A young Jewish girl named Anne Frank (1929-1945), her parents and older

sister moved to the Netherlands from Germany after Adolf Hilter and the
Nazis came to power there in 1933 and made life increasingly difficult for
Jews. In 1942, Frank and her family went into hiding in a secret apartment
behind her father’s business in German-occupied Amsterdam. The Franks
were discovered in 1944 and sent to concentration camps; only Anne’s
father survived. Anne Frank’s diary of her family’s time in hiding, first
published in 1947, has been translated into almost 70 languages and is
one of the most widely read accounts of the Holocaust.

Anne Frank’s Childhood

Anne Frank was born Anneliese Marie Frank in Frankfurt, Germany, on
June 12, 1929, to Edith Hollander Frank (1900-45) and Otto Frank (1889-
1980), a prosperous businessman. Less than four years later, in January
1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and he and his Nazi
government instituted a series of measures aimed at persecuting
Germany’s Jewish citizens.

Did you know? In 1960, the building at Prinsengracht 263, home to the
Secret Annex, opened to the public as a museum devoted to the life of
Anne Frank. Her original diary is on display there.
By the fall of 1933, Otto Frank moved to Amsterdam, where he established
a small but successful company that produced a gelling substance used to
make jam. After staying behind in Germany with her grandmother in the city
of Aachen, Anne joined her parents and sister Margot (1926-45) in the
Dutch capital in February 1934. In 1935, Anne started school in Amsterdam
and earned a reputation as an energetic, popular girl.

In May 1940, the Germans, who had entered World War II in September of
the previous year, invaded the Netherlands and quickly made life
increasingly restrictive and dangerous for Jewish people there. Between
the summer of 1942 and September 1944, the Nazis and their Dutch
collaborators deported more than 100,000 Jews in Holland to extermination
camps.

Anne Frank’s Family Goes into Hiding

In early July 1942, after Margot Frank received a letter ordering her to
report to a work camp in Germany, Anne Frank’s family went into hiding in
an attic apartment behind Otto Frank’s business, located at Prinsengracht
263 in Amsterdam. In an effort to avoid detection, the family left a false trail
suggesting they’d fled to Switzerland.

A week after they had gone into hiding, the Franks were joined by Otto’s
business associate Hermann van Pels (1898-1944), along with his wife
Auguste (1900-45) and their son Peter (1926-45), who were also Jewish. A
small group of Otto Frank’s employees, including his Austrian-born
secretary, Miep Gies (1909-2010), risked their own lives to smuggle food,
supplies and news of the outside world into the secret apartment, whose
entrance was situated behind a movable bookcase. In November 1942, the
Franks and Van Pels were joined by Fritz Pfeffer (1889-1944), Miep Gies’
Jewish dentist.

Life for the eight people in the small apartment, which Anne Frank referred
to as the Secret Annex, was tense. The group lived in constant fear of
being discovered and could never go outside. They had to remain quiet
during daytime in order to avoid detection by the people working in the
warehouse below. Anne passed the time, in part, by chronicling her
observations and feelings in a diary she had received for her 13th birthday,
a month before her family went into hiding.
Addressing her diary entries to an imaginary friend she called Kitty, Anne
Frank wrote about life in hiding, including her impressions of the other
inhabitants of the Secret Annex, her feelings of loneliness and her
frustration over the lack of privacy. While she detailed typical teenage
issues such as crushes on boys, arguments with her mother and
resentments toward her sister, Frank also displayed keen insight and
maturity when she wrote about the war, humanity and her own identity. She
also penned short stories and essays during her time in hiding.

The Franks are Captured by the Nazis

On August 4, 1944, after 25 months in hiding, Anne Frank and the seven
others in the Secret Annex were discovered by the Gestapo, the German
secret state police, who had learned about the hiding place from an
anonymous tipster (who has never been definitively identified).

After their arrest, the Franks, Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer were sent by the
Gestapo to Westerbork, a holding camp in the northern Netherlands. From
there, in September 1944, the group was transported by freight train to the
Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination and concentration camp complex in
German-occupied Poland. Anne and Margot Frank were spared immediate
death in the Auschwitz gas chambers and instead were sent to Bergen-
Belsen, a concentration camp in northern Germany. In March 1945, the
Frank sisters died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen; their bodies were thrown
into a mass grave. Several weeks later, on April 15, 1945, British forces
liberated the camp.

