the Frank family fled Frankfurt in 1933 to settle in Amsterdam.

It wasn’t difficult for Hitler to take advantage of the dismal post WW1 economic situation.  He encouraged and took advantage of the  antisemitic feeling in Germany, blaming the Jews for everything negative in the country. A disillusioned nation, tired of poor government, hailed him as their saviour.

Jews were soon prohibited from owning businesses, forced to wear yellow stars, beaten up in the streets and vilified in the German press. The Frank family moved into concealed rooms in an attic in Amsterdam where they remained for 2 years, until their betrayal  In August 1944 when the Gestapo stormed the hideout. The whole family were arrested.

Anne Frank: will I ever be able to write something great?

Classed as ‘criminals’ because they were arrested in hiding, they were first sent to the punishment barracks for hard labour in Camp Westerbork in Holland, then on to Auschwitz concentration camp and finally onto Bergen Belsen.

“Those deemed able to work were admitted into the camp, and those deemed unfit for labour were immediately killed. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than 15—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Anne Frank, who had turned 15 three months earlier, was one of the youngest people spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival”
Wikipedia

Anne Frank, her mother Edith and her older sister Margot all died of disease, starvation, and exhaustion.

Anne Frank: will I ever be able to write something great?

The only survivor, father Otto, eventually agreed to publish the diaries.

“When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”
Anne Frank

It is so very important that we never allow this to happen again.
LEST WE FORGET

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