Edith Frank died of starvation at Auschwitz in January 1945. Hermann van

Pels died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz soon after his arrival there in
1944; his wife is believed to have likely died at the Theresienstadt
concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic in the spring of
1945. Peter van Pels died at the Mauthausen concentration camp in
Austria in May 1945. Fritz Pfeffer died from illness in late December 1944
at the Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany. Anne Frank’s father,
Otto, was the only member of the group to survive; he was liberated from
Auschwitz by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

Anne Frank’s Diary

When Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam following his release from
Auschwitz, Miep Gies gave him five notebooks and some 300 loose papers
containing Anne’s writings. Gies had recovered the materials from the
Secret Annex shortly after the Franks’ arrest by the Nazis and had hidden
them in her desk. (Margot Frank also kept a diary, but it was never found.)
Otto Frank knew that Anne wanted to become an author or journalist, and
had hoped her wartime writings would one day be published. Anne had
even been inspired to edit her diary for posterity after hearing a March 1944
radio broadcast from an exiled Dutch government official who urged the
Dutch people to keep journals and letters that would help provide a record
of what life was like under the Nazis.

After his daughter’s writings were returned to him, Otto Frank helped
compile them into a manuscript that was published in the Netherlands in
1947 under the title “Het Acheterhuis” (“Rear Annex”). Although U.S.
publishers initially rejected the work as too depressing and dull, it was
eventually published in America in 1952 as “The Diary of a Young Girl.”
The book, which went on to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide, has
been labeled a testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit. It
is required reading at schools around the globe and has been adapted for
the stage and screen.

Citation Information
Article Title
Anne Frank

Author
History.com Editors

Website Name
HISTORY

URL
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank-1

Access Date
January 29, 2019

Publisher
A&E Television Networks

The short life

of Anne Frank
Jewish Anne Frank hid from the Nazis for 2 years before she was discovered. In
1945, she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Annes first years

Anne Frank was born in the German city of Frankfurt am Main in 1929.
Anne’s sister Margot was three years her senior. Unemployment was high
and poverty was severe in Germany, and it was the period in which Adolf
Hitler and his party were gaining more and more supporters. Hitler hated the
Jews and blamed them for the problems in the country. He took advantage
of the rampant antisemitic sentiments in Germany. The hatred of Jews and
the poor economic situation made Anne's parents, Otto and Edith Frank,
decide to move to Amsterdam. There, Otto founded a company that traded
in pectin, a gelling agent for making jam.
Postcard from the 1930s, showing Merwedeplein. Anne has indicated (right, centre) where the Frank
family lives.

Photo collection: Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam/ photographer unknown

Nazi Germany invades the Netherlands

Before long, Anne felt right at home in the Netherlands. She learned the
language, made new friends and went to a Dutch school near her home. Her
father worked hard to get his business off the ground, but it was not
easy. Otto also tried to set up a company in England, but the plan fell
through. Things looked up when he started selling herbs and spices in
addition to the pectin.

On 1 September 1939, when Anne was 10 years old, Nazi Germany invaded
Poland, and so the Second World War began. Not long after, on 10 May
1940, the Nazis also invaded the Netherlands. Five days later, the Dutch
army surrendered. Slowly but surely, the Nazis introduced more and more
laws and regulations that made the lives of Jews more difficult. For
instance, Jews could no longer visit parks, cinemas, or non-Jewish shops.
The rules meant that more and more places became off-limits to Anne. Her
father lost his company, since Jews were no longer allowed to run their own
businesses. All Jewish children, including Anne, had to go to separate
Jewish schools.
Anne in her final year of primary school, 1940.

Photo collection: Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam/ photographer unknown

Anne has to go into hiding in the Secret Annex

The Nazis took things further, one step at the time. Jews had to start wearing
a Star of David on their clothes and there were rumours that all Jews would
have to leave the Netherlands. When Margot received a call-up to report for
a so-called ‘labour camp’ in Nazi Germany on 5 July 1942, her parents were
suspicious. They did not believe the call-up was about work and decided to
go into hiding the next day in order to escape persecution.

In the spring of 1942, Anne’s father had started furnishing a hiding place in
the annex of his business premises at Prinsengracht 263. He received help
from his former colleagues. Before long, they were joined by four more
people. The hiding place was cramped. Anne had to keep very quiet and was
often afraid.

Anne keeps a diary

On her thirteenth birthday, just before they went into hiding, Anne was
presented with a diary. During the two years in hiding, Anne wrote about
events in the Secret Annex, but also about her feelings and thoughts. In
addition, she wrote short stories, started on a novel and copied passages
from the books she read in her ‘Book of Beautiful Sentences’. Writing
helped her pass the time.

When the Minister of Education of the Dutch government in England made

an appeal on Radio Orange to hold on to war diaries and documents, Anne
was inspired to rewrite her individual diaries into one running story, titled
‘Het Achterhuis’ (‘The Secret Annex’).
The diary Anne receives for her 13th birthday.

Photo collection: Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam

The hiding place is discovered

Anne started rewriting her diary, but before she was done, she and the other
people in hiding were discovered and arrested by police officers on 4
August 1944. The police also arrested two of the helpers. To this day, we do
not know the reason for the police raid.

Despite the raid, part of Anne’s writing was preserved: two other helpers
took the documents before the Secret Annex was emptied by order of the
Nazis.

Anne is deported to Auschwitz

Via the offices of the Sicherheitsdienst, the German security police, prison
in Amsterdam, and the Westerbork transit camp, the people from the Secret
Annex were put on transport to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and
extermination camp. The train journey took three days, during which Anne
and over a thousand others were packed closely together in cattle wagons.
There was little food and water and only a barrel for a toilet.

Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Nazi doctors checked to see who would and who
would not be able to do heavy forced labour. Around 350 people from
Anne's transport were immediately taken to the gas chambers and murdered.
Anne was sent to the labour camp for women with her sister and mother.
Otto ended up in a camp for men.
Anne dies in Bergen-Belsen

In early November 1944, Anne was put on transport again. Together with
her sister, she was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her
parents stayed behind in Auschwitz. The conditions in Bergen-Belsen were
horrible, too, there was a lack of food, it was cold, and Anne, like her sister,
contracted typhus. In February 1945 they both died owing to its effects,
Margot first, Anne shortly afterwards.

Anne’s father Otto was the only one of the people from the Secret Annex to
survive the war. He was liberated from Auschwitz by the Russians and
during his long journey back to the Netherlands he learned that his wife
Edith had died. Once in the Netherlands, he heard that Anne and Margot
were no longer alive either.
Otto Frank in the attic of the Secret Annex, a few hours before the official opening of the Anne Frank
House on 3 May 1960.

Photographer: Arnold Newman

Anne’s diary becomes world famous

Anne's writing made a deep impression on Otto. He read that Anne had
wanted to become a writer or a journalist and that she had intended to
publish her stories about life in the Secret Annex. Friends convinced Otto to
publish the diary and in June 1947, 3,000 copies of Het Achterhuis (‘The
Secret Annex’) were printed.

And that was not all: the book was later translated into around 70 languages
and adapted for stage and screen. People all over the world were introduced
to Anne's story and in 1960 the hiding place became a museum: the Anne
Frank House. Until his death in 1980, Otto remained closely involved with
the Anne Frank House and the museum: he hoped that readers of the diary
would become aware of the dangers of discrimination, racism, and hatred of
Jews.


The Secret Annex

Watch the virtual tour


The main characters

The people in hiding and the helpersThe book begins on Anne's thirteenth birthday,
June 12, 1942. She receives as a present from her parents a diary, among
other presents. She thinks about it for several days and decides to write letters
as her diary entries, she addresses each letter to Kitty. Kitty is a fabricated
friend, someone in which Anne can expose her deepest feelings to.

Anne's family has emigrated to Holland from Germany for two reasons, the first
is Mr. Frank has taken a job there and the second is to move away from the
Nazi Party. The Nazis are making life very restrictive for the Jewish people in
Germany.

Even though they have left Germany, the Jewish restrictions of the Nazi Party
still exist in Holland. They all are required to wear a yellow star on their
clothing, attend only Jewish schools, shop at Jewish stores and other
restrictions also apply. The full impact of the restrictions and horrors of the Nazi
Party are felt by the family on the day Anne's sister, Margot, is called up. This
means that she is to be taken away, in all probability to a concentration camp.
The family knew they would one day have to go into hiding and had been
making preparations for the move, this just moved up the time table of when
they would go.

On July 9, 1942 the Frank family moved into the building which housed the
business that employed Mr. Frank. The rooms were above the warehouse floor
and were referred to by Anne as the "Secret Annex". The family was joined a
few days later by the Van Daan family. This family consisted of Mr. and Mrs.
Van Daan and their son Peter, who was a little older than Anne.

These two families try to get along as best they can, of course, not everyone is
happy with the situation. Anne feels as if everything she does is fodder for the
adults to use to criticize her. The group also decides to make room for an eighth
member, Mr. Dussel. He is a dentist, whose wife is in America. He is
recommended by Miep, a young woman who worked for Mr. Frank. There are a
number of people helping the families survive in the "Secret Annex", they
include Miep and her husband Henk, Elli, and Mr. Koophuis. There are also
others who take a smaller role in helping them survive World War II.

Anne and her mother do not get along at all. Anne also feels as if she cannot
behave in a manner that pleases any of the adults. Her situation with her
mother comes to a head one night as Mrs. Frank asks Anne if she, instead of
Mr. Frank, can say Anne's prayers with her. Anne refuses her mother's request.
Her mother tells Anne that she will try not to force her to love her.

The war is also exacting a toll on everyone. The people helping the families in
the "Secret Annex" are becoming ill. This is a twofold problem because they are
an extension of the families in the Annex so the group is worried about the well-
being of their helpers. Another part of this is if the helpers are ill then the
families are not able to receive food and other necessities for survival.

They are also being plagued with burglaries at the building. Several times
burglars have tried and sometimes succeeded to break into the building. The
fear is they may hear the families and report them to the Gestapo resulting in
everyone being taken away to concentration camps.

On September 10, 1943 Anne records in her diary the fall of Italy. This brings
joy to those living in Holland and the world. This means the war is inching closer
to its end.

The Van Daan's are out of money; their only hope is to sell some of their
clothing. The problem is Mrs. Van Daan does not want to sell her prized fur
coat. The coat could bring in an infusion of much needed cash for the family,
but she wants to hang on to it. Mr. Van Daan convinces her to sell it so that the
family can have money to buy food and other necessities.

As the war continues on and Anne finds out about how more and more Jews are
being sent to concentration camps, she has difficulty dealing with her emotions.
She is very happy to be safe and free from having to go to a concentration
camp; she is also feeling guilty for this same safety because she knows her
friends do not have this same secure feeling. The talk of invasion by the English
also causes anxiety for Anne and the others. They do not know what will happen
to them if the English invade. Will the Germans try to flood the city endangering
the lives of everyone there

Anne is also in need of a confidant so she chooses Peter Van Daan to be that
person. She chooses Peter because he is quiet and she feels he will keep her
secrets for her. This relationship becomes complicated as her feelings for Peter
range between friend to boyfriend.
Finally on June 6, 1944 the invasion occurs. The D-day invasion is a source of
great joy for everyone in occupied Europe. The members who live in the "Secret
Annex" hope to be able to leave in October 1944.

Anne's final diary entry is about her two selves, the outer self which is cheerful
and outgoing and the inner self which tries to be more serious and become a
better person.

This diary shows the isolation of those living in the "Secret Annex". It also
explores the feelings of a young girl as she starts to mature. We are left with
the feeling of actually knowing these people, which makes their fate even
harder to accept.
Annelies Marie Frank was a German-born diarist. One of the most discussed Jewish
victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The
Diary of a Young Girl, in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944,
during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Wikipedia
Born: 12 June 1929, Frankfurt, Germany
Died: February 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Germany
Relatives: Otto Frank (father); Edith Frank (mother); Margot Frank(sister); Buddy
Elias (cousin)
Resting place: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Germany
Education: Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam (1934–1941), Jewish Lyceum